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Ecuadorian Indigenous Communities Support Oil Extraction Despite Environmental Concerns
Confirmed
In Short: Efraín Fueres, a 46-year-old community leader, was killed on Sunday in Cotacachi, Ecuador, while marching in protest of high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists.
The Ecuadorian public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the shooting, but the Ecuadorian Consulate in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment.
Fueres was one of thousands of Ecuadorians who have taken to the streets over the past two weeks in response to a series of government decrees, including the removal of fuel subsidies, which raised gasoline prices by more than 50 percent.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the country’s largest Indigenous organization, denied allegations by President Daniel Noboa that transnational criminal organizations were financing the protests.
CONAIE stated that the protests are driven by a broad set of demands, including the repeal of the gasoline price increase, compliance with a nationwide referendum to end oil production in the Amazon rainforest, and an end to the criminalization of Indigenous and environmental activists.
Vice President of Chijallta FICI, Sisa Inés Cotacachi, said communities throughout Imbabura province were also protesting against national government decrees that have rolled back environmental and human rights protections.
A coalition of Ecuadorian lawyers, scientists, and human rights activists released a call for organizations to sign onto an open letter to United Nations human rights experts, condemning the government’s actions and accusing it of deploying military forces around extractive sites and criminalizing environmental protest.
The coalition’s statement read, “We condemn this brutal attack on organized resistance.”
In addition to the shooting, the Ecuadorian army reported that 12 soldiers were injured in Cotacachi while guarding a food-aid convoy.
Ecuadorian President Noboa, an ally of the U.S., has alleged without presenting evidence that transnational criminal organizations were financing the Indigenous-led protests.
Advocates argue that the policy harms millions of poor Ecuadorians who live on less than $100 a month.
In a separate development, a national referendum in August 2023 voted to halt the ITT oil project, a decision that reflects the complex relationship between Indigenous groups and environmental protection.
CONAIE National President Jorge Herrera, a Kichwa resident from Ecuador’s central mountains, said the government’s clientelist manipulation had focused residents’ interests on materialism and away from the sacred bond of Buen Vivir.
What this adds
The source of Indigenous enthusiasm for environmental protection is more complex than mere ascriptive traits or whether they speak native languages.
What's confirmed
- The Ecuadorian public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the shooting, but the Ecuadorian Consulate in Washington, D.C., did not respond to requests for comment.
- Fueres was one of thousands of Ecuadorians who have taken to the streets over the past two weeks in response to a series of government decrees, including the removal of fuel subsidies, which raised gasoline prices by more than 50 percent.
- The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the country’s largest Indigenous organization, denied allegations by President Daniel Noboa that transnational criminal organizations were financing the protests.
- CONAIE stated that the protests are driven by a broad set of demands, including the repeal of the gasoline price increase, compliance with a nationwide referendum to end oil production in the Amazon rainforest, and an end to the criminalization of Indigenous and environmental activists.
- Vice President of Chijallta FICI, Sisa Inés Cotacachi, said communities throughout Imbabura province were also protesting against national government decrees that have rolled back environmental and human rights protections.
- A coalition of Ecuadorian lawyers, scientists, and human rights activists released a call for organizations to sign onto an open letter to United Nations human rights experts, condemning the government’s actions and accusing it of deploying military forces around extractive sites and criminalizing environmental protest.
- In addition to the shooting, the Ecuadorian army reported that 12 soldiers were injured in Cotacachi while guarding a food-aid convoy.
- Ecuadorian President Noboa, an ally of the U.S., has alleged without presenting evidence that transnational criminal organizations were financing the Indigenous-led protests.
- Advocates argue that the policy harms millions of poor Ecuadorians who live on less than $100 a month.
- In a separate development, a national referendum in August 2023 voted to halt the ITT oil project, a decision that reflects the complex relationship between Indigenous groups and environmental protection.
- CONAIE National President Jorge Herrera, a Kichwa resident from Ecuador’s central mountains, said the government’s clientelist manipulation had focused residents’ interests on materialism and away from the sacred bond of Buen Vivir.
What's still developing
- An Indigenous land defender was shot and killed on Sunday in Cotacachi, Ecuador, where he was marching in protest of high costs of living and government crackdowns on Indigenous and environmental activists.
- In Comparative Politics and Global Environmental Politics last month, we published separate analyses of the results.
- “Where the environment is destroyed, our identity is destroyed, as this interrupts the relationship between nature and our people,” said Romulo Akachu, vice president of Ecuador’s national indigenous federation, called CONAIE, and representative of the Shuar Nation, where there is currently no oil drilling.
- The Kichwa cosmovison contributes to indigenous support for efforts to combat climate change, acting as a compliment to Western scientific arguments, we found in our second analysis, in Global Environmental Politics.
- Other indigenous activists interviewed argued that concern for the environment had not diminished in polluted, post-extraction areas.
- True to essentialist stereotypes, Latin America’s indigenous peoples are the best stewards of the region’s rainforests.
- But the source of their enthusiasm for environmental protection is more complex than mere ascriptive traits or whether they speak native languages.
- In 2013, oil spills and resulting public health risks in the area prompted communities to pursue a landmark legal case against Chevron (formerly Texaco).
- While the project was expected to have knock-on effects on the river, land and forest, it would also bring jobs, indemnification money and so-called “social compensation” through projects in health, education and infrastructure.
- “How come will they oppose, if the people don’t have anywhere to poop?” said Juan Manuel, a councilman and member of the community.