A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador was found to be alive and knocking on her coffin during her own wake in the city of Babahoyo.
“I lifted up the coffin, and her heart was pounding, and her left hand was hitting the coffin… We called 911 to bring her here to the hospital,” her son Gilberto Barbera said in a video posted on social media.
In the video, people could be seen waiting and supporting Montoya as emergency services arrived at the scene, taking the 76-year-old woman back to the hospital.
A state investigation is now underway, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
It says the woman had been admitted Friday to the hospital with a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, and after she didn’t respond to resuscitation protocol, a doctor on duty declared her dead.
The video also goes on to show her hospital tags and then her son, who is shown pleading for an ambulance to arrive.
The woman’s full name is widely reported to be Bella Yolanda Montoya Castro, corresponding to the initials “B.Y.M.C” used in Ecuador’s Health Ministry statement issued on Sunday.
It said Montoya was in intensive care at the Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo – the same facility that initially declared her dead. Her current condition is unknown.
CNN’s calls to the hospital for comment have not been returned.
The man recording the video later asked the name of the woman, to which someone in the room replied: “Bella Yolanda.”
The ministry went on to say that, in coordination with the Health Services Quality Assurance Agency, a national technical committee was formed “to initiate a medical audit to establish responsibilities for the alleged confirmation of death.”
A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead at a hospital in Ecuador astonished her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake, and the incident has prompted a government investigation into the hospital.
Relatives left the coffin behind and rushed retired nurse Bella Montoya back to the hospital after the wake Friday in the central city of Babahoyo, son Gilberto Barbera told The Associated Press.
“It gave us all a fright,” Barbera said, adding that doctors have said his mother’s situation remains dire.
Ecuador’s Health Ministry said that Montoya was in intensive care Monday at the Martín Icaza Hospital in Babahoyo while the ministry investigates doctors involved in her case. A technical committee has been formed to review how the hospital issues death certificates, the ministry said in a statement.
Montoya initially had been admitted Friday at the hospital with a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, and when she did not respond to resuscitation a doctor on duty declared her dead, the ministry said.
Barbera said his mother was unconscious when she was brought to the emergency room and that a few hours later a doctor informed him she was dead and handed over identity documents and a death certificate.
The family then brought her to a funeral home and were holding a wake later Friday when they started to hear strange sounds.
“There were about 20 of us there,” Barbera said. “After about five hours of the wake, the coffin started to make sounds. My mom was wrapped in sheets and hitting the coffin, and when we approached we could see that she was breathing heavily.”
Though he and relatives rushed her back to the hospital Friday, she was still in serious condition Monday. She was under intubation, and doctors weren’t giving relatives much hope about her prognosis, Barbera said.
No details have been released about the doctor who had prematurely declared the woman dead.
“Resurrection”
Ecuadoran media reported the unusual incident, with headlines celebrating the woman’s “resurrection.”
“My mom is on oxygen. Her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted,” Barbera said in an El Universo newspaper report.
“They tell me that this is good, because it means that she is reacting little by little.”
Montoya was admitted to hospital with a suspected stroke “and went into cardiorespiratory arrest without responding to resuscitation maneuvers, so the doctor on duty confirmed her death,” Ecuador’s Health Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The ministry said it had established a committee to investigate the incident and that it would supervise Montoya’s care.
Barbera said he had visited his mother in the hospital’s intensive care unit on Sunday.
“Little by little I am grasping what has happened. Now I only pray for my mother’s health to improve. I want her alive and by my side,” he said.
A similar incident happened in the U.S. in December. An Iowa care facility mistakenly pronounced a 66-year-old resident dead and had her transported to a funeral home, where she woke up “gasping for air.”
In 2020, a young woman who was declared dead at her suburban Detroit home opened her eyes at a funeral home as she was about to embalmed.
Imagine a court hearing where the plaintiff is not a person, but a damaged river, lake or mountain.
That’s the vision of a movement of conservationists — gaining traction across the Continent — that believes granting basic legal rights to nature can help protect it from threats like deforestation, biodiversity loss, chemicals pollution and climate change.
“We usually think about nature as an object” that “serves us,” such as a swimming pool or a natural park, said Eduardo Salazar, a lawyer involved in the successful push to grant legal rights to Mar Menor, a large saltwater lagoon in Murcia in southeastern Spain polluted by the overuse of nitrogen fertilizers by nearby farmers.
Granting an ecosystem legal status on “the same level” as individuals can help alter social attitudes to nature, he said, and give it important new protections.
The lagoon last year became the first ecosystem on the Continent to be granted a status comparable to that of a person following a campaign backed by more than 600,000 people.
Activists are now trying to replicate the model elsewhere.
In Poland, a group of activists this week will complete the last leg of a 43-day-long march along the Oder River aimed at drawing attention to their campaign to grant the polluted ecosystem — which runs along the German-Polish border — the legal status of a person.
After a massive die-off last summer killed thousands of fish in the Oder, campaigners fear the ecosystem may be headed for another ecological disaster, pointing to Poland’s failure to rein in industrial emissions that are thought to have contributed to the incident.
“There is a lot of suffering going on in this river,” said Przemek Siewior, a climate activist who joined the march. Giving the fragile ecosystem legal rights is “a really good tool for people to try to save it,” he argued.
A ‘voice’ for nature
The so-called rights of nature movement, which originated in the United States some 50 years ago, has gained traction in recent years thanks to growing attention to the importance of protecting nature as part of combating climate change and biodiversity loss.
A growing number of countries — including Uganda, Ecuador and New Zealand — have laws granting ecosystems legal rights, and court rulings in India and Colombia have recognized such rights and stressed the government’s duty to protect it. Just last month, Panama gave rights to sea turtles in a bid to protect them against pollution and poaching.
In Europe, campaigners are hoping to ride the coattails of the Mar Menor movement, with citizens’ initiatives pushing for similar recognition for the North Sea in the Netherlands and the Loire River in France, for example.
The Loire River bed at Loireauxence was completely dried out because of extreme heat in September 2022 | Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images
At the movement’s core is a call for a fundamental rethink of the way people relate to and understand ecosystems. But more tangibly, campaigners also stress the importance of ensuring ecosystems can be represented in court.
