The Indigenous World 2022: Ecuador
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC, February 2022), Ecuador's current population stands at 17,895,131 inhabitants.[i] There are 14 Indigenous nationalities in the country totalling more than one million people and they are organised in local, regional and national organisations. Indigenous nationalities and peoples live mainly in the highlands (68.20%), followed by the Amazon (24.06%), with only 7.56% found on the coast. The following Indigenous nationalities were included in the 2010 Census for self-identification purposes: Tsáchila, Chachi, Epera, Awa, Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Zápara, Andoa and Waorani.
[ii] The Kichwa form the largest group (85.87%) with nearly 800,000 members. Despite the low numbers of most nationalities, however, all are of equal importance within the context of a Plurinational State. The highland province with the largest rural Indigenous population is Chimborazo, with 161,190 Indigenous inhabitants in 2010. Other provinces with high numbers of Indigenous people are Imbabura and Cotopaxi, with an average of 84,500 individuals each. There are also a significant percentage of Indigenous people living in rural areas of the highland provinces of Tungurahua and Pichincha, and in the Amazonian provinces of Napo and Morona Santiago, ranging from between 50,000 to 80,000 inhabitants. After more than 13 years of the new Constitution and more than two decades of ratification of ILO Convention 169, there are still no specific or clear public policies to prevent or neutralise the risk of these peoples disappearing from the country.
Throughout 2021, a number of events directly affected the living conditions and economic and social rights of Ecuador's Indigenous Peoples and nationalities: the impact of and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic; the change in government; and government agreements and disagreements with Indigenous Peoples' organisations, marked by a scaling up of neoliberal policies.
Impact of and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 again had negative effects on the country's economic and social environment in 2021. The economic downturn had an impact in terms of increased poverty and extreme poverty. Even prior to the pandemic, Ecuador was already facing complex economic, social and political challenges. As of December 2019, poverty had reached 25% nationally, and was up to 41.8% in rural areas, affecting some 4.4 million people. By mid-2021, that figure had increased to 32.2% of the population, equivalent to 5.7 million people living in poverty, of which 2.6 million or 14.7% are in extreme poverty, according to the latest INEC report.[iii]
The pandemic also affected unemployment and informal employment rates, which have increased 0.4 percentage points year-on-year. This means that more than 107,000 people fell into underemployment between November 2020 and November 2021. Put another way, the average income recorded was USD 290 per month, a drop of USD 114 between January and June 2021. This increase in unemployment had a particularly negative impact on the female labour force and on the economies of Indigenous Peoples, judging by INEC’s data. According to ECLAC, this context exposes Indigenous Peoples to a scenario in which “the risk of losing sight of Indigenous Peoples, both in the area of mitigation and post-COVID-19 recovery, including the particular situations of Indigenous women, children and the elderly, is growing exponentially”.[iv]
In the context of the pandemic, Indigenous communities, peoples and nationalities are particularly sensitive to and at high risk from an exponential spread of COVID-19 at the community level, which can lead to significant complications such as high mortality and a local health crisis, due to the difficulty of accessing timely care. In many cases, the communities present structural conditions that may be decisive for hygiene and health, such as access to basic services, an insecure economic situation, environmental pollution, geographical accessibility problems, communication difficulties, and so on.
Such is the case of the communities of Chimborazo in the central Ecuadorian highlands. Professor Luis Alberto Tuaza notes: “The arrival of COVID-19 in the country caught everyone off guard. Neither the government nor the authorities of the decentralised autonomous governments nor the Indigenous movement were prepared for the disaster the pandemic would cause.”[v] Tuaza explains that the strong migratory link between communities in this central highland province and cities such as Guayaquil is a structural factor that makes for easy spread of the virus. The Indigenous people of Chimborazo live in Guayaquil and are involved in the fruit and vegetable, car accessories and cyber services sectors. They are organised around churches and credit institutions for small businesses. “In the pandemic, the largest number of infected people were Indigenous because they work in the markets, they share a house with several families. You don't know who is healthy and who is sick,”[vi] says Professor Luis Alberto Tuaza.
“We never leave the sick to fend for themselves. We would not turn our backs on our parents, relatives or neighbours, so we became infected too (...). The sick were not admitted into hospital, they told us there were no beds and that they should go home,” explains Augusto Maji, a member of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples of the Ecuadorian Coast (CONAICE).[vii] But the pandemic not only caused deaths but unemployment too. Many people lost their job and were unable to meet their debts with banks and credit unions.
