“11 days of struggle pierced Ecuadorian history like a spear in October 2019”, reads in the book Outbreak, The October Rebellion in Ecuador, written by Leonidas Iza, Andrés Tapia and Andrés Madrid. Four years later, Iza, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), has come to Europe to “brother in the fight” with peasant and worker organizations on this side of the Atlantic. He is the guest of Radio France International.
RFI: What is that common struggle?
Leonidas Iza: In Latin America and the Caribbean there are 873 indigenous peoples and globally 5% of the population are indigenous peoples. The best cared for territories at this time to face climate change are in the territories of indigenous peoples. So, the struggle of the indigenous peoples is to save life, save the jungles, save the Andes and there we believe that we must face together an economic model that is taking precious materials from our Mother Earth, generating accumulation processes for a certain group and depleting resources for all human beings. That is a first theme that we can unite at a global level.
The agribusiness model is advancing and we have to uphold the food sovereignty of all peoples.
And another issue that seems important to us because of which other sister nations are suffering, even here in Europe, is extractivism. It is now in vogue to move from fossil energy to clean energy. But there are no clean energies. To be able to move on to it, lithium, iron, gold, copper are being extracted. And where do we get? of our territories. The countries of the north go and take from the countries of the south. And, in that sense, we have a responsibility to at least amplify our voices globally.
Using the controversial but constitutional “cross death” instrument, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso escaped impending impeachment in May and led to the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of early elections to be held on August 20. .
RFI: CONAIE has had a tough, difficult and rupturing relationship with the right-wing government of Guillermo Lasso. How do you position yourself in this new scenario, in this new political chess where, according to surveys and analysts, Correísmo has a great chance of returning to power?
Leonidas IZA: We have not taken possession of any of the candidates. The organizational structures of the Conaie have taken possession of a government program, a political project, a path that transforms Ecuador and that includes the most heartfelt demands of the struggles of 2019 and 2022.
We have heard with astonishment that the candidates are not rejecting extractivism. It is a very sensitive issue that neither correísmo nor the other political forces have assumed the challenge of transforming it, but rather the need to continue.
The candidates have not positioned themselves for Yasuní either, or, those who have positioned themselves, have done so in a utilitarian way.
A third theme is that of plurinationality that continues to be a part of the chess that the country has to compose.
So, in this sense, any government that comes should know that we have these proposals and we hope that they respect them, because those rights are declared in the Constitution and we do not want the territories of indigenous peoples to be the only spaces that support the development of the country.
RFI: But the Ecuadorian Constitution, which was made during the Correa government, enshrines plurinationality. Is it not so in practice or what?
Leonidas IZA: That’s right. The Constitution of Ecuador is recognized worldwide as one of the most progressive, most advanced, which declares plurinationality, interculturality and the Sumak Kawsay that is good living. It even declares nature as a subject of rights. Rights of nature. I don’t think there is anywhere, except in Bolivia, which has also had a qualitative leap. 21 collective rights have been declared, even one year before the Universal Declaration of the United Nations. But in practice no progress has been made. What is declared in the Constitution has to be flesh and blood. That is why we have said that, if it has not been done in these years, we have the task of carrying out a broad discussion and that this becomes public policies articulated in the five powers of the State.
RFI: In the event that Correísmo wins the elections, as the polls and analyzes say, would you join the opposition or would you be willing to co-govern or make a kind of pact, as has been done in Brazil or Colombia between the Government and other sectors?
Leonidas IZA: We have never declared ourselves to be enemies or contradictors of the governments. First we have positioned our demands. If that advances, we will walk with whatever government it is, but always taking care to never align against neoliberal policies, never against the imposition policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). We are not going to be opposition for opposition, we are going to advance with the proposals and in the development of the government it will be seen if they have the will or not. We are not blind nor do we impose political criteria in advance, but pragmatism and on a day-to-day basis.
RFI: How do you evaluate what remains of Ecuador after the government of Guillermo Lasso?
Leonidas IZA: It is a government disaster. But it is not necessary to analyze only Lasso, but the previous government of Moreno because it is the continuation of his policies. Lasso decided in the government of Moreno. He continued to implement neoliberal policies, bow his head and accept everything that the Monetary Fund orders when it comes with economic support, credits, but he submits politically. And that is Guillermo Lasso.
To begin with, you have to see how they came to power to explain why it is a disaster. They arrived saying that the State cannot be obese. What were they saying with that? That he should not have social services. That the State cannot intervene in the economy. And what does that mean? A free market without state control. So, to reduce “the obesity of the State”, they left hospitals, education, security without money. And now we can’t face organized crime. The State cannot even guarantee education for our children. More than 1 million young people have not been able to access universities in Ecuador and have been a breeding ground for that poverty for organized crime to recruit. The drug-trafficking and organized crime mafias support the poorest people militarily.
So the Lasso government, under this logic, has left a disaster for the country and at this moment we are facing an institutional crisis, a crisis of representation, an economic crisis and a crisis of legitimacy of the entire structure of the State.
RFI: At the time, you also broke with Correa.
Leonidas IZA: In the second round of 2007, for the Constitution, the Correa government was supported. Why did we break up after? Because of the way the government understood plurinationality and the 21 collective rights. They castrated the right to prior, free and informed consultation. They asked, but then they submitted to the State the decision on the issue of water. We had fought so that water was not privatized and community administration was guaranteed. And what was guaranteed was a process of organization through the water boards. the issue of intercultural bilingual education The other issue that we have fought and we believe that this is a State policy is with extractivism. And there was the Yasuní.
For all these issues we broke the relationship with the Government of Correa, but we have not been blind. We cannot go from there to a neoliberal policy of the government of Moreno and, later, of Lasso, who have deepened the neoliberal political and economic relations that do much more damage to our economies.
RFI: You had a very critical moment and a break with the Correa government. And that break has its own name: Yasuní.
Leonidas IZA: There was a proposal, a strategy. The world did not gamble. But one cannot say that the world did not bet on me and that, therefore, we are going to extract oil. You have to look at other economic alternatives”, points out the CONAIE leader. And he remembers that this was a point of infection through which the movement of indigenous peoples broke with the government of Rafael Correa.
RFI: The National Electoral Council approved holding a referendum on August 20 for the Yasuní promoted, among others, by you, the indigenous movement. The proposal is to cease exploitation in the Block I-733 oil field, one of the most important in the country located in the park.
Leonidas IZA: We need to win that referendum, for the people in Ecuador to say yes to Yasuní. We are pumping oil, draining the blood of Mother Earth, and it is leaving a lot of damage. Environmental contamination of the territory, of water. And our people who live there are practically running out of life.