In New Zealand, granting legal personhood to the Whanganui River was seen as a key step to ensure the Indigenous Māori community living in its vicinity gets more say on the health of the ecosystem.
The Spanish law giving Mar Menor a right “to exist as an ecosystem and to evolve naturally” ensures it will be represented by a group of caretakers, made up of scientists, local politicians and citizens.
Inspired by the Spanish example, the Oder River movement last month published a draft law to protect the ecosystem that would include establishing a 15-person committee to represent the river. Three would be appointed by the state, four by municipalities and eight by NGOs; a group of 10 scientists would advise the committee.
That structure would “give the Oder River a democratic representation” and a “voice that it currently just doesn’t have,” said Gaweł Andrzejewski, the coordinator of the Oder River march.
The process is still in its early stages: Drafted by a lawyer in collaboration with civil society, the draft bill is mostly meant to “stir and start the conversation” with politicians and NGOs, said Andrzejewski.
Practical impact
Critics argue that such representation is largely symbolic and doubt it can do much to help protect and restore ecosystems.
Setting up committees to represent an ecosystem gives “power to particular people” to make decisions about what is or isn’t in its interest, said Michael Livermore, a professor of law at the University of Virginia who specializes in environmental law, among other topics.
But there’s no guarantee that they’ll make the right call, or that it’ll be heeded. “I think part of the issue with a legal right is that you still run into problems, like what’s best for an ecosystem? And who’s going to make that decision?” he said.
In Ecuador, for example, environmental activists challenged a large-scale mining project located in one of the most biodiversity-rich areas of the planet, saying it violated nature’s rights — but the court ruled against them, arguing that the government’s interests to exploit the resource were important enough to override the nature rights argument.
Giving ecosystems legal status also does not guarantee protection — granting the Indian Ganges River legal personhood in 2017 has not prevented it from deteriorating, for example.
Livermore argues there are more efficient alternatives to protecting nature, such as preserving people’s rights to organize, providing protections for environmental organizations or improving decision-making processes to give more power to Indigenous communities.
Companies have so far remained relatively quiet on the movement — to Livermore, that’s a sign that giving rights to nature doesn’t pose much of a challenge.
“If it’s such a powerful tool to protect the environment, why don’t the special interests that worry about that, who would be opposed to very strong environmental protections, why aren’t they fighting it?” he said.
On a Panamanian beach long after dark, a group of undergraduate students dug into the sand to excavate a sea turtle nest, their lamps casting a soft red glow as they studied eggs, inventoried the success of the hatch and checked for any surviving hatchlings stuck at the bottom of the nest. Nearby, armed members of the National Border Service stood watch for protection in an area known for drug trafficking.
The students worked under the guidance of Callie Veelenturf, who founded a group that works to protect leatherback turtles and pushed for a new law in Panama that guarantees sea turtles the legal right to live and have free passage in a healthy environment.
The new law “will allow any Panamanian citizen to be the voice of sea turtles and defend them legally,” Veelenturf said in a text message as she boarded a plane to Panama City after her group’s work near Armila. “We will be able to hold governments, corporations, and public citizens legally accountable for violations of the rights of sea turtles.”
When Panama’s president signed the law in March, it was a victory for people who have long argued that wild animals should have so-called rights of nature that recognize their legal right to exist and to flourish, and allow for lawsuits if those rights are violated. Experts hope it’s part of an evolution that will see other countries take similar steps to protect species under threat.
“Business as usual laws aren’t doing enough to protect against the extinction crisis and climate change,” said Erica Lyman, a clinical law professor and director of the Global Law Alliance for Animals and the Environment at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. “This is an attempt at a new kind of framing that offers hope.”
Wildlife protection laws typically are passed because of some perceived benefit to humans, Lyman said. Panama’s law instead considers what sea turtles need and the fact that humans should curb their behavior to meet those needs, she said.
The law gives sea turtles the right to an environment free of pollution and other human impacts that cause physical or health damage, like climate change, incidental capture, coastal development and unregulated tourism.
What makes the law remarkable is that it explicitly says sea turtles, as living creatures, have rights, and with enough specificity that those rights can be enforced, added Nicholas Fromherz, an adjunct law professor and director of the alliance’s Latin American Program.
Panama’s new law came after Ecuador’s highest court in 2022 ruled in a case about a monkey kept in a private home that wild animals are rights-holders under the constitutional provisions for rights of nature. That was an important step in evolving the definition of nature from a site-specific or place-based concept, to include individual wild animals, Lyman said.
Both Lyman and Fromherz saw Panama’s law and recent judicial rulings as evidence of a trend toward safeguarding the legal rights of animals. Besides the Ecuador case, a Pakistan court in 2020 — ruling on a case that included an elephant’s captivity in a zoo — held that animals have natural rights that should be recognized. That decision sharply criticized humanity’s treatment of wild animals and drew on religious doctrine.
“There’s energy there,” Fromherz said.
And the movement is broader than animals. In Minnesota, for example, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe passed a tribal law granting legal rights to wild rice, then made it a plaintiff in a tribal court lawsuit in 2020 seeking to stop an oil pipeline. That lawsuit was eventually dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
Whether the thinking behind Panama’s law spreads more widely or not, it’s critical help for sea turtles in that country, which has some of the most important nesting spots in the world for leatherback sea turtles and hawksbill sea turtles. One beach area has about 3,000 hawksbill nests per year.
The Sea Turtle Conservancy is already citing the new law to call for Panama’s police and natural resource managers to intervene at one critical leatherback turtle nesting site that faces intense pressure from illegal egg hunters.
When the pandemic halted ecotourism, people who lost their main source of income began harvesting sea turtle eggs and some nesting turtles to sell for meat and their shells, said David Godfrey, executive director of the Florida-based conservancy. It became a crisis — at one beach, up to 90% of leatherback eggs were being taken, he said.
It was already illegal under Panamanian law to take sea turtles and their eggs from national parks and protected marine areas, Godfrey said, but it was unclear whether doing so was prohibited outside of those places and the law was sparsely enforced. Turtle protection groups, including the conservancy, lobbied for legislation that would offer clear protection for sea turtles, better monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, including financial penalties.
