“We NEED our ancestral heartland in order to continue existing as Siekopai”. Yesterday, the Siekopai nation stepped up their fight to reclaim the heart of their ancestral territory, known as Pë’këya or Lagartococha, by deciding to take the Ecuadorian government to court over the violations of their right to territory. Pë’këya is the place of origin and ancestral home of the Siekopai - an area of immeasurable importance for the Siekopai people’s cultural and physical survival. Sadly, despite battling for decades and filing a land title claim five years ago, Pë’këya is still not in the hands of the Siekopai. The Ecuadorian government took ownership after declaring Lagarto Cocha as part of a national park in the 1970s – a designation made without the consent or consideration of its ancestral stewards who were forcibly removed from the area by military in 1941 due to Ecuador’s border-war with Peru. Outside the court, community members prepared their traditional beverage made from the yoko vine, a plant sacred to the Siekopai, while elders and leaders talked about the importance of Pë’këya and youth shared medicine songs. Through their struggle, the Siekopai hope to recover Pë’këya and to set a precedent for dozens of other Indigenous groups who are fighting to reclaim over three million acres of ancestral territories trapped in Ecuador’s colonial and inept national park system. Read our in-depth story about Pë’këya & the Siekopai struggle by visiting the link in our bio. . . . #Amazon #IndigenousRights #LandBack #ecuador #IndigenousPower