"I am not scared. As a Zápara woman, I will fight for my territory." -- Nema Grefa Ushigua, president of the Zápara Nation, after receiving threats in April.
"I am not scared. As a Zápara woman, I will fight for my territory." -- Nema Grefa Ushigua, president of the Zápara Nation, after receiving threats in April.
By Nati Garcia
After a week of intense travel in Ecuador from the south of Guayaquil to the north of Imbabura, we finally made it to Cotacachi located in the “hoya” of Ibarra on the divine slopes of Cotacachi stratovolcano in the eastern part of the Andes. Only 20 minutes from Otavalo, Cotacachi has a completely different atmosphere, full of art, music, and peace.Here people have maintained their native language, Kichwa, which in other areas of Ecuador is being forgotten.
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.
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.