Panama’s law is explicit about the implications for irresponsible developers, tourism operators and others who disrupt sea turtle habitats, instructing agencies to cancel operating permits, Fromherz said. It clearly prohibits all domestic and international commerce in sea turtles, parts and eggs, with a narrow exception for subsistence use by select traditional communities, he added.
A committee is overseeing the full implementation of the law, including research, monitoring and efforts to raise awareness and promote ecotourism as an alternative to harvesting sea turtles and their eggs.
Laws like this are needed because recognizing that animals have legal rights opens up a pathway to safeguarding those rights and protections in court, said Christopher Berry, a managing attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
“Making sure there is a way to actually enforce a violation of these rights when a violation happens is really an incredibly important animal law issue that doesn’t get enough attention,” he said.
Despite ecotourism returning, Godfrey said people are still taking nesting sea turtles and eggs at greater levels than before the pandemic to sell for extra income. He expects the conservancy will try to get other countries throughout the Atlantic and Caribbean to adopt similar legislation, assuming it’s as effective as they hope.
“These animals have a right to exist, whether or not they benefit us. They do happen to benefit us in many ways. But they have a right to exist, even if they don’t,” Godfrey said. “And it’s refreshing to see a nation take that stance.”
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Washington — The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will set up migrant processing centers in Latin America, increase deportations and expand legal migration pathways in a bid to reduce the number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully.
The moves are part of the administration’s effort to reduce and slow migration to the U.S.-Mexico border, where officials are preparing to discontinue a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 that has allowed them to swiftly expel migrants over 2.7 million times since March 2020 without processing their asylum claims.
Title 42 is set to end on May 11 with the expiration of the national COVID-19 public health emergency. Officials have made internal projections that migrant arrivals to the southern border could spike to between 10,000 and 13,000 per day next month.
In fact, unlawful border crossings have already increased in the lead-up to the policy change, especially in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a senior U.S. official told CBS News. On Tuesday alone, Border Patrol recorded 7,500 apprehensions of migrants, a more than 40% increase from March’s daily average, the official said.
The brick-and-mortar processing centers announced Thursday will serve as regional hubs to screen migrants and determine whether they qualify for different options to enter the U.S. legally, including through traditional refugee resettlement, family visa programs, a sponsorship initiative for certain countries and temporary work visas.
The centers would be located in key choke-points in Latin America that many migrants transit through en route to the U.S. southern border, starting with Colombia and Guatemala. Senior administration officials said the U.S. is “in discussions” with other countries to expand the number of processing centers.
FILE — Men carry children on their shoulders as they set off on foot with other migrants toward the north in Tapachula, Mexico, on June 6, 2022.
Daniel Diaz/picture alliance via Getty Images
Migrants processed at the regional hubs will also be vetted for eligibility to remain in the hosting country or to be resettled in Canada or Spain, which have agreed to take referrals from the centers, according to the senior U.S. officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan during a briefing with reporters. CBS News first reported the establishment of the migrant centers on Wednesday.
During a joint press conference with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the regional processing hubs are expected to serve between 5,000 and 6,000 migrants each month.
“We are working with our regional partners. We are going after the smugglers. We are surging resources to the border. But we cannot do everything that we need to do until Congress provides the needed resources and reforms,” Mayorkas said.
The administration also announced on Thursday that it would expand a family reunification program that currently allows Haitians and Cubans to come to the U.S. once they have approved immigrant visa requests from family members who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
That program will be expanded to Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, allowing citizens of those countries to come to the U.S. under the humanitarian parole authority before their immigrant visas become available if their U.S.-based relatives’ requests to sponsor them for a visa have been approved.
To deter unlawful crossings after Title 42’s end, the Biden administration has been working to finalize a rule that would disqualify migrants from asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to seek humanitarian protection in a third country they transited through on their way to the U.S.
Administration officials have argued the policy, which resembles a Trump administration rule, will discourage illegal crossings, and encourage migrants to apply for two initiatives it unveiled in January: a sponsorship program that allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. each month, and a phone app that asylum-seekers in Mexico can use to request entry at ports of entry along the southern border.
In a statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the number of weekly deportation flights to some countries would double or triple. A senior administration official said the U.S. is planning a “significant” expansion of fast-track deportations under a process known as expedited removal to impose “stiffer consequences” on those who enter the U.S. without authorization.
Once Title 42 lifts, the U.S. intends to continue deporting Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuleans to Mexico if they cross the southern border unlawfully, the official said. The deportations would be carried out under immigration law, instead of Title 42, and lead to deportees being banned from the U.S. for five years. If they attempt to cross the border after being deported, the official added, they could face criminal prosecution.
The Biden administration earlier this month also launched an initiative to speed up the initial asylum screenings that migrants undergo when they are processed under regular immigration laws, instead of Title 42. Migrants enrolled in the program are being interviewed by U.S. asylum officers by phone while in Border Patrol custody, a shift from the long-standing practice of waiting until they are placed in long-term facilities.
Earlier this week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would be reassigning nearly 480 employees to help the 1,000-member asylum officer corps conduct these “credible fear” interviews, which determine whether migrants are deported or allowed to seek asylum, according to an internal notice obtained by CBS News.
The measures announced on Thursday also addressed concerns about the sharp increase in maritime migration in the Caribbean sea and Florida straits over the past year. The administration said it would be disqualifying Cuban and Haitian migrants from the sponsorship program launched earlier this year if they are interdicted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.
During the briefing with reporters, a senior U.S. official noted the administration is “fully cognizant that many of these measures are vulnerable to litigation,” saying the only “lasting solution” can come from Congress. Republican-led states are currently asking a federal judge to block the sponsorship program, arguing that the administration does not have the authority to admit 30,000 migrants each month outside the visa system.
The processing centers are part of a broader Biden administration campaign to enlist the help of countries in the Western Hemisphere to manage unauthorized migration — a commitment that 20 nations made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection during the Summit of the Americas in June 2022.
