The Nationalities and indigenous peoples of Ecuador have resisted forms of domination, exploitation and discrimination since the colony, for more than five centuries they have presented genocide and ethnocide against humanity, particularly the indigenous world; we have been partially annihilated, in ABYA-YALA. The traces, constructions of sacred buildings, the roads, the findings vividly express the origin of indigenous knowledge and technology in the past and in the present.
In 1980, CONACNIE (National Council for the Coordination of Indigenous Nationalities) was organized in order to promote the consolidation of indigenous peoples, and the first CONACNIE Congress was convened on November 13-16, 1986, in the Nueva Vida camp, in Quito. and the CONAIE is constituted (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador); it is the result of the continuous struggle of the communities, centers, federations and confederations of indigenous peoples. The fundamental objectives that were raised in the congress were: to consolidate the indigenous peoples and nationalities of Ecuador, fight for land and indigenous territories, fight for their own education (intercultural bilingual), fight against the oppression of civil and ecclesiastical authorities, fight for the cultural identity of indigenous peoples, against colonialism and for the dignity of indigenous peoples and nationalities.
The main objectives of CONAIE are:
Consolidate the indigenous peoples and nationalities of the country
Fight for the defense of lands, indigenous territories and natural resources;
Strengthen bilingual intercultural education;
Fight against colonialism and neocolonialism (transnational companies in indigenous communities);
Promote community self-legislation and develop integral communitarianism;
Strengthen their identity and their forms of social organization;
Promote the exercise of the Collective Rights of the Indigenous Peoples and Nationalities of Ecuador, recognized in the Political Constitution of the Republic;
Build an intercultural society; promote participation through the establishment of a participatory democracy, in order to achieve the decentralization of power and economic resources, solidarity and equity;
Achieve equality and justice in indigenous peoples and nationalities, therefore in society in general; and,
Maintain international relations between the indigenous nationalities of the ABYA-YALA Continent, in order to enable alternative communication between indigenous peoples, and with other social sectors committed to the cause.
