“In Latin America, water is the symbol of life and the engine of popular opposition.”

Tribune. In Ecuador, the current presidential election is historically significant for aboriginalism and the environment in Latin America and beyond. At the end of the first round, on February 7, Andr அs Aras, the Socialist candidate backed by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), came out on top. Curator Guillermo Lasso will face him on April 11 in the second round. But Yaku Sacha Perez Quartembel, an environmental activist of indigenous descent, has already created a surprise. He got a result that no poll predicted: the third and second rounds were lost by less than 0.4% of the vote. He denounced a fraud and then called for a reconsideration of the vote.

The name he chose for himself means “mountain water” in Quechua. Yahu Perez, from the province of Asuwe in the Andes Mountains, a country marked by waves of mobilization in the autumn of 2019 and later severely affected by the epidemic, represents the Green Movement, a party of the Ecuadorian Native Federation. Its electoral victory illustrates an environmental theme that is increasingly seen in public debate: water.

Conservation of natural resources

Yaku Perez, the patron saint of Indian culture, made a name for himself by opposing several attempts to privatize water. He was imprisoned five times after clashes with mining companies or during protests against water laws, and joined the Green Party in 2019. He was later elected prefect With a plan marked by the conservation of natural resources threatened by mining activities, from its origin.

It was also at the heart of his presidential plan: “Earth is a life, water is a life. The stone is not quiet, it is still ”, He reiterates on social networks, between nature walks and bike rides, which helped popularize him as a leader in the means of transportation.

How to explain this success of the environment in Ecuador? There are two reasons for this: first, at the level of the Latin American region, a strategically fertile water has gained significant visibility in recent years; At the national level, because the country has become the champion Good lifeAfter Raphael came to power in Korea in 2007, the “good life” mentioned in the constitution in 2008.

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