Persecution of Life Defenders in Ecuador: Indigenous Movement in Resistance

In recent years, Ecuador has experienced a deepening entrenchment of extractivist projects, militarization, and recurring states of exception take deeper hold in national politics. These dynamics have been intensified by state-led criminalization, persecution, and violence targeting Indigenous peoples, peasant communities, and environmental defenders who resist mining, oil extraction, and neoliberal policies in the country. Resistance is rooted in demands for Indigenous self-determination as a significant number of international extractive concessions overlap with Indigenous territories, while defenders face mounting threats, judicialization, and lethal violence.

Against this backdrop, the seminar seeks to critically examine the current situation in Ecuador, particularly the relationship between the expansion of the extractive frontier and government criminalization. The event brings together three Indigenous leaders currently facing persecution and criminalization in Ecuador: Leonidas Iza, former president of CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) and former presidential candidate; Sisa Cotacachi, Indigenous leader from Otavalo, the epicenter of social unrest in the 2025 national protests; and Dario Iza, current president of the Kitu Kara peoples.

Together, these three voices will reflect on ongoing struggles, strategies of resistance, and the State–corporate dynamics shaping territorial conflicts around extractive development.

It is part of the Contesting Ecologies series, contributing to critical debates on resource geopolitics, Indigenous rights, and power in the current global moment. It is organized as a collaboration between Contesting Governance, the DefendBio project and the Copernicus Junior Fund.