Earlier this month, the governments of the U.S., Colombia and Panama announced a two-month operation to curb migrant smuggling in the Darién Gap, a roadless and mountainous jungle that tens of thousands of migrants have traversed over the past year en route to the U.S.-Mexico border.
As part of planning related to Title 42’s end, U.S. officials have considered reinstating the practice of detaining some migrant families with children in detention centers, a controversial policy that the Biden administration discontinued in 2021.
Asked whether the practice would be revived, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News during an interview last week that “no decision” had been made.
During Thursday’s press conference, Mayorkas said the administration had “no plan to detain families.”
Washington — The Biden administration is expected to announce on Thursday the establishment of immigration processing centers in Latin America as part of an effort to reduce the number of migrants traveling to the U.S.-Mexico border, four people familiar with the plan told CBS News Wednesday.
The brick-and-mortar processing centers would serve as regional hubs to screen migrants and determine whether they qualify for programs to enter the U.S. legally, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss the plan before its formal announcement.
The centers would be located in key choke-points in Latin America that many migrants transit through en route to the U.S. southern border. U.S. officials have been in touch with countries like Colombia, Ecuador and Guatemala about setting up these centers within their borders, the sources said.
U.S. consular officers would be dispatched to the centers to interview migrants, as well as staff from the host countries, to determine if migrants have a legal path to stay there. Representatives for the White House and the Department of State did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the centers.
One objective of the regional processing centers is to reduce and slow migration to the U.S.-Mexico border, where officials are preparing to discontinue a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 that has allowed them to swiftly expel migrants over 2.7 million times without processing their asylum claims since March 2020.
FILE — Men carry children on their shoulders as they set off on foot with other migrants toward the north in Tapachula, Mexico, on June 6, 2022.
Daniel Diaz/picture alliance via Getty Images
The processing centers are expected to be one element of a broader announcement Thursday on how the administration is preparing for the end of Title 42 on May 11, when the expiration of the national COVID-19 public health emergency is set to trigger the policy’s termination. Officials have made internal projections that migrant arrivals to the southern border could spike to between 10,000 and 13,000 per day next month.
In fact, unlawful border crossings have already increased in the lead up to the policy change, especially in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a senior U.S. official told CBS News. On Tuesday alone, Border Patrol recorded 7,500 apprehensions of migrants, a more than 40% increase from March’s daily average, the official said.
To deter unlawful crossings after Title 42’s end, the Biden administration has been working to finalize a rule that would disqualify migrants from asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to seek humanitarian protection in a third country they transited through on their way to the U.S.
Administration officials have argued the policy, which resembles a Trump-era rule, will discourage illegal crossings, and encourage migrants to apply for two initiatives it unveiled in January: a sponsorship program that allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. each month, and a phone app that asylum-seekers in Mexico can use to request entry at ports of entry along the southern border.
The Biden administration earlier this month also launched an initiative to speed up the initial asylum screenings that migrants undergo when they are processed under regular immigration laws, instead of Title 42. Migrants enrolled in the program are being interviewed by U.S. asylum officers telephonically while in Border Patrol custody, a shift from the long-standing practice of waiting until they are placed in long-term facilities.
Earlier this week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would be reassigning nearly 480 employees to help the 1,000-member asylum officer corps conduct these “credible fear” interviews, which determine whether migrants are deported or allowed to seek asylum, according to an internal notice obtained by CBS News.
The processing centers are part of a broader Biden administration campaign to enlist the help of countries in the Western Hemisphere to manage unauthorized migration — a commitment that 20 nations made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection during the Summit of the Americas in June 2022.
Earlier this month, the governments of the U.S., Colombia and Panama announced a two-month operation to curb migrant smuggling in the Darién Gap, a roadless and mountainous jungle that tens of thousands of migrants have traversed over the past year en route to the U.S.-Mexico border.
As part of planning related to Title 42’s end, U.S. officials have considered reinstating the practice of detaining some migrant families with children in detention centers, a controversial policy that the Biden administration discontinued in 2021.
Asked whether the practice would be revived, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News during an interview last week that “no decision” had been made.
But Mayorkas noted that “deterrence alone will not solve the challenge of migration.”
Police in Ecuador found three human heads wrapped in black bags in a coastal province bordering Colombia, authorities said Thursday.
The province of Esmeraldas, which President Guillermo Lasso said has “the highest levels of insecurity in the country,” has been under a state of emergency since early March due to a spike in drug trafficking-related violence.
Two of the three decapitated heads discovered were identified by their mother, who told authorities one of them was a teenager, said Police General Fausto Buenano.
“It is known that these people who were decapitated belong to an (organized crime group) here in Esmeraldas,” he said.
“We presume that (gang members) are eliminating each other, perhaps for power, for more distribution,” Buenano added.
Since March 3, freedom of movement in Esmeraldas has been restricted from 9 pm to 5 am.
It is the second time in less than six months that a state of emergency has been declared in the province.
In November, Lasso imposed a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew after at least five police officers were killed and prison guards taken hostage.
Lasso has declared war on gangs who control the drug trade from prisons engulfed by extreme violence and riots that have left more than 400 inmates dead since 2021.
Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru, has seen a sharp rise in drug trafficking and murder in the past year.
The murder rate jumped from 14 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021 to 25 the following year, while drug seizures, mostly cocaine destined for European ports, went from 120 tons to over 200 tons in the same period.
The government says the escalating violence is “related to illicit drug trafficking as well as extortion mechanisms.”
With the proliferation of organized crime, some local gangs, such as the Lobos and Los Tiguerones, have morphed into micro-cartels.
Both gangs work with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation cartel, and have been responsible for deadly prison riots. The Department of Justice considers the Jalisco cartel “one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world.” The cartel’s leader, Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho,” is among the most sought by Mexican and U.S. authorities.
The violence in Ecuador has also impacted the media. On Monday, letter bombs were sent to at least five journalists working in news stations in the country. One of them exploded and injured a TV reporter.
The prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the crime of terrorism, without stating why the news stations were specifically targeted, or by whom.
At least 13 people died after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck southern Ecuador on Saturday afternoon, according to government officials.
The earthquake struck near the southern town of Baláo and was more than 65 km (nearly 41 miles) deep, according to the United States Geological Survey.
