Ecuador starts dismantling Yasuni National Park oil block two days before court deadline Boston 25 News [Video]

BOGOTA, Colombia — (AP) — Ecuador’s government says it has started dismantling infrastructure on a controversial oil drilling block in Yasuni National Park, just as Friday’s court-imposed deadline for completion looms.

The Ministry for Energy and Mines said in a statement Wednesday evening that it shut one of 247 wells in the 43-ITT block — the Ishpingo B-56 well.

It’s been a year since the historic referendum to halt oil drilling in the national park in the country’s Amazon, but the Waorani Indigenous people who live there and rights groups say nothing has been done.

The government last week asked the constitutional court for an extension of five years and five months for the state-run oil company Petroecuador to cease operations and get out.

“I have come to verify that the decision of last year’s referendum, where the citizens voted in favor of the closure of this field, is being …