Alicia Cawiya

Alicia Cawiya is the Vice-President of the Huaorani Nation of Ecuador and one of the leaders of the movement against oil exploitation in her region. In 2013 she made a speech in Ecuador's parliament to protect the Amazon basin from oil companies.

Life

Childhood

Cawiya was born in the Ñoneno community, in the Yasuní reservation (Ecuador). Her grandmother, Iteca, was known to be a feared Huaorani warrior.[1] The Huaorani were regarded as the fiercest of all the indigenous people of Ecuador, Quechua people call them aucas (savages).[2]

When Alicia was a child she was sent to be raised by missionaries, who had the task of "civilising the barbarians" so the oil companies could move in to indigenous territory without resistance. Iteca, Alicia's grandmother, brought her back to the forest.[1]

Political life

In an interview with New Internationalist Alicia said that she became politically active at the age of 13. At 18 she was a leader, following the footsteps of her grandmother in a traditionally male-dominated community.[1]

Women at the time were not allowed to make decisions. But my grandmother said that as men and women were engaged in the same struggle to keep their territory [from incursions by oil companies], why could they not do it together?

— Alicia Cawiya, Newint.org

She became Vice-President of the National Waorani Federation (NAWE) and in 2005 she and other communities leaders founded the Asociación de Mujeres Waorani del Ecuador (Ecuador Waorani Women Association), which now comprises around 300 women. The aim of the association is to protect the organic life-style of their people and to fight against oil companies.[3]

In 2013 her name became relevant when she defended her people and pronounced a speech in Ecuador's parliament asking to stop the Yasuní-ITT plan and the incursion of oil companies in the Amazon.

Oil companies conflict in Ecuador

Since 1972 Ecuador was an important oil exporter in South America -the third after Venezuela and Mexico. The infraestructures made to take the oil affected socially and ecologically the Ecuadorian Amazon region.[4]

After Chevron didn't accept the sentence of a fee of 9.500 million dollars (which was increased to 19.000 million) Ecuadorian government start this campaign to show the actual pollution that the company produced in the area.
Campaign "The dirty hand of Chevron"

One of the most known examples is the Texaco-Chevron case. This American oil company operated in the Ecuadorian Amazon region between 1964 and 1992. During this period, Texaco drilled 339 wells in 15 petroleum fields and 627 toxic wastewater pits were abandoned, as well as other elements of the oil infrastructure. It is know now that obsolete and highly polluting technologies were used as a way to reduce economic expenses.[5]

After the company left the country, the government started legal actions to be compensated by the company, which tried to avoid the sentence of paying a fee of 19.000 million dollars. This conflict lasted for more than twenty years and in June 2017 the United States Supreme Court sentenced the rejection of the fee. The Ecuadorian social movements said they will continue trying to bring these companies in front of the justice.[6]

Yasuní-ITT

In September 2013 the Ecuadorian government announced the exploitation of the Yasuní area and the 43 block, better known as ITT (Ishpingo, Tiputini and Tambococha), which was supposed to have a big economical impact.[7]

Alicia's speech

On 3 October 2013, the Constituent Assembly in Quito decided about the Yasuní-ITT plan. Alicia Cawiya was invited to participate as Vice-President of the Huaorani Nation of Ecuador and she was expected to read the script given to her by her President, Chief Moi Enomenga. The speech acceded to oil drilling in her homeland in the headwaters of the Amazon River.[8]

When Alicia stood up to talk she defied her President and the government and made her own speech,[9] first in her native Huaorani language, then in Spanish, which denounced the oil companies. She spoke up in defence of her people.

Seven companies have been working in Huaorani territory and we have become poorer… How have we benefited? Not at all.

— Alicia Cawiya, Newit.org

She talked about the negative impact of oil drilling in the Amazon and accuse the assistants of being guilty for the deforestation and the death of some indigenous people.

However, Alicia's speech wasn't enough to change the decision of the Constituent Assembly and by 108 to 133 votes the Yasuní-TT exploitation was accepted. The construction of the infrastructures started in 2016.[10]

Consequences

After her speech, Cawiya received death threats. This didn't stop Alicia, who keeps working for her community, as leader of the AMWAE.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "One woman against Big Oil and patriarchy". New Internationalist. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  2. ↑ "La historia de los misioneros estadounidenses asesinados por indígenas de Ecuador". RT en Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  3. ↑ "Amazon women on the front lines: the Waorani — Global Greengrants Fund". Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  4. ↑ Ortiz, Pablo (1995). Marea negra en la Amazonia: conflictos socioambientales vinculados a la actividad petrolera en el Ecuador (in Spanish). Editorial Abya Yala. ISBN 9789978041468.
  5. ↑ Pigrau, Antoni (July 27, 2014). "Revista Catalana de Dret Ambiental". The Texaco-Chevron Case in Ecuador: Law and Justice in the Age of Globalization. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Victoria para Chevron en caso de contaminación en Ecuador, concede la Corte Suprema de Estados Unidos". El Universo (in Spanish). 2017-06-19. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  7. ↑ Telégrafo, El (2013-09-30). "El ITT se ubica como la fuente más importante de ingresos". El Telégrafo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  8. ↑ "One woman against Big Oil and patriarchy". New Internationalist. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
  9. ↑ "Alicia Cawiya opacó la fiesta del oficialismo | Diario El Comercio de Quito". Noticias Ecuador - Ecuador en vivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  10. ↑ "La Historia – Yasuní-ITT: Empieza la explotación petrolera en polémico bloque de la Amazonía". lahistoria.ec (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  11. ↑ "Indígenas Waorani y Sapara se reúnen en Nueva York con Relatora de Pueblos Indígenas – PENTABULO". pentabulocomunicacion.com.ec (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-07-25.
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