The Siekopaai Nation Demands that Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment Comply with the Titling of Its Ancestral Territory, Pë’këya
The Siekopaai Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon has been fighting for 85 years to reclaim its ancestral territory, and they will not halt their efforts.
Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAE) has spent the last three years refusing to comply with the court ruling that orders the titling of Pë’këya. Instead, it referred the case to Ecuador’s Constitutional Court (CCE), prolonging the Siekopaai Nation’s wait and putting their right to continue existing as a people at risk.
It is time for the Ministry to fulfill its obligation.
The MAE has been failing to comply with the ruling for
days
A Historic Ruling
In November 2023, the Siekopaai Nation, an Indigenous nation from Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, won a historic court ruling. The Provincial Court of Sucumbíos ordered Ecuador’s then Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition to grant the Siekopaai collective title to their ancestral territory.
The Siekopaai had spent decades fighting to recover 42,360 hectares of ancestral land that had been taken from their ancestors during the 1941 war between Ecuador and Peru.
For more than 30 months, the Ministry has refused to fulfill its obligation to grant the title to the Siekopaai, despite having been sanctioned repeatedly for failing to comply with the court ruling. Ultimately, it referred the case to Ecuador’s Constitutional Court (Case No. 176-25-IS), arguing that it could not comply with the judgment.
The territory the Siekopaai seek to return to is called Pë’këya. It is sacred to them, central to their cultural identity, and at the heart of their worldview. They have been separated from it for 80 years, enduring repeated and serious violations of their rights. Today, only around 800 Siekopaai remain in Ecuador, and for them, the Ministry’s continued inaction threatens their physical and cultural survival.
It is time for the MAE and its Minister, Juan Carlos Blum, to comply with the ruling, guarantee the survival of the Siekopaai people, and grant collective title to their ancestral territory.
We Are Mobilizing!
On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, the Siekopaai Nation will be in Quito to demand that Ecuador’s Constitutional Court prioritize their case and issue a prompt decision regarding the ruling that the MAE is required to comply with.
Afterwards, we will march to the Ministry of Environment and Energy to demand its immediate compliance with the court ruling.
#LANDBACK
Map of the Siekopaai’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, Siekopaai 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, Siekopaai leader
