Olón residents protest environmental damage by Noboa family real estate development

Residents of the coastal community of Olón in Santa Elena Province are protesting the clearing of a mangrove swamp and native trees for a residential development owned by President Daniel Noboa’s wife. About a dozen residents camped on the site Tuesday night and said they won’t leave until they have assurances that destruction of vegetation will stop.

Part of the Esterillo Oloncito in Santa Elena Province where a company partly owned by President Daniel Noboa’s wife is building a residential project.

The planned real estate project on 7,000 square meters of beachfront property is located in Esterillo Oloncito, an area of mangroves and carob trees that residents say protect the area from flooding during bad weather. Protest leaders say that the destruction of coastal vegetation is illegal under a 2001 environmental protection law.

According to the Superintendence of Companies, the development company, Vinazin S.A. is owned by Noboa’s wife Ángela Lavinia Valbonesi and Daniel Patricio Correia. The Superintendence website shows that the Ministry of the Environment issued a development permit for the project on December 5, thirteen days after Noboa took office.

President of the Olón Commune, Jhon Reyes, claims that the project was never “socialized” with the community and that the issuance of project permits came under pressure from the government. “By rule, developers are required to meet with resident of the community to discuss their projects, to share the plans and explain how the project will not negatively affect the environment,” Reyes said. “This did not happen, and we suspect the meetings were avoided because the developer knew there would be objections.”

More important, Reyes says, is that environment laws were violated in clearing vegetation.

Based on its development application, Vinazin S.A. plans to build four multi-story buildings on the site, each with 24 residential units. The development would also include social areas, green areas, parking, an access road, and a boardwalk to the beach.

Several members of the National Assembly are demanding a full investigation of the project and Environmental Minister Sade Fristchi has been asked to provide an explanation. “It is the duty of the government to protect all native terrestrial, marine and aquatic wildlife species,” says Assemblywoman Jhajaira Urresta. “I want to know why the Ministry of the Environment is not doing its job in this case and I want to know if political influence was involved.”