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The Compass: Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas: Stories from the New Silk Road: Ecuador

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Stories from the new Silk Road: Ecuador

02/11/2022 GMT

Stories from the New Silk Road: Ecuador

Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas

BBC World Service - The Compass, Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas, Stories from the New Silk Road: Ecuador

What impact is China’s Belt and Road initiative having on the people of Ecuador?

The Cordillera del Condor mountain range in the east of Ecuador is where the mountains meets the jungles and the Andes meets the Amazon. In this region a Chinese run copper mine, Mirador, has grabbed the headlines over recent years, leading to controversy, resistance and talk of impending disaster. It has become a huge challenge for a government trying their utmost to support mining projects that might help boost a fragile economy.

On the other side of the country, shrimp farms line mile upon mile of Pacific coastline, helping a nation of 17 million people to become the largest exporter of that popular crustacean in the world. Ecuador now provides over half of all the shrimp consumed in China, and as the price of shrimp increases, so does its appeal to modern-day pirates who regularly raid shrimp farms and their workers in the Gulf of Guayaquil, hoping to plunder their precious catch.

In the first of a new, four-part series, Katy Watson, the BBC’s South America correspondent explores how China’s ambitious New Silk Road is impacting the lives of people in Latin America and the Caribbean. Beginning in Ecuador, Katy looks at how mining and shrimp farming are helping to drive President Xi Jinping’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative in one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the world, where the ‘rights of nature’ are protected in the constitution.

Presenter: Katy Watson
Producer: Peter Shevlin
A C60Media production for the BBC World Service

(Photo: Ecuador mine. Credit: Peter Shevlin)

The Compass: Stories From The New Silk Road: The Americas

With new aspirations across the Americas, the majority of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have joined President Xi’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. From Ecuador, Panama, Jamaica and Mexico, the BBC’s South America correspondent Katy Watson examines its impact on the region.

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