Last week members of the Tagaeri clan, an indigenous peoples in Ecuador, attacked three lumberjacks felling trees and encroaching on their lands in the Tiguino area. The lumberjacks, or “colonos”, responded by fatally shooting one of the Tagaeris. The following Monday, the Tangaeri took revenge for the death of their brother by killing the three workers with traditional javelins.
The Tagaeri are a clan belonging to the Huaraoni, an indigenous nation in Ecuador comprising some 1,500 people in an area of almost 20,000 sq. km, completely covered by rain forest. Although most of them have chosen ecotourism as the best available means to preserving their lands, culture and lifestyles, this particular Huaorani clan have chosen to move deeper into the forest and shun all contact with the outside world. Today, a Huaorani named Tiwe is their only contact with the civilized world.
Thanks to a substance called “achicote”, the Tagaeri are also known as “patas coloradas” or “red feet”. One other distinguishing feature of these people is fierce insistence on protecting their lands—especially against the invasions of non-native “cowode”, or "non-humans". The area around which disputes have arisen recently is located at the mouth of the Babataro river, in the Pastaza province.
According to recent local news appearing in El Comercio, the three woodcutters died on Monday April 18 after ‘members of the Tagaeri threw their spears at a group of workers employed by a clandestine wood company’. The official version of this confusing incident was given by Luis Awa, former director of the Organización de la Nacionalidad Huaorani de la Amazonia Colombiana. According to his account, the indigenous Tagaeri had long been bothered by continuous noise from the workers' chainsaws, and had been repeatedly scared by oil company helicopters flying over their settlement. Luis Awa asserts that the workers—often employed by Colombian companies—were warned several times about the danger of invading Tagaeri lands. The workers, however, have paid little attention.
Lourdes Duque, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, explained ‘the Tagaeris have extremely possessive and radical attitudes towards their territory. It has long been considered inappropriate and unwise to intervene in areas belonging to them’. The Tagaeris previously entered the international media spotlight in 1984 when they killed a priest, Alejandro Labaca and Ines Arango, a nun.
The attacks and resulting deaths on both sides raises a broader question regarding whether a traditional justice system or Ecuador law will be applied. In any case, it appears that the Tagaeris have abided by their own rules, seeking to defend themselves from what they consider an invasive and a lethal threat.
