For more than a decade, Pachakutik has been very successful among large Indigenous constituencies, and the current mayor in Gualaquiza got into office by aligning with the Indigenous party. Although he is not Shuar, he was elected by most people in Bomboiza. But support waned when a WhatsApp video circulated that showed the mayor drunk, calling a Shuar group “savages” and other racist slurs when they demanded he fulfill his campaign promises. “It was a disgrace,” the outraged people in Bomboiza protested. “They simply use us for our votes.”
Since then, the idea of a Shuar mayor in the city has taken root.
But electoral politics are expensive, and even the humblest of campaigns can amount to several thousand dollars. This is an important reason why, even in an Indigenous party, non-Indigenous politicians have historically been more successful.
By growing dragon fruit in the jungle, the people in Bomboiza aim to create an economic boost to help Shuar people better fund their own forays into national politics.
HOPE FOR INDIGENOUS FUTURES
Shuar leadership is not unprecedented; there are already several regional offices in the same province under Shuar administration. But it has never been achieved in Gualaquiza before and, crucially, it has never been achieved through Shuar self-funding.
In the past, external funding has opened the doors to political co-option, corruption, and mismanagement. Now, despite the great pride Shuar have for the historic achievements of the Shuar Federation and their electoral aims with Pachakutik, for many, the current situation is nothing short of heartbreaking. Following years of mismanagement, the Shuar Federation is but a shadow of its former glory. Pachakutik is not faring much better either.
For two decades, the large-scale development of industrial mining in Shuar lands has severely compromised Shuar political autonomy. In April of 2023, the president of the Shuar Federation was violently ousted after it was discovered he had traveled to Toronto at the invitation of Solaris Resources, a Canadian mining corporation interested in exploiting a copper deposit in Shuar territory. He was rumored to have been paid to rewrite the federation’s statutes to allow mining activities in common land, which he did.
Despite years of Shuar resistance against resource extraction, Chinese and North American companies are now major employers in the region. And there are troubling rumors that Mexican cartels may be behind smaller gold mining operations inside Shuar territory.
“Young people have been left no choice but to work in mining or risk their lives migrating abroad,” Kunki notes. Indeed, in Gualaquiza alone, hundreds of Shuar people, along with other Ecuadorians, are increasingly choosing to trek across Central America in the hope of reaching a better life in the U.S.
People in Bomboiza hope that by growing dragon fruit and tapping into its export market, they will provide an answer to some of these local economic woes. At the same time, they are wary of their production morphing into monocultures and so are working on a project to harness women’s Ecological Knowledge and the incredible diversity of traditional gardens.
They also believe that in the colonial context reigning in the region, they need to develop a larger political project. The new president of the Shuar Federation, who is also from Bomboiza, is one of the leading Indigenous activists against mining in Ecuador, so there are reasons to be hopeful.
“If mining undermines our territorial sovereignty, and we’re doing it out of necessity, or if we’re leaving abroad,” Kunki says, “then we need to provide our people with an alternative.”
“But,” he says, “we won’t be able to develop economic opportunities if we don’t maintain our political strength.”
