Ecuadorian voters have overwhelmingly supported a ban on future oil extraction in a biodiverse section of the Amazon’s Yasuní National Park — a historic referendum result that will protect Indigenous Yasuní land from development. We speak with Helena Gualinga, a youth Kichwa Sarayaku environmental activist from Ecuador who has fought against oil drilling all her life and says the results of the vote not only set a “crucial precedent” as the first time a country has voted by democratic ballot initiative on resource extraction in the Amazon, but also demonstrates that “Ecuador is a country that is committed to protecting the Amazon rainforest and to protecting Indigenous peoples.”
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We end today’s show in Ecuador, where voters Sunday overwhelmingly supported a historic referendum blocking oil extraction in the Amazon’s Yasuní National Park, the largest protected area in Ecuador, with massive petroleum reserves crossing through Indigenous Yasuní land. The effort was spearheaded by Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders.
This comes as Ecuadorians also took to the polls for a snap presidential election that saw leftist Luisa González place first ahead of a runoff election in October. At least three political leaders were killed, assassinated, ahead of the election.
For more, we go to Puyo, Ecuador, to speak with Helena Gualinga, a youth Kichwa Sarayaku environmental activist who campaigned for the referendum and grew up in the remote Kichwa Sarayaku community in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Tomorrow on CNN: “The US needs to bring freedom and democracy to Ecuador”