For the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE): “The lack of work and the government's policy of labour insecurity generated a migratory wave (...) Despite legal reforms such as the Humanitarian Support Law, employment did not improve. Families desperate because of the economic crisis need to be prevented from continuing to fuel the wave of migration in search of income to pay off their loans. Recovery requires debt relief.”[viii]
Following the change in government in May 2021, the new president, Guillermo Lasso, promoted mass vaccination through the so-called 9/100 Vaccination Plan with the aim of reducing disease mortality and morbidity. In a joint strategy between the Ministry of Public Health, the Secretariat of Human Rights, Indigenous organisations and some local governments in cantons with the largest Indigenous population, health brigades were able to immunise anyone over the age of 16. According to the records of the Ministry of Public Health, as of October 2021, almost 80,000 people had been vaccinated nationwide from among 15 Indigenous nationalities and 18 Kichwa Indigenous Peoples. For this campaign they applied a Protocol with Intercultural Relevance for the Prevention and Care of COVID-19 in the Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian and Montubio Peoples and Nationalities of Ecuador; however, there were complaints that the vaccination plan had not reached everyone.[ix]
In Cayambe, in coordination with Cayambe municipality, the Confederation of Kichwa People of Kayambi promoted a massive Regional Vaccination Plan among its member communities “which has been managed in a responsible and appropriate way, following the resolutions issued by the National Risks and Emergencies Service, and this has enabled the rate of infection to be controlled and mortality rates to remain low (...)”. In spite of this, both the Confederation and the municipality continued their plans, which included conducting training and monitoring workshops.[x] “We also invested close to 200,000 dollars in equipping and adapting a COVID-19 room at the Raúl Maldonado Mejía Basic Hospital; we have supported the Health District to purchase and use rapid tests and PCRs. The emphasis has been on the most vulnerable population: the elderly, people with disabilities, single mothers, and children. With a loan from the State Bank, and solidarity contributions from private enterprise, associations, neighbourhoods, traders, stationery companies and bakeries, we have delivered more than 14,000 food baskets, 1,218 tablets and expanded wi-fi coverage throughout the canton,” explained Mayor Guillermo Churuchumbi.[xi]
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE) continued to support and monitor the pandemic. According to the latest reports from December 2021, the total number of cases of COVID-19 among the different Amazonian nationalities has reached 3,257 positive cases, 665 suspected cases and a total of 5,734 negative cases. The number of deaths is 50 verified plus 54 with symptoms.
One of the most outstanding cases was the attention provided to 126 members of Waorani family groups who have maintained family ties with the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation around the Yasuní National Park, in the north-eastern Amazon.[xii]
Together with the Ministry of Public Health, a campaign was launched to vaccinate the Waorani population living in the Tambococha Tiputini Intangible Zone. According to the health authorities, dozens of Waorani families were vaccinated during this campaign; they were informed of the importance of receiving the jab and asked to give their consent.
New neoliberal government: agreements and disagreements with the Indigenous movement
The country's political-electoral situation was marked by the end of Lenín Moreno's government and the presidential elections. A majority of Indigenous Peoples expressed their support for the candidates of the Pachakutik Plurinational Movement, although some small groups chose to support other options. This process was not free from internal disagreements and ruptures, however: the nomination of lawyer Carlos Pérez, who changed his name to Yaku, former prefect of Azuay, former activist in the Maoist Popular Democratic Movement and who, over the last decade, has become an anti-mining activist and defender of the wetlands in his province, produced a negative reaction from figures with a longer organisational career.[xiii]
During the presidential campaign, Pérez won broad support for his strong anti-Correista discourse, and his agenda focused on defending nature. This engendered sympathy among the urban youth, especially in the highlands, to the point that he was very close to reaching the second round in a close-run race with the right-wing candidate, banker Guillermo Lasso, despite several failed attempts to challenge the results through the Electoral Disputes Tribunal. Pérez and his candidates alleged the existence of fraud on the part of the neoliberal candidate.
