Ecuador activists protest on Columbus Day

(12 Oct 2022) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Quito - 12 October 2022 1. Various of Indigenous and Afro-descendant activists  protesting outside the Environmental Ministry building shouting (Spanish) UPSOUND "Emergency" 2. Various of activists holding banners reading (Spanish) "Indigenous Resistance day," and "There is no climate justice without justice for the people, #Indigenous Futures" 3. Various of women activists holding green pennants shouting (Spanish) "Water yes, mining no" and "Jungle yes, mining no" 4. Banner reading (Spanish) "There is no climate justice without justice for the people, #Indigenous Futures" 5. Activists holding banners reading (Spanish) "We are the Black Resistance" (left) and "To heal the earth is to heal ourselves" 6. Indigenous activist shouting (Spanish) "We were plundered, not conquered" 7. Various of activists protesting outside the Environmental Ministry buidling 8. Leo Cerda, representative of the Shiwiar Indigenous community, handing the representative of the Ministry of the Environment a document with their requests to eradicate mining and protect the Ecuadorian Amazon 9. Various of activists marching on the street 10. Activists holding banner reading (Spanish) "Only by protecting our territories we'll protect our lives." 11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Leo Cerda, Representative of Ecuador's Shiwiar Indigenous community: "We are here to call on governments to react immediately to take anti-racist, anti-colonialist, and anti-extractivist policies into action because structural racism is what has caused the global climate crisis, the global crisis, a cultural crisis. That is why we are here, representing the peoples, the Indigenous people and Black people of 22 countries, all demanding the same thing. The struggle is not only in Ecuador; it is in the continent all over the world. We are demanding that the Amazonian territory be declared in climate emergency." 12. Activists holding banner reading (Spanish) "Without racial justice there is no climate justice" 13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish)  Lucia Ixchiu, Representative of the Guatemala's Quiche Indigenous Community: "The Amazon is in danger because it is being plundered by transnational extractive companies with the complicity of the current government; there is no government without responsibility for this colonial and racist plundering that is occurring today." 14. Various of activists gathered in front of Isabella I of Castile (Isabella the Catholic) monument 15. Various of Placard placed on the monument reading (Spanish) "October 12, day of resistance and struggle of Indigenous and Black peoples. The queen does not represent us. In our lands, the monarchy represents plunder, rape and racism". STORYLINE: Dozens of Indigenous and Afro-descendant activists protested Wednesday outside Ecuador's Ministry of Environment in Quito, demanding the erradication of mining in the Amazon territories as part of Columbus Day protest. The group delivered a letter to the Environment Ministry requesting the eradication of mining in the Amazon, as well as the declaration of environmental emergency in these territories. "We are here to call on governments to react immediately to take anti-racist, anti-colonialist, and anti-extractivist policies into action because structural racism is what has caused the global climate crisis, the global crisis, a cultural crisis," said Leo Cerda, representative of Ecuador's Shiwiar Indigenous community, who handed the letter to an official of the Ministry of the Environment. =========================================================== Clients are reminded: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ccedbfbc7ae949df957e3d55c5f26707