Rafael Correa Humberto Cholango The 2012 Ecuadorian protests were a series of demonstrations by indigenous peoples who oppose the copper mining concessions in the province of Zamora-Chinchipe.

CONAIE also supported Correa in the 2006 election when he won his first term,[3] as well as many of his programmes;[5] however they later accused him of favouring free market policies in disregard of his original intentions.

[3] Similarly, in August 2011, protesters in Bolivia began a cross-country march against fellow pink tide President Evo Morales' initiative to build the Villa Tunari – San Ignacio de Moxos Highway through the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory.

[8] CONAIE, supported by some opposition parties and student and teachers' unions,[2] organised the cross-country march starting from El Pangui, Zamora-Chinchipe.

Several hundred indigenous Ecuadorians took part in the first stage in protest against the mining concessions in the Amazon basin, which they said would lead to environmental degradation and threaten their livelihoods.