DEFENDERS
of Territory
Stories of women who defend
life and territory in Latin America
Made by Climate Tracker y el Proyecto Regional FES Social-Ecological Transformation of the Foundation Friedrich Ebert
Mapa Open Layers
Isabel, the woman who defends the river for which her husband was imprisoned
Guatemala
After the capture and conviction of community leader Bernardo Caal, his family, comprised of women, inherited the social movement that is fighting against a hydroelectric plant that diverted the river that supplies water to their community in Guatemala.
The Women who Name the Silence of Cauca
Colombia
In 2018, the largest hydroelectric project in Colombia, Hidroituango, was on the verge of collapsing because the mountain caved in, and the Cauca River threatened to create an apocalyptic flood. This crisis is paralleled by another story: that of the women who lived on the banks of the Cauca and organized to oppose the project for a decade.
The Women’s Advocate against Fracking
México
In the Totonacapan region in Mexico, a woman has spoken out on behalf of her companions to stop an extractive activity the government insists on denying.
Ná Lupita, woman of the clouds in front of the wind
México
Guadalupe Ramírez is a woman who comes from the clouds. The strength with which she defends her territory is comparable to that of the wind from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Oaxacan region in the south of Mexico she inhabits and defends.
Lisa tree rings
Venezuela
In the midst of defending ancestral territories and caring for family, many indigenous leaders are the last in line for their own rights. Their bodies, the first territory inhabited by them, are the first to get sick. The climate crisis is also a crisis of care for the defenders of the earth.
A daughter of the Earth, Edel Moraes is the voice of extractive peoples
Brasil
The defender from Marajó fights for the right to the territory as a place for the reproduction of life. In Marajó, the people and the land are one.
Estela Casanto: the traditional healer who died defending her territory
Perú
An indigenous Peruvian Asháninka died in March of this year. Although her body, beaten and hidden in a cave was found a long way from her home, the autopsy determined that she died from choking on coca leaves.
Andalgalá: the voice of the Algarrobo – Chronicle of a fight without legs but that walks
Argentina
Standing outside the police station, Rosita yelled a phrase at the top of her lungs that would be indelibly etched in the history of the struggle: “Why do those scoundrels who sit behind their desks drinking coffee, deciding what we need for Andalgalá, put us in these types of situations? Why have we had to walk here every Saturday for the past eleven years without ever being listened to? Even the priest was lobbying for the mining company! Why do we have to live like this? But we are not tired...
The seedbed that resists afforestation
Uruguay
We thought we were never going to eat black watermelon again, but Claudia Cuebas, from the north of Uruguay, revived it. As an agroecological producer, she recovered a seed that seemed lost, multiplied it, and exchanged it at fairs and meetings with other rural producers.
Alicia Cahuiya: “Let us live as Waorani!”
Ecuador
This Waorani leader has spent 30 years fighting the oil capitals, which invade and pollute Yasuní park, one of the most biodiverse places in the world as well as having the largest oil reserves in Ecuador.
Germinda Casupá, an indigenous Chiquitana woman fighting fire
Bolivia
The fires that caused havoc in the Bolivian Chiquitania—the largest dry forest in the world—left dead animals and damaged trees and plants in their wake and affected indigenous families. In response to this catastrophe, indigenous women assumed the defense of their habitat.
Fernanda Castro Purran, the Mapuche Pewenche champion of free river
Chile
For the indigenous and environmental organizations of the Bíobío river basin, dams do not constitute clean energy. A fourth hydroelectric plant is being built there, and Fernanda is one of the main leaders opposing it. At 29, she is the director of the Ríos to Rivers Chile organization, a mother and the founder of the Pehuenche Malen Leubü women’s rafting team.
