【英語原文】

Dear Sloth Members,
Greetings from the Cloud Forests of Intag.

This is an appeal for solidarity. In the past, Sloth members have played a critical role in helping us sustain the struggle to keep this area free of mining, through supporting our sustainable activities (such as natural handicrafts), but also through donations and political support (the case of the constitutional injunction). I'd like for you all to consider the creation of a permanent Intag Solidarity Fund to help fund small and medium size projects that can help us keep generating positive responses to the permanent threats that we daily have to face. Below is one such project that merits our full attention, and support. The Junin communities, and others around it, are again under pressure by the miners. This time it is through the offering of free medical services to the local communities by a doctor hired by the miners.
The doctor is the same doctor who helped the miners convince the local people of the corazo'n area that mining was not bad, and that the "radical ecologist" were lying about mining. He also did not treat sick people who were against the mine, and talked about all the positive things mining would do to the communities. Since there was no other medical services available in the area, people were forced to go to him - thereby weakening the opposition. Due to his perversely unethical work, the people in Corazo'n (about 5 hours from Junin on foot), accepted mining, and the medium-sized gold mine is now in full operation.
This doctor has now gone to Chalguayacu Bajo, the community closest to Junin, to again offer "his services" for free. We believe, of course, that he has been hired by the owner of the Junin mining concession to weaken the opposition to the mining project. The closest service of a nurse is a minimum of 4-5 hours away, and the services of a doctor is 6-7 hours away for people living in these communities. So, you can see how people would be very tempted to accept this "Trojan Horse" into their lives.
In order to counteract this new threat, which could undo years of work, and very likely would mean the acceptance of mining, I am asking the Sloth Club to help organize Health Solidarity Fund for Intag to help cover the costs of offering free medical services in this area.
I am hoping that with time, a permanent Intag Solidarity Fund is created by the Sloth Club to help the Intag area confront the threats we have to daily face with such few resources.
The details need to be yet worked out, but the Health fund would basically be to hire a doctor to spend 4-5 days a month minimum in this area attending to people, cover the costs of transportation, basic supplies, and the first purchase of medicines (the people would have to pay their own medicine to try and make it as sustainable as possible).
In time, and if enough funds are available, it would be ideal to also build a small, simple clinic. Really, the details need to be worked out with the doctors.
In our end here, I promise to try to talk to the Cotacachi government to try and get the services of a doctor for as inexpensive as possible. I am also in contact with a group of doctors from the U.S.A. who are trying to come up with a health project similar to this one- however, this could take more time that we can afford.
In essence, this Health project would be only temporary, and until we can come up with a sustainably funded project. The idea is to fund it for 12 months, and by that time, hopefully, working with the contacts cited above, we will be able to come up with permanent funding.
There are many enemies that we have to constantly confront which threaten to destroy the opposition to the copper mining project, A permanent Solidarity Fund could make all the differenc for all of us in Intag.
If each one of us would offer to donate $5 or $10 a month for one year, I think the fund will be well funded. I and a friend have already pledge $10 per month- so we have already $240, even though I only started it yesterday. A very, very rough idea of funding needs would be approximately 6,000 to 7,000 dollars to get it started the first year.
This is less than 60 people pledging $120 per year.
Since Aya is here in Ecuador, and very capable, I would like to suggest that she help oversee the project.
Besides this urgent project, there are others that in the future we can work together on, such as the Solidarity Store in Otavalo. One of the biggest problem that we face is people telling us that there are no good markets for the products produced in Intag area. This can make the wages paid my mining companies very appealing to people who only make three or four dollars per day. The purpose of the store, then, would be to find good markets for the products made here, such as cabuya handicrafts, hand-made soap, coffee, and other agricultural products, but also to promote the Junin Ecotourism project, and other economic sustainable and ethical activities being developed in Intag and Cotacachi County. The store would also be a center of sustainable and fair trade information to local and foreign visitors, and a space to inform people of the threats our communities and natural resources are facing.
Please consider this very important initiative and pledge to it.

Sincerely,
Carlos Zorrilla