NEW YORK, September 25, 2025 – While an official delegation of the Ecuadorian government takes part in the UN General Assembly in New York, the seven Indigenous nationalities of Pastaza, together with national and international allied organizations, raise their voices in that city against the new oil plans announced by the government of Daniel Noboa.
On the streets of Manhattan, activists and members of the Ecuadorian diaspora joined Amazonian Indigenous leaders in a series of protest and awareness-raising actions, including the circulation of a truck with digital screens projecting global warning messages: “The Amazon Is Not for Sale.”
The Ecuadorian government delegation to the UN Assembly, led by Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld and Deputy Minister of the same office, Carlos Játiva, as well as officials in Quito, have confirmed their intention to tender the Southeastern and Sub-Andean Rounds at the end of this year and the beginning of the next, covering more than 2 million hectares of ancestral territories in the heart of the Amazon.
These actions converge with the complaint presented by the Indigenous nationalities of Pastaza in response to the announcement made by Deputy Minister of Hydrocarbons, María Daniela Conde, at the XX Oil and Gas Expo held in Quito, in the midst of a national strike.
“Yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Hydrocarbons, Maria Daniela Conde, announced at the XX Oil and Gas Expo, held in Quito in the context of the national strike, the decision to tender the Southeastern and Sub-Andean Rounds at the end of this year and the beginning of the next, which cover more than 2 million hectares of ancestral territories in the heart of the Amazon. In her speech, she also noted that technical working groups are being carried out to promote these rounds with government, academic, and corporate actors; but this is being done behind our backs, without the free, prior, and informed consent of the owners of the ancestral territories,” said from New York Nadino Calapucha, Kichwa Indigenous leader and spokesperson for the Indigenous nationalities of Pastaza against the oil round.
“It is a decision that systematically violates our collective and territorial rights. That is why the seven Indigenous nationalities of Pastaza, in unity, have been clear and forceful: we have not and will never give consent for the Southeastern or Sub-Andean Rounds in our territories, which would destroy an ancestral territory where Indigenous peoples live, and which, as history has shown, will not generate development but impoverishment and destruction,” the leader continued.
The seven nationalities of Pastaza —Kichwa, Shuar, Shiwiar, Sapara, Andwa, Achuar, and Waorani— have reiterated their firm position: “We are going to defend our territories, we are going to resist, because we have not been consulted and because this is our home. The Amazon is not for sale.”
The government’s plans, framed in the so-called “Hydrocarbons Roadmap” announced in August 2025, include 49 projects with a projected investment of more than 47 billion dollars. This plan threatens vast stretches of the Ecuadorian Amazon: 89% of the territories at risk are intact primary forests, among the best preserved in the region, playing a vital role as regulators of the global climate.
The mobilization in New York, along with actions in Quito and other cities, reflects a growing international call for the government of Ecuador to halt this oil expansion that endangers not only the rights of Indigenous peoples but also the integrity of one of the planet’s most important ecosystems in the face of the climate crisis.
International figures such as Jane Fonda, Harrison Ford, Emma Thompson, Eugenio Derbez, Stephen Fry, Cynthia Nixon, Chelsea Handler, and Lily Tomlin have spoken out jointly to warn the government of Ecuador that “The Amazon Is Not for Sale.” Their message coincides with the participation of the Ecuadorian delegation in the United Nations General Assembly taking place this week in New York.
The statement by these personalities is being broadcast on a truck with digital screens that circulates the streets of Manhattan, projecting a video with the slogan: “The Amazon Is Not for Sale!” This action, common during the days of the General Assembly, is complemented by a social media campaign, driven by a post from Fonda that was quickly shared by other artists.
In the video, the celebrities urge President Daniel Noboa to fulfill his duty to guarantee the human and collective rights of Indigenous peoples, as well as the protection of the ancestral territories of the Amazon. This international appeal arises in a context of great concern: the oil expansion plans in Ecuador put at risk more than 3.5 million hectares of virgin rainforest in one of the most biologically diverse areas of the planet.