An estimated 461 people were injured in the quake, according to a report from the Ecuadorian president’s office. The government had previously reported that 16 people were killed but later revised the death toll.
In the province of El Oro, at least 11 people died. At least one other death was reported in the province of Azuay, according to the communications department for Ecuador’s president. In an earlier statement, authorities said the person in Azuay was killed when a wall collapsed onto a car and that at least three of the victims in El Oro died when a security camera tower came down.
People who were injured were being treated at hospitals, the Presidency added, but did not provide further details.
The USGS gave the tremor an “orange alert,” saying “significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially widespread.”
“Past events with this alert level have required a regional or national level response,” the USGS added. It also estimated damage and economic losses were possible.
Relatives of a CNN producer in the western port city of Guayaquil said they felt “very strong” tremors.
CNN afiliate Ecuavisa reported structural damage to buildings in Cuenca, one of the country’s biggest cities. The historic city is in the UN list of world heritage sites.
A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 14 people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 that was centered just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles south of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city. One of the victims died in Peru, while 13 others died in Ecuador, where authorities also reported that at least 126 people were injured.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso told reporters the earthquake had “without a doubt … generated alarm in the population.” Lasso’s office in a statement said 11 of the victims died in the coastal state of El Oro and two in the highlands state of Azuay.
Damage from a 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the town of Balao in Ecuador’s Azuay province on March 18, 2023.
Dario Ordonez/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In Peru, the earthquake was felt from its northern border with Ecuador to the central Pacific coast. Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otárola said a 4-year-old girl died from head trauma she suffered in the collapse of her home in the Tumbes region, on the border with Ecuador.
One of the victims in Azuay was a passenger in a vehicle crushed by rubble from a house in the Andean community of Cuenca, according to the Risk Management Secretariat, Ecuador’s emergency response agency.
In El Oro, the agency also reported that several people were trapped under rubble. In the community of Machala, a two-story home collapsed before people could evacuate, a pier gave way and a building’s walls cracked, trapping an unknown number of people.
The agency said firefighters worked to rescue people while the National Police assessed damage, their work made more difficult by downed lines that interrupted telephone and electricity service.
Machala resident Fabricio Cruz said he was in his third-floor apartment when he felt a strong tremor and saw his television hit the ground. He immediately headed out.
“I heard how my neighbors were shouting and there was a lot of noise,” said Cruz, a 34-year-old photographer. He added that when he looked around, he noticed the collapsed roofs of nearby houses.
Ecuador’s government also reported damages to health care centers and schools. Lasso said he would travel on Saturday to El Oro.
In Guayaquil, about 170 miles southwest of the capital, Quito, authorities reported cracks in buildings and homes, as well as some collapsed walls. Authorities ordered the closure of three vehicular tunnels in Guayaquil, which anchors a metro area of over 3 million people.
Videos shared on social media show people gathered on the streets of Guayaquil and nearby communities. People reported objects falling inside their homes.
One video posted online showed three anchors of a show dart from their studio desk as the set shook. They initially tried to shake it off as a minor quake but soon fled off camera. One anchor indicated the show would go on a commercial break, while another repeated, “My God, my God.”
A report from Ecuador’s Adverse Events Monitoring Directorate ruled out a tsunami threat.
Peruvian authorities said the old walls of an Army barracks collapsed in Tumbes.
Ecuador is particularly prone to earthquakes. In 2016, a quake centered farther north on the Pacific Coast in a more sparsely populated area of the country killed more than 600 people.
A strong earthquake shook the region around Ecuador’s second-largest city on Saturday, killing at least twelve people, damaging homes and buildings, and sending panicked residents into the streets.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. It was centered about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Guayaquil, which anchors a metro area of over 3 million people.
The South American country’s emergency response agency, the Risk Management Secretariat, reported one person died in the Andean community of Cuenca. The victim was a passenger in a vehicle trapped under the rubble of a house.
In Guayaquil, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Quito, authorities reported cracks on buildings and homes, as well as some collapsed walls. Authorities ordered the closure of three vehicular tunnels.
Videos shared on social media show people gathered on the streets of Guayaquil and nearby communities. People reported objects falling inside their homes.
A pier sank in the city of Machala. The earthquake was also felt in northern Peru.
Magnitude 6.7 tremor shakes coastal Guayas region, damaging homes and buildings.
A strong earthquake has shaken the region around Ecuador’s second-largest city, killing at least four people, damaging homes and buildings, and sending panicked residents into the streets.
The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake on Saturday with a magnitude of 6.7 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. It was centred about 80km (50 miles) south of Guayaquil, which anchors a metro area of more than 3 million people.
President Guillermo Lasso tweeted a message asking residents to remain calm.
The South American country’s emergency response agency, the Risk Management Secretariat, reported one person died in the Andean community of Cuenca. The victim was a passenger in a car trapped under the rubble of a house. Three other people died in the coastal state of El Oro, the agency said.
In Guayaquil, about 270km (170 miles) southwest of the capital, Quito, authorities reported cracks in houses and other buildings as well as some collapsed walls. Authorities ordered the closure of three road tunnels.
Videos shared on social media show people gathered on the streets of Guayaquil and nearby communities. People reported objects falling inside their homes.
One video posted online showed three presenters of a television show dart from their studio desk as the set shook.
They initially tried to shake it off as a minor quake but soon fled off camera. One presenter indicated the show would go on a commercial break while another repeated, “My God. My God.”
A pier sank in the city of Machala. The earthquake was also felt in northern Peru.
For the past year, a giant clock in Doha has been counting down to the opening match of the World Cup. Qatar and the world need wait no more, after this controversial tournament got underway Sunday with the host losing 2-0 to Ecuador.
After a spectacular opening ceremony, which starred the likes of Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman and BTS star Jung Kook, the sport itself finally took center stage after being overshadowed by off-the-pitch matters during the build-up.
It wasn’t the result that many in Qatar would have hoped for. The host looked nervous and struggled against an opposition possessing experience and quality. In truth, the game was all but over at halftime, with Ecuador comfortably 2-0 up thanks to two goals by Enner Valencia.
