Ecuador: Ambato advances work against artisans
19/06/2013
Around 80% of Ecuador’s 150 tanneries are in the province of Tungurahua, many of them in the area around the city of Ambato. Traditional tanners there have complained to local media that they are being forced to move away from built-up areas into newly built industrial zones with the required water treatment facilities.
One of the artisan tanners, Julio Herrera, owner of the San Isidro tannery, has explained that such a move would cost him $250,000. “I can’t even contemplate moving to wherever it is the authorities want to move me,” he said in recent comments. “That would mean watching everything I’ve invested in my tannery crumble away to nothing. I wouldn’t be able to get a loan either. If the authorities refuse to let me keep producing leather here, I’ll have to close down and lay off the 12 people who work for me.”
A former president of the national tanners’ association ANCE, Ximena Albán, said the authorities no longer want to give the necessary permits to allow small operators to keep producing. She said ANCE wants to help small producers find a way round the problem and get the technical help they need to continue operating.
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