One of the leaders in the indigenous resistance movement against the Amazonian oil industry is Gloria Hilda Ushigua Santi, a single mother of one son (the other was murdered) without formal schooling and the leader of the Sápara women's organisation (Ashiñwaka) [2, 5].  When asked about her motivation, she said, “Our territory is our ancestral heritage that ancestors left us for human life for indigenous people. The earth is for the future of our children. I am a defender because I defend my territory, my culture, and life for every being on earth. One difference between women and men is that men sell the land faster, but women defend because we are mothers who bring children to the world” [2]. 

On the same day that Andes Petroleum bought oil rights in tribal land, November 28, 2013, Ushigua Santi led a march of more than 100 Amazonian protesters and nonprofit activist supporters to Quito, where the hydrocarbon secretary’s office was, to stop the government from negotiating the oil rights deal without Sápara consent. They interrupted a meeting between the Ecuadorian president and the oil representatives to deliver the president a petition letter against the deal [2]. Outside, a small group of protesters wearing traditional clothing held signs saying, “Chinese firms, get off my land!” and “Don’t sacrifice the Amazon to petroleum companies!” [9]. However, Ushigua and her supporters were openly insulted at the meeting and complaints were filed against them for crimes such as terrorism, sabotage, and obstruction of public roads even though none of those charges were true because it was a very peaceful and respectful demonstration. Since then, public officials, the national media, law enforcement officers, and even members of her own family have been threatening, intimidating, judicially harassing, and discrediting her [1]. A two week long televised smear campaign began in December 2013, in which TV hosts mocked Ushigua’s traditional clothing as a clown costume among other racist insults [5]. Around this time, the march participants were ordered to go to court for legal prosecution for the march events. Ushigua’s court hearing took place in January of 2014. To date, the charges against the human rights defender have not been dropped, forcing her to incur costly fees for her legal representation in what is clearly an instance of judicial harassment [5]. As she recounts, “A lawyer, Carlos Poveda, represented me and the partners including Mercedes Margoth Escobar and Patricia Gualinga. We have to pay full for legal services but it is very difficult. We just paid a little. I do not remember exactly the price for services but legal defense costs a lot … Even now, we have no update on the file” [2].

In March 2014, the danger escalated when Ushigua received an email from someone claiming to be a Polish student volunteer asking to do a study of her community. Although she agreed to meet with what she thought would be four young women, six people arrived at her house and took her to the airport. She felt very wrong about the situation. They were not able to board the plane before security men began demanding identification and passports from the alleged students, who began crying and admitted that they were not actually there to study the Sápara, but were hired by the government to investigate them and cause division between community members. It is still unknown why they wanted to fly Ushigua somewhere else [2]. A few months later, on August 16, 2015, Ushigua left her jungle home in the Sápara settlement to go to her house in Puyo with four friends, her adopted daughter, and the daughter’s baby and young child when the Puyo house was raided. Three police officers kicked down the door and attacked her with tasers, beating her badly. She was struck three times on each arm and fell down [5]. Her adopted grandson, who was only 6 years old at the time, was crying and shouting, “Don’t kill my grandmother” [2]. She tried to defend herself, but the police sprayed tear gas directly in her face as 18 more officers swarmed in. The fumes from the tear gas also suffocated her guests, the mother and baby, and the young boy who were nearby. The officers also destroyed her computer, fax machine, phone, entire office, and other furniture during the raid [2, 5]. Although she wanted to file a complaint to the police, she knew that the police and the court judges worked under the government which she no longer trusted, fearing more attacks [2]. Undeterred by such violent repression, however, in October 2015, she and other female indigenous leaders testified against the government’s environmental and indigenous crimes at the 156th session of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR), which was a huge step forward in bringing justice to the communities [5].

