IDH COURT SENTENCE:

I ANNIVERSARY WILL BE CELEBRATED IN QUITO AND SARAYAKU

Puyo, July 19, 2013

After a decade of international litigation, the entire world will remember July 25 as the day on which the historic sentence that proved the “midday people” was right came to light. On the occasion of the First Anniversary of the Judgment granted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in favor of Sarayaku in 2012, Puyo, Quito and Sarayaku will be the scene of a day of celebration that will raise their song in one voice, scheduled for the days July 23, 24, 25 and 28, 2013, respectively.

A delegation of 60 people, led by their kurakas and likuatis (ancestral authorities) from Sarayakillo, Chontayaku, Cali Cali, Centro-Pista, Shiwakocha -the five population centers that make up the People of Sarayaku- will depart in canoes from the jungle at dawn of July 23th. At 8 at night will attend the House of Culture in the city of Puyo, capital of the Amazonian peoples of Ecuador, to the first screening of “Descendants of the Jaguar”. The documentary was directed by Eriberto Gualinga, a filmmaker from Sarayaku, who will also attend the event. The filmmaker was awarded around the world and received in December 2012 the Bicentennial Medal of Recognition of Cultural Merit from the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador. The documentary, which narrates the process of struggle of the Sarayaku People before the Inter-American System, will open the festivities for the inauguration of the photographic exhibition "The Amazon That Remains: Green and Black In-Contrast", which takes a look at the reality of the Ecuadorian Amazon, among others from Sarayaku.

on wednesday morning July 24, the Sarayaku delegation will give a press conference at the National Assembly in the city of Quito starting at 10:00. The Tayak Apu (President of Sarayaku) has given instructions: on July 24 at 4 in the afternoon, the yachaks (wise men) of Sarayaku will celebrate a ritual act in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, a site of great symbolism for the indigenous movement of the Ecuador.

The July 25, the party at the Hotel Quito will open at 4 in the afternoon with a symbolic and ritual dance of drums, pijuanos, bugles, chicha, ceramics and "wituk" -the vegetable dye that covers the face and hair-. At 5:00 p.m., the documentary "The descendants of the jaguar" will be launched nationwide, which, under the direction of Eriberto Gualinga and a co-production between Amnesty International and the People of Sarayaku, won the Best Documentary Award at the Film Festival "All Roads” of National Geographic, in its 2012 edition.

In the context of the new deadline for the XI Oil Bidding Round called Suroriente Round -extended for the third time by the Ecuadorian government- it will take place, from 5:30 p.m., the forum debates “In defense of collective rights: the struggle of Indigenous Peoples in the Inter-American System”, with the special participation of Alejandra Vicente from CEJIL (USA), Óscar Ayala from Tierraviva (Paraguay), César Rodríguez Garavito from DJusticia (Colombia), Julio César Trujillo from UASB (Ecuador) and Mario Melo from Fundación Pachamama (Ecuador). The table will be moderated by Pablo Iturralde from CDES.

In sarayaku, the celebration will take place on the day 28 of July, in fair recognition of its protagonists and the fraternal support it received during this process of struggle and resistance from people and social organizations around the world who feel called upon and dedicate all possible ways to defending the rights of indigenous peoples and nature.

The Sentence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights means for Sarayaku that the “black gold” will not be poured on their ancestral lands and rivers thanks to the unity of a people that stands firm to defend the Pachamama.

For more information and confirmation, please contact:

Cell phone 0983292734 (José Gualinga) 0984464526 (Alejandra Tapia)

Email: tayjasaruta@sarayaku.com, sarayakucomunicacion@gmail.com

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