The President of the Decentralized Autonomous Government (GDA) Ángel Widberto Flores Pilatuña and GDA Vice President Graham Richards received a letter from the Chilean Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Resources which threatens them with criminal, administrative, and constitutional charges if they approve any anti-mining related norms at the parish level. The threat came in response to concerns expressed by the Decentralized Autonomous Government (GAD in Spanish) of “6 de Julio de Cuellaje” parish, in the diverse agricultural and cloud forest region of Intag, that the government of Ecuador was taking advantage of the COVID-19 emergency to impose the Llurimagua copper-gold project against local opposition. The parish government had written a letter to the government on April 18, 2020, to express its concerns regarding the signing of a joint venture agreement with Chilean mining giant, Codelco, to push forward the controversial Llurimagua project.