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| Hueiya Alicia Cahuiya Iteca (Photo Plan V) |
Testimony of Hueiya Alicia Cahuiya Iteca (defender of human rights and nature), which was presented in Washington DC in the hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, to denounce the actions of the Ecuadorian government against them.
My name is Hueiya Alicia Cahuiya Iteca, I am 38 years old and I identify myself as a Waorani woman from Ecuador. I do not have a permanent partner, he is in another community. I have four children, the youngest is eight years old and the oldest is 16 years old. I was born in Yasuní, in the province of Orellana, in the community of Gabaro. I currently live in the community of Ñoneno. I grew up with my grandparents and went out to study, where I got to know the outside world. My grandmother gave me advice and told me “you must return and defend your territory, where you were born, you have to defend.”
I studied with the missionaries until sixth grade, but I was educated by my grandmother who taught me the use of traditional medicine as well as the defense of the territory. Then I returned to my territory, where they had built a road through my grandparents' cemetery. I wanted to go see the body but it was no longer there. That is why I started working, to defend the rights of my grandparents. My community is located in the forest far from the road and next to the Shiripuno River, which is polluted.
I started participating very young, at 16, in the Organization of the Huaorani Nationality of the Ecuadorian Amazon (ONHAE), an organization made up of three provinces: Pastaza, Napo and Orellana. Approximately 18 years ago, men, women and children went to Quito to march against oil exploitation. Then male leaders came out and signed with the oil companies and divided the people. They want development, while those of us who live in the jungle do not need help because we have everything with the jungle.
At the ONHAE, men made the decisions and women could not make decisions. I said that we could form an association of Waorani women to manage our territory, doing projects in crafts, tourism, reforestation, planting for crafts and environmental education. The creation of the association received the support of all the women of the three provinces: Pastaza, Napo and Orellana. That is how the Association of Waorani Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon, AMWAE, was born, which I founded and of which I was president. When I started at ANWAE I heard the voice of the elders: “Alicia, you have to say enough of the oil companies because they are polluting.” There is a reduction in territories. They left their voices in me.
The next morning there was a meeting at NAWE that I was not aware of. At this meeting, where there were journalists and NAWE leaders, they told me that I had made a mistake, they insulted me and told me that they were going to kill me for not accepting the oil in Yasuní. They made me cry. I defend myself because it is my home, because Yasuní is where I was born, I am a mother, I shed blood, I give birth to my children. They told me “you have to keep quiet, not talk anymore” and I said “I am not going to keep quiet because it is my home, rather the government owes us a debt.” In September 2013, I was elected vice president of the Amazon Waorani Nationality of Ecuador (NAWE) in a Keweiruno community. They asked me what my position is; what does it mean to continue defending our territory as a women’s struggle.
They never told me that I had to accept the oil company's position. They told me that I had to fight so that they don't send us new oil exploitations. In October 2013, I was at NAWE and I was going to enter the Keweiruno community, but the president told me to stay in Puyo because there was no room on the plane. Then, at eight o'clock at night, a government representative picked me up by surprise to go to Quito, because he had to speak at the National Assembly. There, a Kichwa delegate from Sarayaku (Carlos Viteri) told me "you have to say yes to everything, at no time should you say no," I didn't know what I had to say yes to. We went on to the big speech and it was to be in favor of the exploitation of the Yasuní. When I passed in front of the National Assembly I said: I'm here to talk about 40 years of oil exploitation, which didn't help at all. The government owes us a debt, the Waorani are not consulted and we are against the exploitation of the Yasuní. They sent me back to Puyo very quickly in the government car, telling me: “Alicia, go quickly to the community in a government car.” In the car, on the way, they asked me all my information, my ID, my home address, where I spent time, how many children I had, but I didn’t tell them anything.
Many people spoke to me, young people and those who work for the government, they spoke very badly of me. They told me that I should leave NAWE, that I am in a lower position and that I could not enter to do work as a leader, they told me that people from the government should work here and that I should ask for forgiveness. They took me to the Government in Puyo so that I could speak. I did not ask for forgiveness from the government, because the government must consult all the Waorani elders, young people and children in Yasuní. I said that the elders could hurt me but I have not done anything wrong.
I felt that I couldn't take it anymore and I went to the jungle. The elders told me that I was speaking correctly when I said, “We support you because it is the truth.” All the communities inside gave me support and I felt calmer. I was still scared because they told me they were going to take me to jail and that I should be careful because they were going to watch me at home. My mom told me: "They can harm you and your children, it is better to leave the organization, if you continue working the government will lock you up". Since they are watching me, I went into the house. The government knows what time I go out and what time I come in, I was very guarded and very controlled, but I am not defending alone, it is for all the Waorani people.
During the same month, the Waorani women left our communities on foot, by canoe, by plane, and we met in Puyo. We walked to Quito. They told me that this government was going to harm me, that they were going to arrest us. I told them that if they are going to arrest one of us, they have to arrest all of us. When we arrived in Quito, there were a lot of people, we appeared in the press, they interviewed us, and we appeared in the media. We went to speak at the National Assembly and they called me on my cell phone saying: “Alicia, they are going to arrest you”But I said I hadn't done anything wrong, and then the fear came: I'm alone, I'm going to jail and everyone told me that my children could be killed and I was afraid of what could happen. Women told me "you're not alone." They didn't let me into the National Assembly because I was going to speak badly about oil.
We came by bus from the Amazonian women’s march. The police came and stopped the bus. They asked: “Who is Alicia?” and all the women said: “I am Alicia.” The car wouldn’t let us through and we walked and the police were equipped, and the journalists asked for Alicia. The next day in Puyo where I rent a room, the owner of the house told me that a government car had come to look for me and told him that I couldn’t enter. He suggested that I go to the jungle. I was traveling outside the country, and when I returned to my room in Puyo, my computer and my camera that I had bought were stolen. The owner of the house told me that he wasn’t sure that I could live there. The robbers killed the dog and left a note that said: “Be careful with your life, you could die.” I still live in the same house but I plan to leave soon because they have already identified that it is my house.
In December 2014, I was in Lima at COP 20. We wanted to participate, but the government brought in comrades from the Kichwa, Zápara, Andoa, Shuar and Waorani nationalities to represent us. We, who fight for our territories and went as representatives, were not allowed to participate and we clashed with our comrades. Ecuador strategically brought in the nationalities and promoted that they were helping, saying that “we are helping well by providing water, housing, education, health,” but they are not really helping, we have nothing of what they say. When I came to Puyo de Lima, the president, Moi Enomenga, of NAWE, told me that I was accused because I had organized a Waorani strike and he told me: “tomorrow they are going to arrest you,” but I was not in the country when the strike occurred. My comrades told me not to come to Puyo and I stayed halfway there and that was where they took the seven Waorani comrades imprisoned for striking against the Petrobel company, because they were not fulfilling the agreements they signed.
I am defending the Taromenani peoples because if they open a new road, there will be clashes between the Waorani and Taromenani peoples and there will be more deaths. That is why we want there to be no new exploitation work in the Taromenani territories because life is important to these peoples.
Read all the testimonials at Plan V
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