Indigenous Voices: Ecuador
Last month, we launched a series of blogs featuring voices from the field, profiling indigenous participants in the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) workshops we held in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador between October 2017 and February 2018 in conjunction with COICA, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin. For more information about our FPIC work, click here.
All participants consented to their comments and photos being published. The views expressed reflect individual opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Equitable Origin.
Para español, ver más abajo.
Mercy Payaguaje of the Secoya Nationality of Ecuador-NASEPAI (Sucumbíos Province – Ecuador)
I am from the Secoya Nationality of Ecuador-NASEPAI of the San Pablo del Río Aguarico community, I had to take a car from my community to Lago Agrio, in total it took me 4 hours to get here. I came to the workshop at the invitation of Pablo Yépez [of Equitable Origin] whom I have known for a long time, and this topic is important for us. In our territory there have been seismic exploration activities and there are some oil wells. And there has never been Free, Prior, Informed Consultation. Our nationality has 4 communities in total and we are approximately 600 Secoyas.
En Español
Mercy Payaguaje – Nacionalidad Secoya del Ecuador-NASEPAI (Provincia Sucumbíos-Ecuador)
Soy de la Nacionalidad Secoya del Ecuador-NASEPAI de la comunidad San pablo del Río Aguarico, he tenido que tomar carro desde mi comunidad hasta Lago Agrio, en total me tomó 4 horas llegara hasta aquí. Vine al taller por invitación de Pablo Yépez [de Equitable Origin] a quien conozco desde hace mucho tiempo, y es importante este tema para nosotros. En nuestro territorio ha habido actividades de exploración sísmica y hay algunos pozos de petróleo. Y nunca ha habido Consulta Previa, Libre e Informado, nuestra nacionalidad tiene 4 comunidades en total y somos aproximadamente 600 Secoyas.