All the excitement pre-match slowly drained away from the stadium in the second half and there were noticeably more empty seats as some fans seemed to have had enough.
The nearer we got to Sunday’s kickoff in Doha, the more excited fans in this city became. A magnificent firework display lit up the sky on Saturday night and social media exploded with Qataris making their enthusiasm known about hosting one of sport’s biggest events.
Over the last few days, fans from around the world have gathered in squares in downtown Doha to sing, chant and wave their national flags, creating a fantastic atmosphere.
That festival spirit continued on match day, from the city center to the newly-built Al Bayt Stadium, which hosted the opening match of this historic World Cup, the first to be held in the Middle East.
At times, it has felt like any other major international tournament, but the build-up to this event has, of course, been unlike any other.
Corruption scandals plagued FIFA, world football’s governing body, after it awarded Qatar the tournament in 2010 – though Qatari officials have previously “strongly denied” to CNN the allegations of bribery which has surrounded its bid.
For over a decade, and increasingly so as kickoff neared, the pre-tournament build-up has focused on the country’s human rights record, from the death of migrant workers and the conditions many have endured in Qatar, as well as its LGBTQ laws and the role of women in its society. The country’s last-minute ban of alcohol in World Cup stadiums also made headlines around the world.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s remarkable press conference on the eve of the opening game demonstrated just how little on-field issues have featured so far.
The FIFA boss addressed hundreds of journalists in Doha, Saturday, and started the news conference with a near hour-long speech, during which he accused Western critics of hypocrisy and racism.
Those involved in the tournament have faced much criticism. Colombian singer Maluma, who features in the official World Cup anthem, walked out of an interview on Israeli television when he was questioned about the Gulf state’s human rights record.
The opening ceremony itself focused heavily on unity, with performances giving a nod to all the countries playing in this year’s tournament.
While the pre-match attention was inevitably on the host nation, Qatar’s opponents also had a story to tell as its place in the tournament was only confirmed weeks ago after it was involved in a legal dispute with rivals Chile.
It centered around the eligibility of Bryon Castillo who, rivals argued, was ineligible to represent Ecuador over claims he was born in Colombia. The case was referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who deemed Castillo eligible but, despite this, he was not included in his nation’s World Cup squad for Qatar 2022. On Sunday’s showing, it doesn’t look like the team miss Castillo.
Minutes after the game started, the noisy Ecuadorian fans were celebrating after it appeared their side had taken the lead. Valencia headed in from close range but the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) deemed Valencia was offside and disallowed the goal.
But just minutes later, the yellow shirts were celebrating again as Valencia put his side ahead from the penalty spot. Goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb had fouled the forward as he attempted to skip beyond him.
The captain doubled his tally before the first half finished, directing a bullet header into the bottom corner as Qatar looked short of confidence and belief.
Now that the action is underway, organizers will hope attention will move away from human rights and other off-field issues. But, in truth, this tournament’s legacy will not be determined on the pitch. Instead, it will be decided by real change and the improvement of the lives of the people who helped make it happen.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Palestine’s Mahmoud Abbas are among those arriving in Doha.
World leaders, politicians, diplomats and royalty have begun to arrive in Qatar before the 2022 FIFA World Cup kickoff on Sunday.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Doha on Saturday, followed by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was spotted at Hamad International Airport on Sunday, Qatar News Service reported.
Prince Mohammed’s arrival in Qatar comes after Saudi Arabia and Doha resumed diplomatic ties in January 2021 following years of frosty relations.
Saudi Arabia, playing in Group C, will take on Argentina on November 22.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will also attend the opening ceremony, Egyptian state TV quoted the presidency as saying on Sunday.
Those not attending in person have sent messages of support.
On Friday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar’s emir, received a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He called the emir’s office to congratulate the host country and wish the Qatari national team success in their coming games.
Qatar’s Bassam al-Rawi celebrates after scoring in the AFC Asian Cup against Iraq at Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in 2019 [File: Suhaib Salem/Reuters]
The official opening ceremony is slated to kick off at Al Bayt Stadium at 5pm (14:00 GMT) on Sunday before the inaugural Qatar-Ecuador match at 7pm (16:00 GMT).
Ecuador’s Byron Castillo in action with Argentina’s Nicolas Gonzalez during the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in Guayaquil, Ecuador in March 2022 [File: Jose Jacome/Pool/Reuters]
The emir’s office said the opening event will be attended by “a number of Their Majesties, Highnesses, and Excellencies Heads of States and Heads of Delegations of brotherly and friendly countries”.
Qatar, competing in Group A in their debut World Cup appearance, will face Senegal on November 25 and the Netherlands on November 29.
FIFA World Cup 2022: A match-fixing claim ahead of the opening match on Sunday has shaken Qatar, which is hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022. The first match is scheduled to be played between the host country and Ecuador today.
However, ahead of the clash, Amjad Taha, a strategic political affairs expert, on Thursday claimed that Qatar has bribed eight Ecuadorian players $7.4 million to lose the opener. He further said that five Qatari and Ecadour insiders have confirmed this.
“Exclusive: Qatar bribed eight Ecuadorian players $7.4 million to lose the opener(1-0 2nd half). Five Qatari and #Ecadour insiders confirmed this. We hope it’s false. We hope sharing this will affect the outcome. The world should oppose FIFA corruption,” Taha said in a tweet on November 17.
Exclusive: Qatar bribed eight Ecuadorian players $7.4 million to lose the opener(1-0 ⚽️ 2nd half). Five Qatari and #Ecadour insiders confirmed this.We hope it’s false. We hope sharing this will affect the outcome.The world should oppose FIFA corruption.@MailSport#WorldCup2022
While no one else has so far made or backed this serious allegation, Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, said that this was fake news coming from “a well-known disinformation account”.
Just a heads up if anyone sees a story about Qatar bribing Ecuador 7.4 million to lose the opening game – it started here from a well-known disinformation account who is somehow also the main source in the story @amjadt25 . It’s already got thousands of RTs though pic.twitter.com/2EjjvqEbBV
Qatar has already been facing massive criticism for its human rights violations, inhumane treatment of migrant workers constructing stadiums for sports, strict regulations – like no drinking and no revealing clothes in compliance with Islamic laws – for visitors, and inadequate facilities to accommodate lakhs of football fans.
