More About Kichwa

Indigenous Peoples Fight for Justice a Year After Devastating Oil Spill

Hundreds of Ecuadorian Indigenous people took to the streets of the Amazonian town of Coca yesterday to demand justice for the ongoing impacts of the country's largest oil spill in recent history. Amazon Watch’s team in Ecuador, alongside coalition partners, has been leading advocacy campaigns and maintaining pressure on the government and big banks financing the trade of this toxic commodity. The team is also supporting the communities seeking justice through technical assistance and legal strategy for the lawsuit, providing media support, and direct funding to affected communities.

Amazonian Indigenous Peoples Demand Justice One Year After Ecuador Oil Spill

Representatives of 109 Indigenous communities marched to the prosecutor's office in the Amazonian province of Orellana

Coca, Ecuador – This morning, hundreds of Indigenous Kichwa people from the Ecuadorian Amazon marched through the city of Coca to mark one year since the country’s largest oil spill in recent history. On April 7, 2020, 672,000 gallons of crude oil and fuel spilled from the country’s two major pipelines, the OCP and SOTE operated by the OCP Consortium and Petroecuador respectively, contaminating the Coca and Napo rivers, and their source of water and food. There has not been full remediation nor redress for local communities.

Women Defenders Unite to Protect the Amazon

Across the Amazon Basin, Indigenous women are uniting and organizing in defense of life, rights, and territories while confronting increasing threats. Amazonian women defenders are on the front lines of defense and response to both the climate and COVID-19 emergencies. This is in addition to leading resistance against extractive industries, agribusiness expansion, and government policies that incentivize fires, land-grabbing, and attacks against Earth defenders. Amazonian women defenders are guiding solutions for a better future and call upon all of us to listen to their voices and show our solidarity.

Our Voice Is Our Power

Indigenous women in the Amazon have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change and the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, and today we are stepping up into new leadership roles, successfully forcing out extractive industries and companies from our sacred territories.

Manufacturing Consent: Ecuador to Draft New Bill on the Consultation of Indigenous Peoples, Without Consulting Them

"We demand that an FPIC law be put forth in harmony with and respect for our peoples and nations and our ways and time frames for discussion, analysis, and decision-making. We are not going to acquiesce to an illegitimate law written from their desks in Quito," said a CONFENIAE statement. "Since this will be a law regarding the collective rights of Indigenous peoples and nations, we ourselves must be the ones who put forth and define that law. Any law that sidesteps dialogue with us will not be valid and will not be enforceable in the territories of the Indigenous peoples and nations."

Delayed Justice, Again

The Kichwa of Ecuador vow to appeal lawsuit over worst oil spill in the last fifteen years

"Today's ruling shows that the Ecuadorian justice system has once again put the interests of oil companies above the rights of Indigenous peoples and nature. The evidence of contamination and the impact on the lives of the Kichwa populations of the Coca and Napo rivers was overwhelming during the hearing. However, the judge, without law or logic on his side, denied justice for those affected by the spill who have been waiting for months for meaningful action to remediate and repair the damage. Meanwhile, the river and the lives along it, have changed, perhaps forever."

COVID, Crude, and Climate: Crisis and Opportunity in the Ecuadorian Amazon

"In this time of multiple crises, we are invisible, yet again. But they're planning to open up our territories the second this is over. And we won't let that happen."

Ecuador is grappling with a trifecta of tragedy never before seen despite its tumultuous history. The country not only has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in the world, but it is also facing a pipeline rupture that has contaminated Amazon rivers and historic flooding that has devastated local communities and left hundreds of families without homes or crops.