In the end, the runoff was between Andrés Arauz of Revolución Ciudadana (progressive tendency close to former President Rafael Correa) and Guillermo Lasso, sponsored by a right-wing coalition that included his own party Creo, the Social Christian Party and other groups such as the Democratic Left. Faced with this dilemma, Pachakutik and Pérez decided to reject both candidates and promote a spoilt ballot campaign; there were, however, divisions internally: Virna Cedeño, who was Pérez’ vice-presidential running mate, announced her support for Guillermo Lasso and said that her decision should above all be seen as opposition to the Correista political movement.[xiv] At the other extreme, Jaime Vargas, then president of CONAIE, announced his support –as well as that of several other leaders– for Arauz's candidacy, although a CONAIE assembly in the end decided to support the “ideological spoilt ballot”. Both Cedeño and Vargas were expelled from Pachakutik and CONAIE respectively.[xv]
The Pachakutik Movement gained its best results in any election since 1996: it won 27 of the 137 seats in the National Assembly. “We had to publicise the spoilt ballot, as a social protest, indignant at all the fraud that this electoral process has been blighted by,” said Cecilia Velásquez, deputy national coordinator of Pachakutik.[xvi]
Guillermo Lasso finally won the Presidency of the Republic, although his movement Creo won only 12 seats, his allies from the Social Christian Party 19 and the Democratic Left 18. The new government's relationship with the Indigenous movement since then has been marked by an ambiguity that can be illustrated with two scenarios. On the one hand, the parliamentary one, in which the government has promoted alliances around its policies that have included Pachakutik. This organisation has repeatedly lent its support to government positions in exchange for a share of the power through such posts as the presidency of parliament and other public offices. On the other hand, the socio-territorial one, in which CONAIE and its grassroots organisations have expressed disagreement with and distanced themselves from the government's actions, particularly those derived from the negative impacts of adjustment policies such as the elimination of fuel subsidies, the increase in public transport costs, and the lack of response to the economic crisis, which is having a particular impact on the peasant and agricultural sectors on which Indigenous families still predominantly depend.
In the first scenario, Pachakutik supported the impeachment and removal of the Ombudsman, Freddy Carrión, when he promoted the prosecution of former President Lenín Moreno (and senior officials from his government), pinpointed as the key figure responsible for human rights violations during the crisis and social protest of October 2019.[xvii] Carrión had set up a Truth Commission of jurists from different ideological persuasions, including those close to President Lasso, who concluded in their report that deaths, torture and arbitrary detentions were the norm. In the case of the deaths, they established that there were extrajudicial executions carried out by law enforcement officers that would qualify as “crimes against humanity”.[xviii]
Ambiguous positions were also evident within Pachakutik regarding the approval of an urgent economic law entitled the Organic Law for the Creation of Opportunities, Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability which, by its nature, had to be considered by the National Assembly within a month otherwise it would automatically enter into force by means of “operation of the law”.[xix]
This project became the cornerstone of the government's programme, in the authoritarian neoliberal tradition of the 1990s and the Washington Consensus, seeking to modify broad areas of State regulation with the stroke of a pen. The proposal included four books containing 335 articles and more than 20 provisions that sought to create a more flexible employment system and impose tax hikes on the middle classes, among other things.[xx]
Despite an intense media campaign in favour of the government, and shocked at the prison crisis that shook the country and left hundreds dead, the National Assembly finally rejected the initiative, arguing that it did not comply with Article 136 of the Constitution, which requires that urgent economic bills focus on just one topic.[xxi] Two months later, however, in November, the government succeeded in passing the so-called Tax Law, which forms part of the agreements with the International Monetary Fund.[xxii]
In response, CONAIE’s President Leonidas Iza, said: “The Economic Development Law weakens control over tax havens and tax evaders (...) this law harms the popular majority and the middle class, affects producers, promotes extractivism and privatisation. It benefits only the banks and the IMF.”[xxiii]
On 17 November, CONAIE issued a press release arguing that the law was an attempt at financial deregulation aimed at weakening controls on capital flight, offshore companies, corruption and tax evasion. It said it was a regressive tax reform that puts the burden of the crisis on the shoulders of the common taxpayer and the middle class. “The publication of the Pandora Papers links President Guillermo Lasso to shell companies: tax evasion and global organised crime operate through trusts and limited liability companies in tax havens; Lasso's law proposes nothing in this regard,” it noted.[xxiv]
Social protest and defence of the territories
