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PUYO, ECUADOR—Rosa Elvira Chuji Gualingai, 50, came to the city to pressure the government. Watching the traffic outside her office window, she says, “I can't get used to this lifestyle.” The indigenous activist, leader of the Shiwiar community of Kurintsa, was raised deep in the Amazon rainforest, surrounded by towering ceibo and palm trees. With …
QUITO, ECUADOR - Gabriela doesn't remember when she was raped, because she was passed out when it happened. The 27-year-old Ecuadorian psychology student had been taking anti-depressants and sleeping pills on a regular basis. One night, when staying at a friend's house, she took the usual combination that "makes me not feel a thing," she …
PUYO, Ecuador — An indigenous community in Ecuador has filed a lawsuit against the government for failing to consult with it before putting its territory up for sale to the oil industry. The Waorani community announced the lawsuit Feb. 27 with a historic march through the city of Puyo, capital of the Amazon province of …
Continue reading "Indigenous group sues Ecuador for earmarking its land for oil drilling (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - Ricardo Perez says he feels scared walking down the streets of Quito these days. He can’t wait to get back to his home in Venezuela. The 24-year-old migrant says he has long received dirty looks, been called names for being Venezuelan, and told to go home. Tensions hit a peak last week …
Continue reading "Venezuelans flee violence in Ecuador (New Internationalist)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - The most important thing we can do to address climate change isn’t to create new regulations, but ensure that countries comply with the regulations that already exist. That’s according to the first ever report on environmental policies worldwide, released by the UN on Jan. 24. The report concludes that environmental concerns have …
Continue reading "Time to shift focus to existing environmental laws, says new UN report (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indigenous leaders from tropical forest nations have urged Californian regulators to reject a proposed international carbon trading scheme, arguing it would violate forest peoples' rights. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is due to decide in April whether to adopt the California Tropical Forest Standard (TFS), a controversial plan …
Continue reading "California split over carbon trading plan for tropical forests (Reuters)"
CHACO, ECUADOR - La presa Coca Codo Sinclair (CCS) en Ecuador ha sido elogiada, tanto a nivel local como internacional, por ser una gran hazaña de ingeniería. Pero de acuerdo con ciudadanos locales y expertos, este proyecto masivo también ha tenido un alto costo. Hasta ahora, no ha cumplido con las expectativas económicas prometidas a …
Continue reading "Mega presa en la selva ecuatoriana sigue cuestionada (InfoAmazonia)"
QUITO, ECUADOR – Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters took a break from his South America-Mexico tour on Tuesday to visit Ecuador and denounce oil giant Chevron Texaco. Rogers said he wanted to draw attention to cleanup in the Amazon Rainforest the company was ordered to carry out by a judge in Ecuador, who also …
Continue reading "Rock icon Roger Waters denounces Chevron in Ecuador (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - More than 1,500 indigenous protesters had a clear message as they march through Ecuador's capital Quito on Wednesday: Stop mining on, or near, indigenous territory. "We need to fight together," said Alexandra, a Kichwa indigenous woman who walked more than 600km in traditional sandals from the southern Amazonian province of Zamora Chinchipe …
Continue reading "Ecuador’s indigenous march over 600km to demand an end to mining (Al Jazeera)"
SANTANDER de QUILICHAO, COLOMBIA - In June, Clemencia Carabali received her first death threat this year. She was in her office planning workshops for the local community, when an unknown man called her personal phone and told her she had until 5 p.m. that day to leave the territory, or be killed. Then he hung …
Continue reading "Colombia’s New Killing Spree (The Progressive)"
