— In 2020, over 40 Kichwa girls started organizing themselves to defend their territory and expel mining from the Ecuadorian Amazon. That is how Yuturi Warmi, the primary Indigenous guard led by girls within the area, started.
— María José Andrade Cerda, one of many leaders of Yuturi Warmi, explains that Indigenous girls have an integral imaginative and prescient for territorial protection. Accordingly, Yuturi Warmi’s work consists of not solely bodily guarding and overseeing their territory but in addition the protection of their tradition, ancestrality, language, schooling, and well being.
— In Might 2023, María José Andrade Cerda spoke with Mongabay Latam about how they manage themselves and the challenges that ladies face when defending their territory.
Yuturi ants are peaceable till their territory is threatened.
This species, also called the ‘conga ant,’ is taken into account a warrior in Amazonian Kichwa Indigenous tradition, as these bugs don’t permit anybody to enter their dwelling with out permission — similar to the ladies of Serena, an Indigenous neighborhood positioned on the banks of the Jatunyacu river within the higher a part of the Napo river within the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Yuturi Warmi first determined to come back collectively to extend their households’ earnings by way of making and promoting handicrafts, however when their territory was more and more threatened by mining, they stepped up in its protection.
At present, they’re the primary Indigenous guard led by Kichwa girls in all of Ecuador. Over 40 members are organized in opposition to all types of interference of their territory, together with the contamination of their rivers and the destruction of the forest.
Yuturi Warmi interprets to ‘conga-ant girls.’ “We’re getting organized in opposition to the systematic assault of unlawful mining,” María José Andrade Cerda affirms, ‘in actual fact, all types of mining in our territory in Napo province, are unlawful.”
Majo, as family and friends name her, is 28 years previous and one among Yuturi Warmi’s youthful leaders. Mongabay Latam spoke with Majo concerning the group’s group, the challenges they face as girls, and their imaginative and prescient for defending their territory.
Mongabay: How has life modified in Serena because the miners arrived?
María José Andrade Cerda: Because the miners arrived, we’ve misplaced our sense of peace. Now, we’re continually on alert in order that the miners, operators, and brokers who work for the mining firms don’t set foot on our land or attempt to speak to our leaders, households, or different neighborhood members. We’re additionally now much less linked with different communities. They’ve turned in opposition to us as a result of we defend our territory and since we don’t need mining right here, whereas different communities alongside the Jatunyacu River have succumbed to the miners. The connection and solidarity between pueblos have been misplaced. That is what hurts us most.
Life itself has modified. Though we have now all the time been vigilant and watched our backs, there may be now particular curiosity in our neighborhood and ancestral territory as a result of they’re focal factors of the resistance.
What I’ve heard from communities downstream is that the supays, the spirits of the forest, are shifting and have been agitated. Atacapi, the seven-headed boa, has been seen across the Shandia neighborhood, the place he didn’t usually seem earlier than.
The communities say that the big boas are rising up the river, as a result of the river there isn’t deep sufficient for them anymore and the water feels too sizzling, it feels totally different to them due to the mining operations and the air pollution they’re releasing into the river. All of this alters the lifestyle of the water spirits, too. And this impacts the best way we really feel inside our territory.
Decrease down the river, we’re additionally seeing the colour of the water change. The youngsters and all of us who bathe within the river have sensed this modification. It’s about how we, as individuals who have all the time lived subsequent to the river, know and interpret it. When there’s air pollution, we really feel it, not simply bodily in our pores and skin, but in addition spiritually.
Mongabay: How did you start to defend your territory? Did the arrival of mining lead you to dedicate your life to this work?
María José Andrade Cerda: I’m one of many few individuals who left the neighborhood to check. I by no means thought this [destruction] would occur in my territory. As we’re distant, forgotten, and deserted, we by no means thought the extractive industries and the capitalist beliefs of the state and these firms would attain us right here.