The first of the rice farmers’ protests took place shortly after Lasso took office. These occurred along the coast, in particular, where they were demanding a solution to increasing fuel prices and the low market price for rice. The removal of the fuel subsidy increased transport costs for several months of the year and provoked a reaction in other social sectors, too, including the Indigenous communities of the highlands. CONAIE and other provincial organisations in Chimborazo and Cotopaxi organised various protest actions in this regard.[xxv]
Between August and October, some of CONFENIAE’s provincial grassroots organisations in the Amazon and some of the Confederation of the Kichwa Nationality Peoples of Ecuador’s organisations in the highlands demonstrated to demand fulfilment of electoral promises, especially the freezing of fuel prices. “We have been participating in assemblies and taking part in protests in several provinces but we must take into account the fact that the problem is an economic one and it is affecting a majority of Ecuadorians; we are asking for a solution to the increase in fuel prices but we have had no response,” said Leonidas Iza of CONAIE.[xxvi]
Pablo Ortiz-T. is a sociologist. He holds a Dr. in Cultural Studies and a Master’s in Political Science. He is a lecturer/researcher at the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana de Ecuador (UPS), Quito. He is Coordinator of the State and Development Research Group GIEDE. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This article is part of the 36th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2022 in full here
Notes and references
[i] National Institute of Statistics and Census INEC (2022) https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/estadisticas/
[ii] Data taken from the Agenda for Equal Rights of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples, Afro-Ecuadorian People and Montubio People 2019-2021. At http://www.pueblosynacionalidades.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Agenda-Nacional-para-la-Igualdad-de-Pueblos-y-Nacionalidades.pdf
[iii] INEC. Encuesta Nacional de Empleo, Desempleo y Subempleo 2021 (ENEMDU). Indicadores de Pobreza y Desigualdad. [National Survey of Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment 2021 (ENEMDU). Poverty and Inequality Indicators]. Quito: INEC, 2021. https://www.ecuadorencifras.gob.ec/documentos/web-inec/POBREZA/2021/Diciembre-2021/202112_PobrezayDesigualdad.pdf
[iv] ECLAC. “El impacto del COVID-19 en los pueblos indígenas de América Latina-Abya Yala: entre la invisibilización y la resistencia colectiva” [The impact of COVID-19 on the Indigenous Peoples of Latin America-Abya Yala: between invisibility and collective resistance]. Santiago de Chile: ECLAC, 2021. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/46543-impacto-covid-19-pueblos-indigenas-america-latina-abya-yala-la-invisibilizacion
[v] Cf. Tuaza Castro, L. “El Covid-19 en las comunidades indígenas de Chimborazo, Ecuador” [Covid-19 in the Indigenous communities of Chimborazo, Ecuador]. 2021.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17442222.2020.1829793
[vi] Ibidem.
[vii] Testimony received in Tuaza Castro (2021) above cited.
[viii] CONAIE. “Ejes y propuesta de discusión con el gobierno nacional” [Proposals and focus of discussion with the national government]. CONAIE, 4 October 2021. https://conaie.org/2021/11/15/temas-y-propuestas-de-la-conaie-al-gobierno-nacional/
[ix] Ombudsman's Office of Ecuador, “La Defensoría del Pueblo exige al Ministerio de Salud Pública un manejo responsable y técnico en el proceso de aplicación de la segunda dosis de la vacuna contra la COVID- 19” [Ombudsman’s Office demands the Ministry of Public Health handle the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine responsibly and technically]. Ombudsman of the People of Ecuador, 17 February 2021. https://www.dpe.gob.ec/la-defensoria-del-pueblo-exige-al-ministerio-de-salud-publica-un-manejo-responsable-y-tecnico-en-el-proceso-de-aplicacion-de-la-segunda-dosis-de-la-vacuna-contra-la-covid-19/
[x] Municipality of Cayambe “Cayambe se prepara para el Plan de Vacunación contra el Covid-19” [Cayambe prepares for Covid-19 Vaccination Plan]. Municipality of Cayambe, 1 April 2021.
https://municipiocayambe.gob.ec/cayambe-se-prepara-para-el-plan-de-vacunacion-contra-el-covid-19/
[xi] GADIP Cayambe. “Rendición de cuentas 2021” [2021 Report Back]. GADIP Cayambe. https://municipiocayambe.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/informe_de_rendiciO%CC%81n_de_cuentas_preliminar_narrativo_del_periodo_de_gestiO%CC%81n_2020_del_gadipmc.pdf
[xii] Cf. “Ecuador vacuna a indígenas emparentados con clanes en aislamiento voluntario” [Ecuador vaccinates Indigenous people related to groups living in voluntary isolation]. France 24, 2 July 2021 in https://www.france24.com/es/minuto-a-minuto/20210702-ecuador-vacuna-a-ind%C3%ADgenas-emparentados-con-clanes-en-aislamiento-voluntario. This programme may also be extended: Coronavirus Ecuador. “Inicia proceso de vacunación a población Waorani que habita en la Zona Intangible Tagaeri-Taromenane” [Vaccination process commences for Waorani population living in the Tagaeri-Taromenane Intangible Zone]. Coronavirus Ecuador, 8 June 2021. https://www.coronavirusecuador.com/2021/06/inicia-proceso-de-vacunacion-a-poblacion-waorani-que-habita-en-la-zona-intangible-tagaeri-taromenane/
[xiii] “Yaku Pérez a RFI: 'Quizás el pueblo está cansado de esa izquierda populista'“ [Yaku Perez to RFI: 'Maybe people are tired of the populist left’]. France 24, 13 April 2021. https://www.france24.com/es/am%C3%A9rica-latina/20210413-yaku-perez-elecciones-ecuador-lasso-izquierda
[xiv] “Pachakutik dice que desacreditará a cualquier Gobierno que gane las elecciones del 11 de abril” [Pachakutik says it will not support whatever government wins the April 11 elections]. El Universo, 15 March 2021.