The more Ushigua Santi fights, the harder the government tries to crush her resilience. On June 14, 2016,  community members found a secret military encampment in their land with agents contracted to stalk and assassinate Ushigua, her family members, and other members of Ashiñwaka. Following this discovery, many Sápara fleed for their lives, fearing an impending genocide and extinction [3]. Yet not everyone could avoid tragic fates. On May 2nd, 2016, the assassins found and killed Anacleta Dahua Cují, Ushigua’s sister-in-law. Cují had been farming on Sápara land when four men raped and brutally murdered her, leaving the body in plain sight. They also attacked Ushigua’s niece on May 26th, 2016 by restraining her and interrogating her about Ushigua’s whereabouts and activities, but she escaped. Only a few days later, on May 31st, five men sat outside Ushigua’s house in Puyo throughout the night as a death threat [5]. Yet Ushigua battled on, continuing to protest for years in alliance with other indigenous groups and outside NGOs, including protests at jungle airstrips preventing planes from getting to the remote ancestral land along with legal action against Andes Petroleum. They managed to delay the project execution all these years despite the Ecuadorian government’s huge investments in destroying the movement [4]. 

Finally, on October 10th, 2019, Ecuador's Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources issued a resolution on October 10th, 2019 granting a force majeure request by Andes Petroleum Ltd Ecuador due to the "resistance and social and political opposition" of indigenous peoples potentially affected by the project [4]. A force majeure is an unforeseeable circumstance that prevents someone from fulfilling a contract. This was very significant because Chinese companies are Ecuador’s largest investors [6]. The declaration was a milestone victory because it was official recognition of indigenous rights to informed consent, allowing all the tribes in the area to declare their territory free from extractivism [4]. Any other companies interested in Amazonian oil are now receiving the message loud and clear that any extractivist attempts will result in rights violations charges, court battles, project delays, and a terrible hit to company reputation if they try to start anything in Ecuador [6].

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On 24 July 2017, El Espectador (Colombia) summarized the conflict as follows: "A través de una carta entregada al Consulado chino en California, EE.UU., la Red Ambiental Indígena (IEN) y la Asociación de Mujeres Sápara Ecuador exigieron a Andes Petroleum cancelar los contratos de explotación y denunciaron un posible genocidio del Pueblo Sápara. Desde 2001 la UNESCO reconoció a la Nación Sápara, uno de los lugares más biodiversos del mundo, como Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Líderes amazónicos entregaron al Consulado chino en San Francisco, California (Estados Unidos) una carta en la que se oponen a la perforación petrolera en tierras indígenas Sápara, en Ecuador. Quienes estuvieron a cargo de la misiva, que hizo referencia a los contratos de perforación petrolera a través de un consorcio chino que, dicen, sin consentimiento amenaza los bosques tropicales del sureste del Ecuador y territorio titulado del pueblo Sápara, fueron la Red Ambiental Indígena (IEN) y la Asociación de Mujeres Sápara Ecuador.

Según informó el diario Ecuador Inmediato, la carta también tuvo el apoyo de los Asiáticos en Solidaridad con la Lucha por los Derechos Humanos Indígenas, la Observación Amazónica, el Pueblo Indio Organizado por el Cambio, el Movimiento Indígena Americano Oeste, PODER, Grassroots Global Justice y Amigos de la Tierra. Los firmantes, además, condenaron a la petrolera china Andes Petroleum y denunciaron un posible genocidio del Pueblo Sápara, de quien dicen lucha a diario para “proteger su existencia y su cultura”.

De acuerdo con Gloria Ushigua Santi, lideresa de la Asociación de Mujeres Sápara, citada por el medio de comunicación ecuatoriano, la supervivencia de esta nación y los pueblos indígenas que viven en aislamiento voluntario “depende de la salud de la selva tropical, los ríos, las montañas y la biodiversidad”. "Andes Petroleum tendrá la sangre de mi pueblo en sus manos si no se queda fuera de mi selva sagrada. La empresa se propone a cometer genocidio contra el Pueblo Sápara y los pueblos aislados que son nuestros vecinos. Andes Petroleum debe cancelar el contrato inmediatamente y el Ecuador debe desistir de cualquier otra forma de extracción de recursos porque amenaza nuestra supervivencia", explicó Ushigua Santi.

Cabe recordar que desde 2001 la UNESCO reconoció a la Nación Sápara, uno de los lugares más biodiversos del mundo, como Patrimonio de la Humanidad. Por esto, a pesar de firmar contratos para explotar petróleo en el territorio, Ecuador tiene responsabilidad con sus 560 miembros. Tom Goldtooth, de la Indigenous Environmental Network, explicó por su parte que "para el pueblo Sápara, las violaciones devastadoras incluyen el genocidio potencial, la violación cultural y un asalto contra la tierra y los derechos ancestrales”.