Ecuador prepares for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ vote to stop oil drilling

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The poll will decide whether to halt drilling at the Yasuní Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) oilfield, also known as oil block 43, which lies in an Amazon national park and one of the world’s richest pockets of biodiversity.

Ecuador’s largest protected area is also home to the Waorani people and the country’s last Indigenous communities in voluntary isolation, the Tagaeri and Taromenane.

When casting their ballots in a snap election that has been marked by the brutal assassination of a presidential candidate, a second referendum question will ask voters just in Quito whether to allow mining in the Chocó Andino, a vast area of land near the capital.

While it cited the country’s political and security risk, it also estimated a $600m fall in fiscal revenues and a 12% drop in oil output if the yes vote succeeded.

Alberto Acosta-Burneo, an economist and editor of the Weekly Analysis bulletin, said Ecuador would be “shooting itself in the foot” if it shut down the fourth oil block in Yasuní ITT.

Gualinga fought and won a case in the inter-American court of human rights in 2012 to block government-authorised oil exploration by an Argentinian company on her people’s land.

The original article contains 773 words, the summary contains 195 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I wish them the best of luck but it sickens me that we're having to vote on whether or not to destroy the ecosystem.

The photographer for this article’s image did a very good job.

They’ve had voter turnouts of 80% there, but rises in crime and violence have also at times made it unsafe to even leave home. I hope the people of Ecuador can have their voices heard.

Looks like Ecuador might be in line for a little "freedom".