NAE - Who are we?

NAE (Achuar Nation of Ecuador) is a non-profit organization that was founded to fortify the identity, language, customs, worldview and laws of the Achuar Nation.

Currently the NAE represents approximately 6,000 Achuar who live in the territory of the Pastaza River basin, located in the Ecuadorian provinces of Pastaza and Morona Santiago. There are also Achuar people living inside the Peruvian side of their territory, but they have their own organization to represent them.

In the Ecuadorian part of the Achuar territory there are currently (year 2007) a total of 64 communities, also called centers. These communities are grouped in associations, or groups of communities. Nowadays (year 2007) there are 10 associations inside the Achuar territory.

Associations located in Morona Santiago include: Pumpuentsa, Saapapentsa, Tsunkintsa, Wampuik and Wichim.

Associacions located in Pastaza are: Churuya, Makusar, ACAP (Association of Achuar Centers of Pastaza) and the AAC (Achuar Association of Copataza).

The headquarters of the NAE are located in the city of Puyo, the capital of the Pastaza province, Ecuador. This strategic location allows the directors of the NAE to communicate with both, the local sectional governments and the Ecuadorian Government, as well as with the organizations that support the NAE, and other national and international organizations and agencies involved with the Achuar.

The directors of the NAE also communicate with the organizations representing other indigenous groups settled close to the Achuar territory in order to make decisions together. In general they try to agree upon their common borders and areas of influence and to define their defense strategies. At the same time, there is an Interfederational Committee, an organized body comprised of the NAE and the two Shuar federations FIPSE (Independent Federation of the Shuar People of Ecuador) and FICSH (Interprovincial Federation of Shuar Centers) for the purpose of defending their common interests in the Southern Amazon of Ecuador. This committee is in charge of dealing with every aspect concerning the defense of the ancestral Achuar and Shuar territories, mainly from the companies that want to enter and extract their natural resources such as oil and wood.

The Puyo location of their headquarters allows the directors of the NAE direct access to the Achuar communities by method of communication over a system of HF (High Frequency) radios. By using these radios, they can coordinate every activity with the Achuar people living at the communities inside the forest.

In this diagram, NAE is situated on the center point. The distance to which the rest of the actors (organizations, companies, etc.) are located depends on their level of collaboration with the Nation, the higher the level, the closer they are. The size of the circle surrounding each actor depends on the importance of its work with NAE, the more important their work, the bigger the size.

The colors in which each actor is written also indicates how close they are to NAE. The actors written in blue are the closest, followed by the ones written in brown and further away are the ones written in red. Finally, the actors written in black and linked to NAE with a discontinuous line are considered enemies by this Nation.

Diagram elaborated by María Augusta Hidalgo (EcoCiencia, 2007)
(for more information click over each name)

- To defend and value the culture, language and customs of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador.

- To promote and give advice the Associations and to consolidate all the Achuar centers (communities) located within the Ecuadorian Amazon.

- To plan and to coordinate the execution of different projects and programs of social development with public and private, national and foreign institutions involved with the Achuar Nation.

The Congress,
The Assembly,
The Government Council,
The Associations, and
The Communities represented by them (also called centers).

The Congress is the ultimate authority of the NAE and is in charge of making the decisions and resolutions that affect the NAE and the Achuar people. It has a meeting once every three years, and among other things, they elect the new Government Councilors of the NAE

The Government Council,
The Board of Directors of each association,
The Board of Directors of each community.

The Assembly is the second body of power and, according to the internal regulations of the NAE, it consists of the participation of the Government Council, the presidents of the Achuar Associations and the authorities of the communities. They meet once every year to review all the works being done by every organization associated with the NAE.

The only political, administrative and legal representatives of the NAE arethe members of the Government Council of the Nation.

President
Vice President
Director of Territories
Director of Education
Director of Health
Director of Economic Development
Director of Marketing, Organization and Communication
Director of Youth
Representative of the NAE in Macas
National Coordinator in Quito

The members of the Government Council are democratically elected among the delegates in attendance at the Congress of the Nation for a period of three years and are able to be re-elected for an additional following three year period only. They have a meeting at least once a month.

Image: Franco Róvere, taken from the collection "Mundo Shuar", Series "A", vol. 1, page 97.

Traditionally, the Achuar territory extended over Ecuadorian and Peruvian land. When the boarder conflict between Peru and Ecuador began in 1941, this territory became legally divided, along with the Achuar families. Without the freedom to cross the borders, the Achuar could no longer maintain the commercial exchange of goods that they once practiced.

Nevertheless, the Achuar kept living a nomadic lifestyle until the 1950's when evangelic and catholic missionaries arrived and established their first missions within Achuar territories. At the same time they tried to convert the Achuar to the evangelical religion, the missionaries also supported the defense of the Achuar territory from outside threats. Their intentions resulted in the organization FICSHA (Inter-provincial Federation of Shuar and Achuar Centers).

In 1964 the missionaries founded the Salesiana Mission in Taisha, Shuar territory, which gave way to the formation of the first Shuar permanent community. Shortly after that, Wichim and Pumpuentsa were the first Achuar permanent communities. Following the communities' establishment, schools were constructed and families began to remain in fixed communities.

Since the seventies, the Achuar communities (centers) have been affiliated with several organizations. Most of the communities of the Morona Santiago province affiliated with the FICSHA, today known as FICSH (Inter-provincial Federation of Shuar Centers); other communities affiliated with the AIPSE (Independent Association of the Shuar People of Ecuador), today known as the FIPSE (Independent Federation of the Shuar People of Ecuador); some others affiliated to the AIEPRA (Association of Evangelical Indigenous people of Pastaza Amazon Region); and others affiliated with the OPIP (Organization of Indigenous Communities in the Province of Pastaza).

Without a government to unite them, the Achuar communities were separated by the different objectives and values of the organizations with which they were affiliated.

In the nineteen nineties the Achuar decided that in order to fortify their culture and bring together the Achuar people, they needed their own organization, this way they would be able to preserve their own identity, language, customs and laws. This is the reason why various Achuar ended their memberships with their affiliated organizations, and in the year 1993 they met together and formed the OINAE (Inter-provincial Organization of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador). This organization allowed them to have their own voice and to make their own decisions.

The ONAIE was legally recognized on November 5th of 1993 by the Ministry of Social Welfare, through the Ministerial Agreement No. 005821.

Under the supervision of the Achuar's newly recognized organization, the OINAE originally represented the associations of Pumpuentsa and Numbaimi (now called ACAP, Association of Achuar Centers of Pastaza). However, little by little other associations affiliated with this organization.

In 1996, the organization changed its name to FINAE (Inter-provincial Federation of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador) and in April of 2005, they finally decided to stay with the name NAE (Achuar Nation of Ecuador). Every Achuar association in Ecuador is currently represented by the NAE.

The NAE was legalized under the Executive Agreement No. 55 of the CODENPE (Council for the Development of the Nationalities and Communities of Ecuador), signed on June 7th of 2005.

In 1998 Ecuador and Peru signined a Peace treaty and the Achuar created the COBNAEP (Bi-national Coordinator of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador and Peru) to coordinate the activities of the Achuar people in between both countries. After the signing of this treaty, the Achuar were allowed again to freely travel throughout their whole territory.