Between Interculturalism and Ethnocentrism : Local Government and Indigenous Movement in Otavalo-Ecuador

The canton of Otavalo in the Ecuadorian Sierra has been a stronghold and intellectual cradle of the Ecuadorian indigenous movement. In the year 2000 Mario Conejo Maldonado, who represented the indigenous political movement Pachakutik, was elected as the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo. His administration has enjoyed recognition for its popular participation formula and intercultural project, integrating mestizos and indigenous citizens. In the context of local state reform challenges and the inclusion and recognition of indigenous citizens in the Ecuadorian state model this study approaches a local government led by an indigenous mayor with an intercultural banner. However, the project of ethnic integration in Otavalo has not evolved without complications and conflicts. Social and political divisions in the indigenous population have been reflected since before Conejo was ever elected. Ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement have been manifested throughout the period and in 2006 Conejo left Pachakutik and created a new political movement – Minga Intercultural-. The author argues that the rupture in the Otavalo indigenous movement (and local government) can be traced to the intercultural dilemma and difficulties associated with an ethnically defined political movement. Similarly, aspects of the so called “Correa effect” on the indigenous movement at the local level will be approached, since the Otavalo mayor has joined President Rafael Correa’s PAIS movement before the local elections of 2009.From Exclusion to Government in Ecuador: Indigenous Movement Strategies and Political Power Structures in Otavalo and Cotacachi