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…
FROM THE EDITORS: A large alliance representing 30 indigenous nationalities, inhabitants and protectors of 35 million hectares of the Peruvian and Ecuadorian Amazon, published the “Bioregional Plan: Sacred Headwaters 2030” to present a strategic plan for the protection and conservation of forests led by indigenous peoples. The plan includes concrete transition actions towards indigenous self-determination…
FROM THE EDITORS: Patricia Yallico from ACAPANA hosts the show “Insurrectas,” a show posted regularly on their social media. We are featuring this conversation below with Paolina Vercoutere of the Otavalo people and Ana Cristina Vera of Surkuna, an organization that fights for women’s reproductive and access to abortion rights. In April of 2021, Ecuador’s…
In Ecuador, like many Latin American countries, due to the global inequity of access to vaccines against COVID-19, only 10% of the population has so far received both doses of the vaccine. Indigenous peoples, with minimal access to clinical care, are particularly vulnerable populations that know very well they cannot lower their guard to the…
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…
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…
Easter week is here, and it’s that time of the year when families in Ecuador and Ecuadorian immigrants in the US, Canada, and Europe prepare fanesca, one of the most intricate dishes I’ve had the pleasure to prepare and eat. It is so complex that people often gather their extended families to help in the…
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…