On March 8, 2012 in El Pangui, a small town in the southeastern Amazon region of Ecuador, a group of one thousand Indigenous people began a 400 mile journey north toward the capital of Quito. They walked in protest of mining explorations scheduled to take place on their tribal lands in the Southeastern Amazon. Meeting other Indigenous groups coming from the opposite direction, they reached their destination on March 22, demanding an explanation to the signing of mining exploration contracts signed by the government with Chinese-owned Ecuacorriente.
March 8, 2012 – International Woman’s Day – marked the beginning of the two-week march for “Water, Life, and Dignity of Indigenous Peoples” in Ecuador. Led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the trip will take protesters 435 miles to Ecuador’s capital, Quito. The route includes a number of places emblematic in the anti-mining struggle, and protesters have managed to gather support from various sectors of society.
By Dr. Skye Stephenson
The Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador, who comprise fourteen nationalities and eighteen pueblos, have been at the forefront of many key human rights struggles in recent decades that have had an impact far beyond their own nation. A key goal of their united Indigenous movement has been the establishment of an intercultural university. After many years of development, the Universidad Intercultural Amawtay Wasi “the House of Wisdom” (UIAW) was launched five years ago receiving accreditation for its unique education offerings based upon Andean ancestral knowledge. Now, the Ecuadorian government is threatening to withdraw that accreditation and potentially close down the university.
An Ecuadoran court has order Chevron to pay almost $10 billion to Indigenous plaintiffs who, the court found, have been damaged by decades of contamination from oil operations there. The oil operations, originally conducted by Texaco, which merged with Chevon in 2001, included some egregious behavior, leaving oil sludge in open pits and rivers, conducting almost no remediation, and contaminating huge areas of rainforest. The plaintiffs--30,000 Indigenous people and farmers--claim very high rates of cancer and other diseases related to exposure to toxins.
The Ecuadorian government is investigating Marlon Santi (president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or CONIAE) for alleged sabotage and terrorism in connection with his participation in a protest against government exclusion of Indigenous representatives from a high-level, international meeting about Indigenous issues.
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.
