Join the Siekopai Nation’s Fight!
Demand that the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador issue them the title to their ancestral territory, PË'KËYA
The Siekopai Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon has been fighting for more than 80 years to recover their ancestral territory, and they will not stop.
The Ministry of Environment (MAATE) refuses to comply with a ruling to issue them the title to Pë’këya, putting the Siekopai Nation’s right to exist at risk.
It is time for the Ministry to assume its obligation!
MAATE has not complied for
days
A Historic Ruling
In November 2023, the Siekopai Nation, an Indigenous nation from the Amazon rainforest, won a historic ruling. For decades, the Siekopai had fought to recover 104,000 acres of land that were stolen from their ancestors over centuries of conquest. Finally, in 2023, the Court of Justice of Sucumbios demanded that Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment deliver the Siekopai the collective property title to their ancestral homeland.
For over 15 months, the Ministry has refused to fulfill its obligation to deliver the land title to the Siekopai, despite being sanctioned for its repeated non-compliance.
The place the Siekopai want to return to is called Pëkëya; it is sacred to them, a key to their cultural identity, and the center of their cosmovision. They have been separated from it for 80 years, suffering repeated, serious violations of their rights. There are only 800 Siekopai left in Ecuador, and for them, the Ministry’s ongoing inaction is a threat to their physical and cultural survival.
It is time for MAATE and its Minister, María Cristina Recalde, to comply with the law, guarantee the Siekopai’s existence, and issue them the title to their land.
#LandBackInTheAmazon
Map of the Siekopai’s Ancestral Homeland
“The bones of our grandfathers and grandmothers, of the women potters, of the great yagé drinkers, are in Pë'këya. It will be an honor to return to our great home, to reunite with our ancestors, with our spirits of the forest. Pë'këya is our great home, our vibration, our strength!”
Yadira Ocoguaje, Siekopai leader
“For us, this place is like a school. . . learning about the plants, the old trails of the nation, the sacred places. We must recover this territory, without seeing the State’s borders, because we only see Siekopai territory.”
Wilmer Piaguaje, Siekopai leader
