The open letter below was published by Indigenous Organizations on October 17, 2025
ATTN: Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
Dear Ms. Georgieva,
As you know, the government of Ecuador froze Indigenous bank accounts without warning, without charges, without any explanation. And dozens of indigenous leaders and organizations had their accounts frozen after many years of transparent work protecting our Amazon territories.
Two months earlier, your government partner opened new licensing rounds for oil companies to drill in those same territories. With the banking crackdown, the message is clear: they had to freeze our money before they could open our lands.
You should understand what this means, Ms. Georgieva. When a government freezes Indigenous Peoples bank accounts without due process, it shows the same arbitrary power it will use against investors when contracts become inconvenient. We have defended these forests for thousands of years, through Spanish Conquest, through 50 years of oil contamination, through military repression. We expelled military and oil companies when they attempted to drill oil in the early 2000s and then we won in the courts in 2012. We again stopped oil auctions in the courts in 2019. We mobilized hundreds of thousands in 2022 against your economic policies and we won. We got the support of all Ecuadorians in keeping oil in the ground during the Yasuní referendum in 2023. Now your IMF loans demand Ecuador extract more oil to repay debt, so the government must silence us first. But freezing bank accounts doesn’t freeze resistance: it proves our movement threatens their plans. The last 20 years of victories shows that.
Tell your oil investors this: every dollar they put into our territories will meet centuries and collective wisdom of indigenous resistance. They can freeze our accounts, but we still control the land they want to drill. We still have our constitutional rights. We still have international solidarity. We still have our determination. A government desperate enough to financially erase us to attract oil investment is a government that cannot guarantee investor security. They froze us because we are winning. And we will continue to defend our home with or without bank accounts. Dear Ms. Georgieva, think twice before supporting the measures from the Ecuadorian government. The Ecuadorian people will hold you accountable, too.
Signed:
Alianza Ceibo
Kichwa People of Pastaza (PAKKIRU)
Waorani Nation of Ecuador (NAWE)
Waorani organization of Pastaza (OWAP)
Union of People Affected by Chevron-Texaco (UDAPT)
