On March 8, 2012 several hundred Indigenous people began a two week march across Ecuador to call attention to their protest of a large-scale open-pit copper mine. Ecuacorriente, a Chinese company, has been authorized by the Correa government to develop a mine near El Pangui, Zamora-Chinchipe Province, in the southern part of the country.
The Ancestral Territories Network is a communication network composed of community media, community communicators, and community audiovisual producers.
Ayllukunas (families) are the basis of Pakkiru, which has collective practices based on the principles of Sumak Kawsay (good living), Sumak allpa mama (territory), Sumak mirachina (ancestral economy), Sacha Runa Yachay (ancestral knowledge and wisdom), and Sumak Tantanakuy (self-government).
Colectivo Kichwa Wayrapi is an alternative digital media collective dedicated to the revitalization of the Kichwa language, as well as the culture, wisdom, customs, and traditions of the Cotacachi, Otavalo, and Cayambe territories. Their project, “Kichwa Communicators Course with an Intercultural Approach,” aims to encourage Kichwa speakers to learn the language and get involved in the media without being ashamed of their ethnicity, dress, or language.
By Organización Comuna Amazónica
The aggressive advance of mining extractivism in Ecuador threatens the entire country. In our province, Napo, we are experiencing one of the most serious environmental disasters in our history, caused by the complicity of mining companies, illegal mining operators, and the government, who have formed a network of corruption that is poisoning our water sources and bleeding the jungle, affecting our economy and putting our health at risk.
As an Indigenous-led organization that advocates for the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Survival condemns the vile murder of Eduardo Mendúa (A’i Cofán), land and environmental defender and Head of International Relations of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (
Cultural Survival’s Keepers of the Earth Fund grant partners, the A’i Cofán de Dureno community in Ecuador, have been mobilizing to defend their ancestral lands against oil exploitation by the national oil company Petroecuador for six months.
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are headquartered on Massachusett land, in Cambridge, MA, and we thank the past, current, and future Indigenous stewards of this territory.
