Originally posted in Spanish by the Cuenca Water Council (Cabildo Popular por el Agua de Cuenca) here. English translation by MiningWatch Canada.

The Quinto Río (known as the “Fifth River of Cuenca”) was not born on September 16. It was born long before that. It was born in the communities that have cared for the water for generations; in the Water Councils that sustain daily life in these territories; in the mingas, in the community consultations, in the popular assemblies, in the marches to the páramo, in the voices of Victoria del Portete, Tarqui, Escaleras, Molleturo, Girón, Nabón, Sígsig, Santa Isabel, Ponce Enríquez, Cuenca, and so many other communities who have understood that to defend Kimsakocha is to defend life itself. 

One of the greatest milestones however, was undoubtedly the Citizens’ Assembly for the Defense of Water and the Páramos, held at the Sucre Theatre on July 8, 2025, under a slogan that encapsulates decades of struggle and popular resolve: “Cuenca has already decided—Kimsakocha is off-limits!”

That day, the Sucre Theatre was too small: the defense of water overflowed its capacity. Many people had to sit on the floor or stand. It was not just a meeting: it was the physical expression of a people who cannot be confined to the narrow margins of institutional structures when it comes to defending their water sources, their páramos, and their future.

In this space, deeply diverse voices came together: Indigenous and campesino communities, water councils, communes, rural and urban neighbourhoods, decentralized autonomous governments (GADs), parish councils, Cuenca city council members, delegates from the Mayor’s Office, officials from ETAPA EP, public and private universities, academics, students, journalists, professional associations, cultural groups, water and environmental advocacy collectives, women’s fronts, agroecological networks, social organizations, and delegations from other cantons in Azuay. Also present were the San Pedro de Escaleras Commune, the Azuay Community Water Government, the Citizens’ Assembly for Road Infrastructure, the Archdiocese of Cuenca, and numerous sectors that—despite coming from different places and realities—shared a common conviction: without water there is no life, without the páramo there is no future, and without respect for the will of the people, there is no democracy.

The Assembly addressed issues of immense social, environmental, legal, technical, and political significance. Discussions focused on the irreversible risks posed by mining operations under the Loma Larga project in Kimsakocha; the threat to water quality and quantity; the mining concessions granted in water recharge zones, páramos, wetlands, forests, and fragile ecosystems; and the impact on human consumption, irrigation, agriculture, livestock, ecological flow, public health, and the sustainability of the territories.

The Government’s failure to comply with the popular referendums in Girón and Cuenca was also discussed. We reiterated that the people had already decided at the polls: in Girón on March 24, 2019, they said NO to mining in the páramos and water sources of the Kimsakocha hydrological system; and in Cuenca, on February 7, 2021, an overwhelming majority voted to ban metal mining in the water recharge zones of the Tarqui, Yanuncay, Tomebamba, Machángara, and Norcay rivers.

The Assembly also raised the issue of noncompliance with measures ordered by the Constitutional Court. Discussions focused on the lack of actual compliance with the reports mandated by the then-MAATE, the absence of a joint report with ETAPA EP, the false and sham prior consultation in Escaleras, and an environmental consultation conducted without considering the mining project’s true area of influence. It was reported that the communities that use the waters originating in Kimsakocha were excluded, including areas of the watershed that receive water from the Sustag plant, which is fed by the Yanuncay River—a river that also originates in that watershed.

In this context, the Assembly was not merely a forum for expressing outrage. It was a space for popular deliberation, for building a collective mandate, and for defining a roadmap for the defense of water. Seven fundamental resolutions were adopted there:

1. To organize the Great March for the Defense of Water and the Páramos, scheduled for Tuesday, September 16, 2025, as well as a broad program of artistic, academic, religious, social, athletic, cultural, and political activities to inform, raise awareness, unite, and mobilize the public. It was also agreed to participate in the march to Kimsakocha on July 19.
2. To express solidarity with the communities of Nabón, Sígsig, Santa Isabel, Ponce Enríquez, Las Naves, Sigchos, the Situar community in Morona Santiago, and all communities defending their water sources, forests, páramos, and ways of life.
3. To reject the opening of the mining cadastre, which poses a serious risk of new concessions in water sources, megabiodiverse ecosystems, and agricultural areas without the consent of the communities.
4. Reject the passage of regressive laws, such as the Solidarity, Intelligence, and Public Integrity Laws, as they violate constitutional rights and endanger human rights and nature defenders. We also warned about legislative proposals that, under various legal guises, could promote the privatization and exploitation of protected areas.
5. Urge the Municipality of Cuenca and the competent authorities to adopt effective administrative and legal measures to protect the territory, restore water protection zones, and carry out monitoring operations to prevent criminal groups from establishing a presence in areas such as Río Blanco and Molleturo.
6. Support the technical report by ETAPA EP and forward it to provincial authorities, including Members of the National Assembly, so they can issue clear statements and commit to defending Cuenca’s water.
7. Form a legal team to develop and coordinate a strategy to defend the rights of communities and nature.
    

One year after that Assembly, we can say clearly: we delivered on these commitments. 

We delivered because we sustained our organization. We delivered because we kept moving forward. We delivered because we have carried the defense of water from the communities all the way to the city. We delivered because the Quinto Río flooded the streets, not only with people, but with historic memory, dignity, sound technical arguments, legal actions, spirituality, culture, and grassroots determination. We delivered because the defense of Kimsakocha ceased to be viewed as a sector-specific cause and was consolidated as the great social pact of Cuenca and Azuay. The Government’s extractivist agenda was rejected and defeated.

The Assembly brought together what those in power often try to separate: the countryside and the city; technology and spirituality; the law and the streets; science and community memory; the defense of water and the defense of democracy. There, it was understood that Kimsakocha is not just a point on a map. Kimsakocha is the source of rivers, food, highlands, communities, cultures, and lives. It is a water recharge area that is essential for Cuenca and for Azuay. Defending it is not done on a whim; it is an ethical, constitutional, ecological, and democratic obligation.

While communities defend water, the government advances mining laws, opens up the mining cadastre, grants tax breaks to extractive companies, militarizes territories that are in dispute, weakens constitutional guarantees, and seeks to turn páramos, forests, wetlands, and water recharge areas into sacrifice zones. While the people demand life, those in power respond with extractivism, disinformation, criminalization, and legal tricks.

That is why, one year after the Citizens’ Assembly for Water, we once again reiterate that the Quinto Río was born long ago – and continues to grow. It was born in those who care for the springs, in those who plant, in those who walk, in those who resist, in those who organize, and in those who refuse to allow the will of the people be treated as a mere suggestion.

July 8, 2026.
Cuenca Water Council