Ecuador: How the Sarayaku people stood up to big oil

mongabay.com reported…Standing before a packed audience of 2,000 spectators, Patricia Gualinga Montalvo calmly addressed the crowd, sharing the story of her people. The Sarayaku, a Kichwa indigenous people numbering 1,200 from the Ecuadorian Amazon, won a historic court case in 2012. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Ecuador must publicly apologize, consult with, and recompense the Sarayaku for allowing oil exploration by Argentine Compañia General de Combustibles on their territory without prior consultation. Gualinga was speaking at the 25th annual Bioneers conference at the Marin Center in San Rafael, California, far from her homeland just south of the equator. Read Article