TIME & LOCATION

13 May 2026, 15:00–17:00 CET

Utrecht University | Contesting Ecologies series

In recent years, Ecuador has experienced a deepening entrenchment of extractivist projects, militarization, and recurring states of exception. These dynamics have been intensified by state-led criminalization, persecution, and violence targeting Indigenous peoples, peasant communities, and environmental defenders resisting mining, oil extraction, and neoliberal policies.

Against this backdrop, this seminar critically examines the relationship between the expansion of the extractive frontier and state criminalization. It brings together three Indigenous leaders currently facing persecution in Ecuador: Leonidas Iza (former president of CONAIE and former presidential candidate), Sisa Cotacachi (Indigenous leader from Otavalo, epicenter of the 2025 protests), and Dario Iza (president of the Kitu Kara peoples). Together, they will reflect on ongoing struggles, strategies of resistance, and the state–corporate dynamics shaping territorial conflicts.

Registration is now open!