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NEMONPARE, ECUADOR - The Amazon rainforest is not an oil block and it is not for sale, says Ecuador's Waorani community in a new petition. The indigenous community has been living in and fighting for their jungle territory for thousands of years, but they could soon see the entire region auctioned off to the highest …
Continue reading "Ecuador’s indigenous Waorani launch petition to save the Amazon (Al Jazeera)"
QUITO, ECUADOR — Every night since March 26, when three Ecuadoran journalists were kidnapped near their country’s border with Colombia, their colleagues have gathered to demand their rescue. “We’re missing three! We want them back alive!” they have shouted while protesting in front of the presidential palace in the capital, Quito. The kidnappings of Javier …
EL ESTRECHO, COLOMBIA - For more than 35 years, Blanca Ducuara Gomez lived in Colombia's mountains, patrolling the countryside as a member of the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). But today she lives in a FARC disarmament camp (also known as reintegration areas) in the southern state of Cauca, …
Continue reading "Why are former FARC rebels leaving reintegration camps? (Al Jazeera)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - Nearly 100 indigenous women of the Ecuadorian Amazon spent five days protesting outside the country’s Presidential Palace last week. They were demanding a meeting with President Lenin Moreno and to personally deliver their political mandate. Authorities eventually agreed to a meeting between the protesters and the president, currently set for March 22. …
Continue reading "Indigenous Amazonian women demand end to extraction (Mongabay)"
QUITO, ECUADOR - Es el cuarto día que cerca de 100 mujeres indígenas de la Amazonía ecuatoriana protestan en las afueras del Palacio de Carondelet, residencia oficial del presidente del Ecuador. Llegaron el lunes a la ciudad de Quito para exigir una reunión con el mandatario Lenin Moreno y entregarle personalmente un documento que recoge todas …
PUYO, ECUADOR – About 350 Indigenous women from across the Ecuadorian Amazon gathered here yesterday to celebrate International Women’s Day, and, they say, to fight back against a system that violates their rights. Many women spoke out specifically against the extractive industries operating in their territories. They say these industries have caused forced displacements and …
Continue reading "Indigenous women march in Ecuador, vow to ‘defend our territory’ (Mongabay)"
PUYO, ECUADOR - Alrededor de 350 mujeres indígenas de toda la Amazonía ecuatoriana marcharon ayer en la localidad de Puyo, provincia de Pastaza, para protestar contra un sistema que aseguran está violando sus derechos. Muchas de ellas se manifestaron en contra de las operaciones de las industrias extractivas que operan en sus territorios y que, …
QUITO, ECUADOR - Indigenous communities in Ecuador celebrated this week after President Lenin Moreno announced Monday that the government would come down harder on oil and mining companies that don’t comply with the country’s social and environmental laws. New mining concessions are now stalled until the companies can prove they’ve complied with all regulations under …
COLOMBIA - Diana Lozado was 21 when she left her home city of Nieva and fled into the jungle to fight with the FARC. She had always been fascinated by the guerrilla movement and its fight against inequality in the countryside, and Lozado wanted to be part of it. “I only knew the FARC in theory, …
MADRIGAL, COLOMBIA - Each day at 6 a.m., Jorge Moreno walks to his coca field to harvest leaves that will eventually be made into cocaine. He inspects the leaves by hand and cuts them with a machete—his only tool—while swatting away mosquitoes. He started recently, because there were few other options. The only thing he was …
Continue reading "When the Government Orders You to Burn Your Crops (In These Times)"
