Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE)
Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE)
Building on the initiatives of earlier indigenous organizations, in November 1986 five hundred delegates formed the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador; CONAIE) at the Nueva Vida (New Life) camp outside Quito. Their goal was to combine all indigenous peoples into one large pan-Indian movement to defend indigenous concerns and to agitate for social, political, and educational reforms. In June 1990 CONAIE emerged at the forefront of a powerful indigenous uprising that paralyzed the country for a week. Since then, the organization has led repeated popular protests for land, economic development, education, and recognition of indigenous nationalities.
See alsoIndigenismo; Indigenous Organizations.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE). Las nacionalidades indígenas en el Ecuador: Nuestro proceso organizativo, 2nd ed. Quito: Ediciones Tincui-Abya-Yala, 1989.
Marc Becker