Ecuador: Escalating violence against and criminalisation of the Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi community and its president, Wayra Alvarado
Front Line Defenders expresses its deep concern over the escalation of violent attacks, harassment, and criminalisation against the Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi indigenous community and its president Kambak Wayra Alvarado Andy. The community is located in the province of Napo in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The attacks they are facing are part of an ongoing process of territorial dispossession, in which the company Terraturismo S.A. has allegedly attempted to evict the indigenous community from their land. This has seriously endangered their physical integrity, livelihoods and right to their territory.
The Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi community have inhabited the Archidona canton in the province of Napo, where they have maintained a close spiritual, cultural, and subsistence relationship with its territory for generations. The community has long defended its ancestral indigenous lands against colonisation, land appropriation, and extractive activities that threaten its way of life and collective rights. For more than a decade, their members have been subjected to threats, surveillance, harassment, and deforestation activities. These activities originated in colonisation processes promoted by the Ecuadorian government in the 1950s, when lands in the Ecuadorian Amazon were granted to private actors, without recognizing the Kichwa people’s historical occupation of the land.
Kambak Wayra Alvarado Andy is the current president of the community and a recognized land and indigenous peoples rights defender. As part of his work, he has represented the community before national institutions and international organisations, denouncing the negative impacts on their ancestral territory of extractive activities and demanding respect for their collective rights — for which he has been subjected to threats, harassment, and criminalisation.
The community has declared that they have inhabited their ancestral indigenous territory since before 1900. They claim to have recovered part of this territory in 2008, receiving official recognition through a ministerial agreement in 2011. However, approximately 627 hectares of their land have been lost since 2016, when Terraturismo S.A. alleges to have acquired the land.
Although the company initiated eviction proceedings in December 2025 based on a previous eviction order, it was dismissed by the Napo Police Superintendency following the identification of irregularities in the order. In light of the dismissal, the Ombudsman’s Office also urged the authorities to refrain from taking any action that would result in the community’s eviction. Nevertheless, Terraturismo S.A. has continued to pursue measures to expel the community from its territory. In the meantime, journalistic investigations have accused the company of carrying out activities other than the tourism activities it claims to be involved in.
In the beggining of 2026, the community reported incursions by company personnel and private security guards using heavy machinery, carrying weapons, destroying small plots of land (chakras) —which are essential for the livelihood of families—and disrupting basic services. On June 10, 2026, approximately 200 people associated with the company entered the territory in an eviction attempt, leaving at least three people seriously injured and several others wounded. Further attempts to enter the territory, as well as attacks, were reported on 1 - 3 and 15 July 2026. Despite repeated complaints to the police authorities,the community claims that security forces have not taken action to prevent or stop these incidents.
The reported attacks have been accompanied by the criminalisation of human rights defenders who have played a leading role in organising the defence of the right of the Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi community over its ancestral land. Their president, Wayra Alvarado, is currently facing four criminal complaints, filed between February and July 2026 by individuals linked to Terraturismo S.A. The complainants allege illegal occupation and land grabbing on its territory. The cases also include a defamation acusation referring to statements the human rights defender has made about protecting the indigenous community's ancestral land. As a result of these attempts to criminalise him, he was arrested on 7 May and is currently on conditional release as an alternative to imprisonment. Other community members and allied indigenous organisations have also been the subject of criminal complaints.
These events illustrate the persecution of those who defend the rights of indigenous peoples in Ecuador, including those who defend their ancestral territories, which jeopardise the legitimate exercise of the right to defend human rights.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern over the combination of physical violence, eviction attempts, destruction of livelihoods, and criminalisation faced by the Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi community. Front Line Defenders considers the criminalisation of Wayra Alvarado to be part of a pattern of using the justice system to obstruct the legitimate defense of indigenous peoples territorial rights and to intimidate the community.
Front Line Defenders urges the Ecuadorian authorities to promptly and independently investigate the attacks against the Kichwa Tzawata-Ila-Chukapi community; to identify and bring to justice all those responsible, both directly and as intellectual authors; to guarantee the effective protection of the community and its leaders; to refrain from taking any action that involves an eviction contrary to Ecuador’s commitments under international human rights law; to drop the charges against Wayra Alvarado, as well in the cases of other community members and allies; and to ensure that Wayra Alvarado and other human rights defenders can carry out their legitimate work in defense of the territory without violence, threats, harassment, or criminalisation.
