Thanks to your support last week, a delegation of 80 leaders and community members from Sarayaku traveled to Quito for a series of events celebrating their historic victory for justice and indigenous rights at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). Read “Amazon Justice” for a summary of last week’s events.

In Quito, they held a press conference and a series of public events including a screening of the award-winning documentary, Children of the Jaguar produced by Sarayaku filmmaker Eriberto Gualinga and Amnesty International. The full-length feature documentary documenting Sarayaku’s struggle was just released last week. Watch and share it today!

While the screening of Children of the Jaguar was taking place, word began to spread that the government had deposited over $1 million USD into their bank account. This was a cause for celebration, as it was one of the orders of the IACHR sentence. The Ecuadorian government has also translated the sentence into Kichwa and Shuar, publicly posted it, and conducted indigenous and human rights training with military officials. The government has also committed to removing the explosives that the CGC oil company had left behind after abandoning its efforts to conduct seismic testing. The schedule and conditions for removing the pentonite will be determined by the community.

What the government has not done, however, is apologize publicy in Sarayaku. The community is pushing for the apology to come from President Correa himself, which has become a contentious issue. Sarayaku is also calling for the right to “no repetition” – meaning that Sarayaku should not have to go through similar violation of rights again, nor should their indigenous neighbors in southern Ecuador threatened by the 11th Oil Round. We’ll keep you updated on what happens next and how your support can continue to make a real and powerful difference in Sarayaku and in all of the indigenous communities defending their territories in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

For over a decade, with your help we’ve supported Sarayaku and we’re proud to say that we have made a difference. From providing the satellite radio to alert allies when the oil company and military were invading their territory, to providing Eriberto with his first video camera and then supporting his training in video production, to accompanying their long battle at the IACHR, to finally celebrating this historic victory. We continue to stand with Sarayaku as they seek a public apology from the President and to ensure that what happened to them, never happens again.

Once again, we THANK YOU for your support of our work and Sarayaku. Without you, we cannot do this work. Thank You for supporting Amazon Watch and the Children of the Jaguar!

¡Viva Sarayaku!

Branden Barber
Director of Engagement

P.S. Want more good news in future? You can make it happen again. Please help fund the fight to protect the rest of Ecuador’s Amazon. Stop the 11th Oil Round!

40th Times’s the Charm?

Instead of passing a jobs plan or doing something else even mildly useful, Republicans the House of Representatives spent today on another pointless vote to repeal Obamacare — the 40th such vote to deny the security of quality, affordable health coverage to millions of Americans. This dead-end effort has cost taxpayers more than $50 MILLION and wasted countless hours of time that could’ve been spent focusing on creating jobs or helping the middle class.

Meanwhile, our colleagues put out a report this week that looked at all 3,100+ counties in the United States and identified those that will benefit the most from Obamacare. Sadly, many of these districts are represented by Republicans who have been fixated on repealing Obamacare and denying their constituents badly needed health coverage and other benefits.

Check out the full report HERE. In the meantime, here’s a handy infographic summarizing the report’s findings.