ECUADOR: HUAORANI WILL NOT DIE --INDIGENOUS GROUP CONFRONTS GOVERNMENT AND OIL COMPANIES IN DEFENSE OF THEIR LAND

The Huaorani people who inhabit the Ecuadoran Amazon decided to put an end to the oil exploitation that is destroying their land and their traditional way of life that is based on hunting, fishing, and gathering. The Huaorani, along with the Tagaeri and Taromenane, are people who lived isolated from Western society. In the last few years, however, they have come face to face with oil and lumber companies. These companies have even created divisions among these peoples; some confrontations became startlingly violent, such as one two years ago when Huaorani involved with lumber companies massacred a Taromenane community. In a public denouncement of the abuses they have suffered at the hand of the oil companies, Moi Enomenga, a Huaorani leader, organized a march of 22 Huaorani communities to the capital, Quito, on July 12