Nonetheless, in February 2020, our territory — the Jatunyacu river basin within the higher a part of the Napo River — was granted to a mining firm. This actually affected me, as a result of I needed to resolve whether or not to proceed my skilled profession in worldwide relations and enterprise or return to my territory with no job, nothing, to defend my territory and my dwelling. There was no different possibility however to return to my neighborhood.
Mongabay: Was it at that second that the women-led Indigenous guard got here to be? How did you start to prepare?
María José Andrade Cerda: In 2016, alongside different younger individuals in the neighborhood, we started to appreciate that we wanted to empower girls within the Amazon. Leo Cerdo launched the Hakhu mission, which is all about making handicrafts and promoting them on-line.
Us girls began to get collectively repeatedly: we might run workshops round recuperating weaving strategies, one right here and there to speak about designs, one other to convey collectively all of the items we had designed… We began as a gaggle of seven to 9 girls, later rising to just a little extra. Now, within the Artisan’s Affiliation, we’re 14.
We began to develop into a extremely empowered group not solely as a result of we had financial independence but in addition as a result of we had independence of thought. We have been in a position to generate earnings for our households, so we didn’t should rely upon the boys going off to mine; we didn’t should exit rain or shine below the warmth of the solar to choose plantain, yuca, and different regional merchandise.
As a substitute, we sat comfortably making a necklace or some earrings, and we’d promote them for a similar value as we’d have earned going out to work all day, tiring ourselves out. This began to alter girls’s notion. We stated to ourselves, ” Why would we become involved in mining or oil firms if we have now our personal supply of earnings?”
After we have been notified [in 2020 that the territory had been granted for gold mining], the ladies, along with some younger individuals from the Ecuadorian Amazon who had been concerned in an audiovisual workshop, went out to march. We went on the market asking: “How is it attainable that after so a few years of being forgotten, now they need to come and enter our territories to mine them?” We stated that we might “not permit any of this.” It was the ladies who sowed the seed.
After that, different girls in the neighborhood and close by areas stated they’d not permit it both: “We’re with you, comrades, sisters,” they stated. They usually began to get collectively.
Now, we’re round 30 girls who’re completely energetic within the group, however with our sisters and compas each inside and outdoors the territory, we’re greater than 40. And the gorgeous factor about all that is that now males are supporting us too. It has been very, very tough to interrupt with the machista [male chauvinist] concept that we’re “loopy,” however now the neighborhood helps us from the guts. They know that we’re defending the territory not just for ourselves however for everybody.
Mongabay: What makes Yuturi Warmi totally different from different Indigenous Guards? How do you’re employed?
María José Andrade Cerda: After we declared ourselves a Guardia Indígena, there was some skepticism as a result of individuals stated that ladies couldn’t be guards. The notion of an Indigenous Guard in Ecuador — and in all of South America — is that of armed males who exit defending the territory. We took a better have a look at what an Indigenous Guard needs to be. We determined that if the boys weren’t going to do what they must — get collectively, manage, and expel the miners — then we’d do it ourselves.
What’s totally different about us is that we have now a much wider view, and we additionally attempt to give attention to the numerous small issues which might be vital for defending our territory. Now we have six areas of labor. The primary is guardianship and territorial protection.
Second is handicrafts, as a result of that’s how this group was born, it’s who we’re.
Third, schooling, as a result of we promote intercultural and bilingual schooling for the kids and ladies of the neighborhood.
Fourth, ancestral medication: since we started our battle throughout the pandemic, this medication has been our savior; we should guarantee we don’t lose it.
Fifth, tourism: we need to give attention to a distinct sort of tourism that’s primarily based on resistance and is aware of the impacts of disingenuous ‘ecotourism growth’ wherein Indigenous communities should not taken under consideration.
And the final one is tradition, on the whole: our traditions and our ancestry as Kichwa individuals.