Many fans who have landed in the country to watch Fifa have taken to social media platforms to complain about the harsh conditions in Qatar.
BBC’s Rhia Chohan in a tweet said they spent the night in a fan village near Lusail Stadium. “Guests slowly checking in to find they can’t buy drinking water without a wristband. It’s 30 degrees. Nearest shop an hour walk. No one knows where the wristbands are. We’re told the festival is meant to kick off at 6.30pm,” she said.
Israeli American writer Emily Schrader said that the Qatari officials were threatening to smash cameras of fans filming the harsh conditions inside the World Cup Fan Village. “You’d think after China and Russia they’d have learned not to hold major sporting events in dictatorships but hey, that’s FIFA for you! Qatari officials are threatening to smash cameras of fans filming the harsh conditions inside the World Cup Fan Village,” she wrote on Twitter.
World Cup 2022 in Qatar: The wait is almost over for the world’s biggest sporting event. Fans eagerly waiting for the FIFA World Cup 2022, which would kick off on November 20 and culminate on December 18, can now count the remaining hours at their fingertips. Qatar is the first country in the Middle East country, and second in Asia, after Japan and South Korea, to host the prestigious sporting event.
Also, for the first time in its 92-year history, the tournament is taking place in November and December rather than in the middle of the year as Qatar is one of the hottest nations in the world.
Qatar: The host
The selection of Qatar as the host country of the 2022 World Cup was done in 2010. As per reports, the country has spent a whopping $300 billion on the tournament’s preparations. It has developed highways, hotels, recreation areas, and six new football stadiums and upgraded two along with training sites at an estimated cost of up to $10 billion to accommodate world-class players. The stadiums where the matches will be played are Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Lusail Stadium, Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, Education City Stadium, and Al Janoub Stadium, to hold the tournament. With 80,000 seats, Lusail Iconic Stadium is the largest stadium of the upcoming world cup.
Qatar’s investment has caught everyone’s eye as it is much higher as compared to other hosts. Picture this: Russia spent $11.6 billion spent for the FIFA World Cup in 2018, Brazil invested $15 billion in 2014, South Africa shelled out $3.6 billion in 2010. Before that, Germany spent $4.3 billion in 2006, Japan $7 billion in 2002, France $2.3 billion in 1998, and the US $500 million in 1994.
Besides, the host country was in the middle of many controversies starting from the ban of beer sales inside the stadiums, its strict rules on homosexuality, and lastly, serious abuse and mistreatment of migrant workers who built the tournament’s infrastructure.
Match details
Thirty-two countries will be taking part in football’s biggest event. This tournament will kick start with a Group A match between hosts Qatar and Ecuador on November 20. The opening game will be played at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, while the final match takes place on December 18 at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail.
Groups and leagues
The 32 countries have been divided into eight groups with four teams each. There will be group matches, followed by knockout matches, quarterfinals, semifinals and the final to crown the champions on December 18.
The groups are:
GROUP A: Qatar (hosts), Ecuador, Senegal, Netherlands.
GROUP B: England, Iran, United States, Wales.
GROUP C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland.
GROUP D: France, Australia, Denmark, Tunisia.
GROUP E: Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, Japan.
GROUP F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia.
GROUP G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon.
GROUP H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea.
Ticket prices
Pricing on tickets depends on a variety of factors such as who is playing, the stage of the tournament, and more. As per FIFA, nearly three million tickets have been sold across the eight stadiums in Qatar. The tournament is expected to deliver record revenue for the organising body, much more than what it had earned ($5.4 billion) in Russia. The total ticket revenue is estimated to be about $1 billion, as per news reports.
There are 4 categories in the tickets:
Category 1 is the highest-priced ticket and is located in prime areas within the stadium.
Category 2 and Category 3 are tickets that are placed in seating areas within the stadium that offer a less optimal view of the action.
Category 4 is tickets within the stadium that are reserved exclusively for residents of Qatar.
The estimated base ticket prices are as follows:
Match
Cat. 1
Cat. 2
Cat. 3
Cat. 4
Opening Match
$618
$440
$302
$55
Group Matches
$220
$165
$69
$11
Round of 16
$275
$206
$96
$19
Quarterfinals Matches
$426
$288
$206
$82
Semifinals Matches
$956
$659
$357
$137
Third-Place Match
$426
$302
$206
$82
Final Match
$1607
$1003
$604
$206
Tournament format
The tournament will start off with group-stage matches, where only the top two teams from each of the eight groups survive. Following this, 16 group-stage teams will advance to the single-game knockout stages — Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and final — where the winner moves on and the loser goes home.
The knockout matches, if end without any results, will be decided on extra time, penalty kicks, sudden death methods, if necessary, to determine the victor.
This week, world leaders and diplomats are converging on the Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh for the 27th United Nations Climate Conference – better known as COP27.
Meanwhile, some 12,000 kilometers away from the sun-drenched beaches and high-level negotiations, another climate battle is already underway.
Among those attending COP27 is 20-year-old Helena Gualinga. She hails from a remote village in the Ecuadorian Amazon – home of the Kichwa Sarayaku community, who have been fighting for climate justice and indigenous land rights for decades.
And with historic results. In 2012, the Sarayaku community successfully took the Ecuadorian government to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, after it allowed oil exploration activities on their territory without their consent.
(Among the court’s findings was that Ecuador had put the Kichwa Sarayaku peoples’ right to life and cultural integrity in serious risk and was reportedly ordered to pay more than $1.3 million in compensation).
The landmark legal case had a lasting impact on Gualinga, and she hasn’t shied away from calling out the inadequacy of former COPs.
In response to the perceived failures of COP25, Gualinga co-founded Polluters Out, a global youth coalition challenging the UN and governments to cut ties with the fossil fuel industry.
Here, she tells CNN Opinion why she has reservations about COP27’s effectiveness, the importance of including indigenous people in climate crisis talks and why she doesn’t identify with the term “activist.”
The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
CNN: Describe growing up in the Ecuadorian Amazon and how this influenced your relationship with nature.
