Testimonies of indigenous leaders reveal the stark reality faced by these peoples in Latin America. Land disputes, criminalization and murder are some of the threats that put communities and their livelihoods at risk. According to Global Witness, each year, one third of environmental defenders killed globally belong to indigenous peoples. We present three interviews with Patricia Gualinga, from Ecuador; Anabela Carlón, from Mexico; and Ruth Alipaz, from Bolivia, leaders who raise their voices to defend their territories and communities. 1 “If we still have forests, it is because we indigenous peoples have fought with our lives”: Patricia Gualinga, Kichwa indigenous leader | INTERVIEW “If we end up destroying what little we have left, we will generate such an imbalance that the indigenous peoples will no longer be the victims, but rather there will be a global catastrophe,” says Patricia Gualinga, a Kichwa leader, about the situation of indigenous peoples in Ecuador . Read more here Patricia Gualinga, indigenous leader of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku. Photo: 2 “Disappearances are a way of punishing us or appeasing a community that has been a defender of its resources and territories”: Anabela Carlón, Yaqui leader | INTERVIEW “There is a combination of projects and a lot of violence. When there is a new project, disappearances and violence begin to happen,” says Anabela Carlón, a Yaqui leader, about the worrisome situation facing her people in Mexico. Read more here Anabela Carlón at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: Courtesy Anabela Carlón 3 INTERVIEW | “We are at war,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
INTERVIEW | Three indigenous leaders who raise their voices to defend their territory in Latin America