We embody all of this. It was tough for us to attempt to separate out these totally different elements as a result of, actually, with out unifying these approaches, we are able to’t defend our territory: if our language is misplaced, if our ancestral practices are misplaced, we received’t have an Indigenous Guard, we received’t have a territory in concord.
You will need to bear in mind that a couple of facet should be remedied for us to guard the territory.
Sure, the bodily facet is vital as a result of we need to expel the mining firms from our territory, but it surely’s additionally concerning the inner — our spirit, our tradition, and our that means of life.
Mongabay: Was there machismo across the institution of a girls’s guard? What challenges have you ever confronted?
María José Andrade Cerda: There was a lot skepticism, however it’s due to the patriarchal construction of our society; it’s not a lot to do with being Indigenous. Originally of the mission, the boys threw away the muyus [seeds] we used for handicrafts and hid our knitting needles. They’d say to us: “That is no good, you’d higher go to the farm and work.”
As soon as they realized that the financial different generated excessive earnings, they helped accumulate and separate the seeds to make the handicrafts themselves. This acceptance was gradual, but it surely was heartfelt as a result of the change was seen.
Within the metropolis, different Indigenous organizations would say: “These loopy girls; they’ll solely assist us for some time, then they’ll neglect about it.” That’s what we constantly heard: “They’ll be shouting right here for some time, however ultimately they’ll have to return to their chacras (gardens), to prepare dinner and maintain their kids and their husbands, as a result of they’ll be deceived.”
We girls stated it doesn’t matter; what our husbands do is their duty, however we have to protect the territory for our kids and grandchildren. That’s what motivates us to proceed.
We have been united. We went out to the marches, to protest and to assist different girls who’ve additionally been victims of political violence within the metropolis. Folks began to acknowledge us as a result of we had a robust presence. We started to exit to close by cities to march in solidarity with our Sápara sisters, for instance, all the time providing safety and sisterly assist – sorority is a phrase that’s simply starting to be understood right here. We’re sisters who want one another. In the event that they lose their battle, we lose ours. If we lose ours, they may even really feel extra weak.
Mongabay: How does the organizational construction of Yuturi Warmi work? What actions do you perform?
María José Andrade Cerda: You would say we’ve adopted our construction from different Indigenous organizations, however we have now our personal president. She is a really fierce girl: her title is Elsa Cerda. We are saying that she is our comandanta, as a result of she is the chief of the entire group and the one in command of this battle. We, as a guard, are barely totally different from conventional guards, as a result of we’re additionally an affiliation.
Inside Yuturi Warmi we not solely dedicate ourselves to territorial protection in a bodily means, touring the territory and dealing on safety ways – we do do that – however we even have one other imaginative and prescient as a result of we’re girls, as a result of we’re moms and daughters.
We really feel and manage ourselves another way than males do. We even have conferences to share what’s occurring, we maintain conferences to recollect how Kichwa plates and cups have been historically made with clay and never with merchandise from outdoors of the neighborhood. Now we have a secretary and a treasurer who administers the funds to handle the group. Now we have these sorts of constructions.
I, personally, am the coordinator of all of the actions which might be being achieved inside and outdoors the territory.
Mongabay: As a girls’s guard, what have you ever achieved in your battle in opposition to mining in your territory?
María José Andrade Cerda: Yuturi Warmi understands that the anti-mining battle is a collective battle and that it’ll not be achieved if we solely have the assistance of the neighborhood and us girls who’re organized, however it will likely be achieved by way of joint work with the Indigenous organizations which we belong to — on this case, FOIN (the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Napo) — and in addition with the city-based collectives who’ve been very attentive and energetic with the whole lot that’s being achieved.
Collectively, we have now achieved two vital milestones. On February 14, 2022, an operation was carried out to take away and seize the equipment in Yutzupino [a community upriver from Serena towards Tena]. Greater than 150 backhoe loaders have been eliminated, and the miners have been additionally expelled from the sector.