Gualinga: I spent a significant part of my childhood in my mother’s Sarayaku community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where I have a big “ayllu” or “family.”
It was an upbringing both in nature and in coexistence with nature – a lifestyle and culture we carry with pride.
Here, we are surrounded by big Ceibo trees and beautiful waters. We live in huts made out of wood and palm leaves, built with ancestral practices. Our subsistence has solely depended on nature – but the climate crisis, extraction of resources and deforestation have all contributed to devastation of our territory, which impacts the wildlife and our communities.
All of this has influenced our philosophy and declaration – Kawsak Sacha, meaning “The Living Forest,” where everything is alive.
The forest, water and mountains are considered living beings and therefore to honor and protect these living beings, the Sarayaku is fighting for legal recognition of them to create a new category of conservation.
With traditional conservation methods increasingly being questioned, it’s clear that the world needs to look towards Indigenous people to learn how to protect our ecosystems.
CNN: The Sarayaku case in 2012 was a landmark victory for indigenous rights – how did it shape how you see the world?
Gualinga: The Sarayaku case is a symbol of resistance. Throughout my childhood, the leaders of my community – many of whom are family – were violated, facing defamation, violence, torture and criminalization for their defiance. It sparked rage in me and my community.
But when Sarayaku won, we showed the world that you can fight big oil because no political or economic force is powerful enough to exploit land when its people unite.
Our victory inspired other Indigenous peoples protecting their lands and sends a powerful message to the companies and banks invested in projects that violate our rights. Their time is up!
After living in fear of losing our home, my peers and I have followed in our elders’ footsteps in defying the systems that uphold violence against people and nature.
Last month, a youth gathering was held in Sarayaku where Indigenous youth from across the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon gathered to discuss the future of our territories and reaffirm our commitment to protect Kawsak Sacha.
Kawsak Sacha – a decolonized shift in mindset, rooted in Indigenous practices – is vital to stand against human greed and fight climate change. We need to replace Western conservation methods with Indigenous stewardship. Western models treat nature as something separate from humans, while Indigenous peoples see ourselves as part of nature, which we have lived with for thousands of years, and seek to pass on to future generations.
CNN: You don’t identify with the label ‘activist’ – why is that?
Gualinga: I don’t identify as an activist because I do not believe we had a choice. Where I come from, most of the Amazonian Indigenous population would be considered “activists.”
If Sarayaku did not put up a fight, our territory would have been destroyed. It’s a matter of survival rather than acting out of choice.
My region, Latin America, is one of the most dangerous places for Indigenous people and land defenders. Our life’s work has been to protect our lands – our existence is our resistance.
The mere existence of people in the Amazon is what is securing the future of the Amazon. Does that make us activists? No. It is simply part of who we are and where we come from. It’s a defense mechanism of nature itself.
CNN: Why are indigenous voices important in the global conversation on climate?
Gualinga: Our communities have been raising the alarm bell on the climate crisis as we see the changes to the environment firsthand. We are on the front lines of keeping fossil fuels in the ground as we work to defend our lands.
As the world is moving away from fossil fuels, it’s now being replaced by the green energy industry. However, the transition to a green economy must ensure that it includes Indigenous peoples in decision-making – and that it does not repeat the same colonialist approach of the fossil fuels industry.
However, the green energy industry is currently not adequately including Indigenous peoples in decision-making.
Where will these resources come from? Unfortunately, indigenous territories will be ground zero for exploitative practices in the transition to green energy. For example, across Latin America, mining for lithium, ‘the new gold,’ is intensifying and leaving indigenous communities in extremely poor conditions.
In the Amazon we have also seen hydro dam projects happen on Indigenous territories without prior and informed consent from Indigenous people. Often these projects are classified as “green,” however impacts on Indigenous communities have not been adequately addressed and accounted for.
It’s essential that Indigenous people not only have a say in climate negotiations, but that discussions are also led by Indigenous people, so that all climate action is guided by climate justice.
Indigenous people have tended ecosystems for thousands of years. The knowledge we have obtained interacting and coexisting with nature for years is essential to understand how we will restore and find balance betweenhumans and nature.
To understand this, let’s look at the numbers. Indigenous peoples comprise less than 5% of the world population but we protect 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity in the forests, deserts, grasslands, and marine environments in which we have lived for centuries.
CNN: Are you hopeful COP27 will bring change?
Gualinga: I do not have high expectations for COP27. A sense of urgency about the climate crisis has still not reached the negotiating rooms despite millions of people suffering from its devastating consequences.
COP has yet to deliver on the big promises the parties have made throughout the years. In particular, COP27 needs to make sure Indigenous people are at the front and center at the negotiations to ensure an outcome that accounts for the injustice we are facing in protecting our rights, lands and the world’s biodiversity.
Countries must put nature at the heart of their mitigation and adaptation plans.
And the most pressing conversation to be had is the end of fossil fuel extraction. The climate crisis will continue if we do not close the oil tap, halt extractive industries and the financing of energy projects that violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and threaten ecosystems like my home.
My community, Sarayaku, for example, is currently divided into several oil blocks – meaning the government has allocated our territories for the exploration for and production of oil – which means we live under a constant threat. Much of the trade of Ecuadorian Amazon crude oil is financed by European banks, some of which may be attending COP27 with inconsistent promises and Net Zero pledges.
COP27 needs to recognize the expiration date of fossil fuels is now. It needs to acknowledge our wisdom on climate solutions as stewards of the land and provide funding and resources so we can help to cultivate a just future.
Nature is at stake – and it will not be safe until governments are held accountable.
BERLIN — German customs officials have seized 635 kilograms of cocaine among bananas shipped from Ecuador, authorities said Monday.
The cocaine, compressed into blocks and wrapped in plastic film, was found Oct. 27 in several packages in Duisburg in western Germany, the customs office in nearby Essen said.
The packages were wedged between bananas in a container shipped from Ecuador that had arrived in Germany via the Dutch port of Vlissingen. Employees at the company the bananas were delivered to noticed the packages and notified customs.
Authorities put the street value of the cocaine at about 44.5 million euros ($44.3 million), German news agency dpa reported.
