Latin America is a violent environment for Indigenous leaders who are defending their territories from extractivist industries. The spiral of violence that Indigenous peoples are facing has again claimed a new victim, this time in Ecuador over the past weekend. Alba Bermeo Puin, a 24 year-old Indigenous defender and anti-mining
On August 31st, in the town of Santa Cruz, the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia held a session on the development of legislative measures to grant legal force to Indigenous Peoples’ autonomous FPIC protocols. Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) has emerged as an international human rights norm that
This past Tuesday, August 23rd, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) held a historical public hearing in Brasilia, regarding severe rights violations by the State of Ecuador against the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous Peoples. Taromenane and Tagaeri are two of the last known Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary
In the Kichwa language, kawsari refers to a type of awakening, specifically the awakening to life. The Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku thus named their First Meeting of the Peoples of the Living Forest (Kawsak Sacha) accordingly, held on their territory between the 25th and 27th of July. The Kawsari
Land is Life expresses outrage at the death of Byron Guatatoca, Amazonian Indigenous defender of the Province of Pastaza, who died within the framework of the “State of Exception” dictated by the government of Ecuador to suppress peaceful and legal Indigenous-led demonstrations. This is the latest in a series of
We at Land is Life are deeply concerned about the increasingly ominous state of stigmatization, prosecution, and repression that the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador are facing. Over the past week, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), along with other Indigenous, rural and social organizations, have mobilized to protest