One other vital milestone is that the provincial courtroom, after we filed a category motion lawsuit, issued {a partially} favorable ruling, recognizing the violation of the rights of nature.
Nonetheless, it was a loss when the rights of the Indigenous peoples weren’t acknowledged. Alternatively, inside this similar partially accepted sentence, just lately, the Courtroom additionally dominated that the deliberate restoration and reparation of the broken space should be complied with.
Nonetheless, this has not but occurred. The one factor we achieved by way of the sentence is that the competent ministers who didn’t perform the complete restoration course of have been dismissed.
We need to expel the miners from our territory. Mining operations are fixed; they happen each day. Unlawful miners — which all of them are — however those that are at the moment working are all the time there, and we have now been spreading the phrase by way of social networks, sending experiences to the authorities in order that they’re eliminated.
It’s a lengthy course of to realize the overall expulsion of mining firms, however it’s a course of that’s taking place little by little, day-to-day.
Mongabay: Have you ever discovered a listening ear within the Ecuadorian state?
María José Andrade Cerda: The one direct response from the state has been within the courts. That’s the solely response they’ve given us. They’ve advised us that they don’t seem to be those mining, that it’s the fault of the unlawful miners, and so they have simply excused themselves.
The connection we have now had with the federal government has been very tense. Firstly, as a result of the authorities that symbolize the State, on this case, those that are legislating, are the Meeting members. They’ve additionally been concerned in corruption scandals. When the machines have been seized, it got here to mild that many native authorities, just like the mayors, owned equipment contained in the unlawful mining websites.
The connection could be very tense with the meeting members; they’ve additionally been linked to networks of mining concessions which were irregularly accepted. We Indigenous peoples have been by no means consulted.
Mongabay: What classes have you ever discovered from working as a collective?
María José Andrade Cerda: What I all the time have in mind is what my grandmother taught me. I reaffirm it each day with my sisters: the whole lot we do, the whole lot we’re, and the whole lot we will likely be is for the neighborhood and for the territory we come from.
After I’m talking in worldwide areas, it’s not simply my voice, as Majo Andrade, that I share, however the voices of all the ladies in our neighborhood, of all of the younger girls who’re giving me their assist, of all of the moms and grandmothers who give me their knowledge and in addition of all of our ancestors, who belief us to proceed defending the territory that they left as an inheritance for us.
They needed us to reside right here, they noticed of their future that we might develop up right here. All these voices, all that power that we really feel — their power — all the time accompanies us.
Mongabay: What’s the relationship between the youthful and older members of Yuturi Warmi?
María José Andrade Cerda: In 2021, one of many strongest grandmothers of the affiliation handed away. We keep in mind her daily, and we are going to always remember her. She set the bar very excessive for us. She taught us that we all the time should be prepared with our spear, to maintain it shut, in addition to our shigra [woven bag] and cuya [bowl] after we exit anyplace.
When she handed away, it was very laborious for us, we have been devastated, as a result of she was a pillar for us. Nonetheless, we felt that she was with us always: within the marches, within the chants, and within the songs of battle and resistance that she taught her daughter. The grandmother’s title was Rita Tapuy.
We consider quite a bit in our abuelitas [grandmothers]. Serena was based by 4 huge households, and we’re all cousins. We see one another as brothers and sisters. We’re all one household.
At present, we have now only a few grandmothers; we have now three smart girls nonetheless alive in the neighborhood. We respect them quite a bit, we hearken to them, we’re all the time attentive to them. Above all, they’re those who preserve the language alive. Two of them don’t need to communicate Spanish and solely communicate Kichwa. Though my very own grandmother handed away a number of years in the past, what all of them educate us is that we have now to respect our grandparents and love all of them as in the event that they have been our personal.
The connection between us all has all the time been one among assist, of communication, of having the ability to speak. We encourage one another. We younger girls perceive that because of all of the knowledge of our ancestors and our grandmothers, we are able to proceed to reside in neighborhood.
