Lasso pres

<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp; &nbsp;=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2022/2/7/headlines/ecuador_high_court_sides_with_indigenous_groups_in_dispute_over_drilling_and_mining">https://www.democracynow.org/2022/2/7/headlines/ecuador_high_court_sides_with_indigenous_groups_in_dispute_over_drilling_and_mining</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div>Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has ruled that Indigenous communities should have much more control over whether to allow extractive projects on their lands. In a decision handed down Friday, judges ruled that Indigenous groups can halt proposed mining and oil drilling projects if they’re found to require “excessive sacrifices to the collective rights of communities and nature.”<b>&nbsp;It’s a blow to President Guillermo Lasso, who has promised to double Ecuador’s oil production, and a major victory for the A’i Cofán community&nbsp;</b>and other Indigenous groups who’ve suffered the effects of environmental destruction for decades.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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