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  • Ecuador: CONAIE Rejects Government’s Neoliberal Policies

    FROM THE EDITORS: Below you will find a translation of CONAIE’s communiqué and resolutions taken after their assembly on November 27, which shows the tensions with Guillermo Lasso’s government and efforts to keep the movement together. SOURCE: https://twitter.com/CONAIE_Ecuador/status/1465541084818382851 Resolutions of the General Council of CONAIE The general council of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of…

    Looking Forward from COP26: An Interview with Andrés Tapia from Lanceros Digitales and CONFENIAE

    Awasqa: You participated in COP26. Tell us a little about your experience as a member of the organizations  Andrés Tapia: We participated as part of COICA (Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica) as part of the nine countries that represent the Amazon basin, that is, we were able to participate in COP26…

  • Ecuador: Communication Law Reform Threatens Communal Rights

    FROM THE EDITORS: In Ecuador, one of the first legislative actions of conservative President Guillermo Lasso has been to attempt to reform Ecuador’s Communication Law. By highlighting “freedom of expression” as an individual right, the new law would supersede rights already won under the Communication Law, which guarantee the right to information and communication as…

  • Ecuador: Indigenous Party and Organizations Call to Boycott Presidential Elections

    FROM THE EDITORS: Ecuador is again in turmoil. The only indigenous party, Plurinational Unity Movement Pachakutik (MUPP) List 18, born from popular resistance in the 1990s, and most national indigenous organizations have publicly called people to void their vote, “Vote Null,” in the next round of presidential elections set for April 11. (Voting is compulsory…

  • Ecuador’s Water Rights Presidential Candidate

    Ecuador’s first round of presidential elections took place on Sunday, February 7, leaving three finalists for the second round (yet to be defined, by a vote count): a self-appointed socialist, Andrés Arauz Galarza; an indigenous environmentalist, Yaku Pérez; and a banker, Guillermo Lasso. Yaku Pérez has shown in the days following the election that there…

  • Indian Was the Name Used to Subjugate Us, Indian Is the Name by Which We Will Be Liberated

    FROM THE EDITORS: During the October 2019 protests in Ecuador led by indigenous groups and social justice organizations, politicians made openly racist statements, replicated by the media and promoted by social networks, that deeply polarized the country. Below we share a clear response to racist comments made on a popular podcast, raising calls for inquiries…

  • Photo credit: Ecuarunari

    Ecuador: Activists Hold Funeral, Seek Justice During Popular Assembly

    In an unparalleled demonstration of resistance, defiance, and power, indigenous people in Ecuador held a popular assembly all day Thursday, October 10, to reject police/military repression to the protests that began eight days ago to pressure the Ecuadorian government to end FMI’s neoliberal economic policies tied to a US$4.2 billion fund.  Repression was the norm…

  • Indigenous people walk towards Quito. Photo credit: Radio Iluman

    Indigenous nations in Ecuador declare “state of exception,” denounce neoliberal and extractivist policies on sovereign lands

    In a stunning act of defiance, the largest indigenous organizations in Ecuador—CONAIE and CONFENIAE—declared a “state of exception” on sovereign indigenous lands, to reject military and policie presence on their terrorities and the right to detain such forces if they were to illegally enter or use repressive tactics on their lands. They did so after…