We’re very involved in studying ancestral practices and traditions. We really feel proud to belong to our individuals, to inform our moms to not be ashamed, to not conceal as a result of we’re Indigenous.
It has been an train of assist, contemplating all of the conditions we went by way of at dwelling. For us, this connection, this reminder that we have now to be united, arises from the must be collectively: younger individuals, women, moms, grandmothers.
Mongabay: What collective studying have you ever gained because of this manner of organizing?
María José Andrade Cerda: Hope and resistance. We have a look at one another in the present day and we barely recognise ourselves compared to how we have been three years in the past. Earlier than, we might by no means have come out to talk in public, to confront corrupt politicians, judges who see us solely as loopy individuals and who thought that our conventional information had no price.
We hope to proceed resisting as a result of we’re going to proceed having kids, we’re going to proceed dwelling in our territory, and we’re going to refuse to be eradicated little by little. That is our inheritance. The whole lot is for our future generations. The truth that we proceed to be violated won’t take away our will to maintain dwelling.
Mongabay: You’ve been to nationwide and worldwide conferences, how helpful is it to go away the territory and take a message outdoors the communities to the choice makers?
María José Andrade Cerda: The worth is on this means of reciprocity. I am going to the conferences realizing that my household and all the ladies assist me and that I’m not talking just for myself however for all of us. And maybe not just for the neighborhood, but in addition for different sisters and for the alliances we have now made alongside the best way.
On the similar time, we head to those worldwide areas to knock on doorways and contact individuals’s hearts, telling them about our native work within the hope that they and the world will hearken to the true that means of life.
The worth on this for me is that I’m echoing the voices of ladies who maybe didn’t have the alternatives that I had, however who proceed to have the assist of a whole individuals, of a whole neighborhood, as a result of that’s who we’re. Not all of us will all the time have the ability to depart the neighborhood, however the worth is in how we coordinate, how we give again, how we really feel as a neighborhood.
These days, numerous consideration is being paid to what we Indigenous peoples are doing, and so they say that they’re taking us under consideration, however that isn’t the total reality. They’ve opened many nationwide and worldwide areas for us, however there may be nonetheless this bias of: “You aren’t able to producing options by yourself, somebody all the time has to assist your tasks.” There’s this determine of the ‘vigilant’ or the ‘observer’ – they don’t allow us to, as Indigenous peoples, proceed to handle our personal points.
That’s what angers me as a result of this invalidates our complete course of, a problem that has been occurring for 2 or three generations. My grandparents labored laborious, strolling hundreds of kilometers in order that their kids may have a spot to check, similar to my mother and father. Now that we, a couple of younger Indigenous individuals, have managed to get our college levels, they inform us: “We’re going to assign you a technician as a result of you may’t handle it yourselves.” That is vastly unfair to our historic battle.
There are only a few of us Indigenous youth who additionally communicate a dominant language, reminiscent of Spanish or English, in our instances. I didn’t be taught English as a result of I’ve mother and father who communicate the language, I needed to be taught it by power in faculty. It has been one of many platforms with which we’re making ourselves recognized. We’re elevating our voices as a result of we are not looking for third events to talk for us.
Mongabay: What does the phrase ‘territory’ imply to you?
María José Andrade Cerda: Territory, for me, is life itself. It’s not a lot concerning the bodily illustration of the territory however concerning the non secular, the corporate, the individuals, and the mind-set wherein I discover myself when I’m in my territory.
Right here, I really feel I’m in my protected house.
Territory is who I’m: my physique and my ancestry. My territory all the time goes with me when I’m outdoors. What I ate as a baby is mirrored in who I’m now.
Territory means not forgetting the whole lot I’m, the whole lot I’ve discovered, irrespective of the place I’m. Territory may be understood because the bodily, however, for me, it’s what I carry with me: life.
This text was initially revealed by Mongabay.
Header picture by Yuturi Warmi Archive.
