Dear Land is Life Partners,
Just yesterday, after 11 days of nationwide indigenous-led mobilizations that paralyzed the country, Ecuador’s indigenous movement compelled their government to prioritize their demands over those of the International Monetary Fund, an important victory for indigenous organizing and pluri-national democracy, and a powerful blow to a 4.4 billion IMF-backed loan deal that seeks to restructure the Ecuadorian economy towards privatization, resource-extraction, and other severe neo-liberal economic reforms.
As the dust settles, the indigenous movement is taking stock of the high costs of this struggle, with at least 7 dead and thousands arrested or injured, as well as the road ahead to demand accountability for brutal human rights violations by the Ecuadorian government. What comes next will define the future of Ecuador and indigenous peoples for generations to come.
We would like to send a special thanks to Amazon Frontlines and Amazon Watch for helping us with this joint campaign. Our friends at Amazon Frontlines have been a key partner in supporting legal cases and sharing messages of our Indigenous allies. In that spirit, they have created a photo essay to share the struggle of the past 12 days.
While today marks the 527th year anniversary since the arrival of the conquistadors to the Americas – a day formerly known to many as Columbus Day is now rightfully known as Indigenous People’s Day. We send strength and congratulations to our partners in Ecuador as they celebrate a victory for indigenous peoples and self-determination.
For more updates, please follow our partners CONAIE and CONFENIAE as they continue their work on the ground.
