As the morning sun warms Ecuador’s Amazon region, Marlon Santi, a leader of the indigenous community of Sarayaku, addresses 150 residents in the shade of a zinc-roofed shelter at the edge of a village square. Speaking in Quechua, he updates them on their fight against oil drilling. Sarayaku holds legal title to its ancestral lands, but under Ecuador’s constitution the state retains rights to the subsoil—giving the government the authority, officials here say, to authorize oil exploration and extraction on the community’s territory. “It is ludicrous to think you can come in here and get the oil without destroying what is on top,” Santi says after the community meeting. “And without our territory, we would lose everything.” Sarayaku is waging a high-profile... [Log in to read more]