Statement from agroecological organizations regarding the current political situation in Ecuador
El CLACSO Working Group on Political Agroecology The undersigned organizations wish to express our concern regarding the events currently unfolding in the sister republic of Ecuador. Since the implementation of neoliberal policies, the country has been experiencing a social, economic, political, and environmental crisis.
The rise of the narco-state has made it the most violent in the region, and neoliberal policies have increased poverty, especially among rural, peasant, and indigenous populations. Furthermore, the peasantry is one of the sectors most affected by the global context of increased vulnerability to climate change, with growing droughts and floods, and to the international market, with the trade war unleashed by the United States.
The recent elections held in April of this year were marred by repeated irregularities, and the victory of the Noboa family, the wealthiest and now most powerful in the country, represents a deepening of a project that is not only neoliberal but also neofascist, adding to the new cycle of the far-right offensive led by figures like Trump and Milei. Several events compel us to be vigilant and extend our solidarity and support to Ecuadorian social movements:
- The announcement of constitutional reforms would represent a setback in the social and environmental rights achieved after decades of struggle by peasant and indigenous movements, such as the recognition of the rights of nature, food sovereignty, or collective rights such as prior consultation, with which the people have demonstrated their rejection of mining and oil extraction.
- The criminalization and attempts at co-optation of CONAIE (National Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) and its leadership by the government, which, with its entire media apparatus, is carrying out a campaign to delegitimize its collective actions due to its openly anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal, and anti-racist stance, are unacceptable. We support the sovereignty of the Indigenous movement, the main social and community force capable of halting policies that destroy life.
- The rhetoric of partisan political opportunists, aligned with the current government, aims to weaken and divide social and community movements in pursuit of favors from hegemonic powers. This approach is incompatible with agroecology and emancipatory alternatives. Rather, it seeks to discredit historical struggles and undermine the decision-making structure of social movements at a time when many lives depend on the formation of social networks capable of resisting power. We reject these spokespeople, who do not represent the position of the agroecological movement.
Based on the principles and convictions that unite us, we support and stand in solidarity with the peasant, agroecological, and Indigenous organizations of Ecuador that seek to safeguard the country's sovereignty through their own community-based ways of life and their legitimate exercise of rights. On the International Day of Peasant Struggles, we continue to forge alliances to resist the dispossession of their territories and advance the construction and consolidation of just, sustainable, and fully democratic societies.
April 24th 2025
CLACSO Working Group on Political Agroecology
Agroecological Collective of Ecuador (CAE)
Agroecological Peasant Confederation of Ecuador (CCAE)
Youth of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)
Manabí Agroecological Network
National Committee of Family, Peasant and Community Agriculture of Ecuador (CNAFCE)
Institute of Ruralities of the South (IRSUR), Agroecological Network of the South (RAA)
Alsakuy Agroecological (Peru)
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