https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/politica/pachakutik-dice-que-desacreditara-a-cualquier-gobierno-que-gane-las-elecciones-del-11-de-abril-nota/
[xv]“El voto indígena de Ecuador, entre el rechazo a la derecha y al correísmo” [The Indigenous vote in Ecuador, between rejection of the right wing and rejection of Correism]. Swissinfo, 8 April 2021. https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/ecuador-elecciones-ind%C3%ADgenas--serie-previa-_el-voto-ind%C3%ADgena-de-ecuador--entre-el-rechazo-a-la-derecha-y-al-corre%C3%ADsmo/46514982
[xvi] “¿Qué papel tuvo el voto nulo en las elecciones de Ecuador?” [What role did the spoilt ballot play in Ecuador's elections?]. Voice of America, 14 April 2021. https://www.vozdeamerica.com/a/america-latina_que-papel-tuvo-el-voto-nulo-en-las-elecciones-de-ecuador/6073143.html
[xvii] Fabricio Vela. Votación en juicio político al Defensor del Pueblo Freddy Carrión [Vote on impeachment of Ombudsman Freddy Carrión]. Twitter, 14 September 2021.
https://twitter.com/OrlandoPerezEC/status/1437957744997322757?s=20
[xviii] Decio Machado, “Declaración en torno al juicio a Freddy Carrión” [Statement regarding the trial of Freddy Carrión]. Radio Pichincha, 16 September 2021, Twitter.
https://twitter.com/radio_pichincha/status/1438505218077982728?s=20
[xix] Carlos Rueda. “Guillermo Lasso entrega la propuesta de Ley Creando Oportunidades y exige celeridad en su tratamiento” [Guillermo Lasso delivers proposed Law Creating Opportunities and demands its passage be expedited]. Expresso, 24 September 2021. https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/guillermo-lasso-entrega-propuesta-ley-creando-oportunidades-exige-celeridad-tratamiento-112498.html
[xx] Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador. Submission to the National Assembly of the “Organic Law for the Creation of Opportunities, Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability”. Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador, 24 September 2021. https://www.presidencia.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2021/09/2021.09.24-PROYECTO-LEY-OPORTUNIDADES.pdf
[xxi] “Asamblea Nacional remite al Registro Oficial la devolución del proyecto urgente de Creación de Oportunidades” [National Assembly refers urgent bill on Creation of Opportunities to the Official Registry]. El Universo, 3 October 2021. https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/politica/asamblea-nacional-remite-al-registro-oficial-devolucion-del-proyecto-urgente-de-creacion-de-oportunidades-nota/
[xxii] “Lasso pasa reforma fiscal exprés para ser aprobada en Congreso” [Lasso passes expedited tax reform for approval in Congress]. Deutsche Welle, 27 November 2021. https://www.dw.com/es/lasso-pasa-reforma-fiscal-expr%C3%A9s-para-ser-aprobada-en-congreso/a-59954276
[xxiii] “Leonidas Iza: ‘La Ley de Desarrollo Económico beneficia solo a la banca y al FM’ [Leonidas Iza: ‘The Economic Development Act benefits only the banks and the IMF’”. Radio La Calle. https://radiolacalle.com/leonidas-iza-la-ley-de-desarrollo-economico-beneficia-solo-a-la-banca-y-al-fmi/
[xxiv] CONAIE, “Nuestro territorio, nuestra decisión” [Our territory, our decision]. CONAIE, 17 November 2021. https://conaie.org/2021/11/17/nuestro-territorio-nuestra-decision/
[xxv] “Movimiento indígena decreta segundo día de protesta en Ecuador este miércoles” [Indigenous movement calls for second day of protest in Ecuador this Wednesday]. Swissinfo, 27 October 2021. https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/ecuador-protestas_movimiento-ind%C3%ADgena-decreta-segundo-d%C3%ADa-de-protesta-en-ecuador-este-mi%C3%A9rcoles/47060938
[xxvi] La Clave. “Movilizaciones y Oposición ante los Planes de la Reforma” [Protest and Opposition to the Reform Plans]. Canal Armonía TV, YouTube, 16 September 2021. https://youtu.be/lggJPE9LrG0
