There are around 2,000 Huaorani in existence today. Their native lands are only a fraction of the size that they once were. Along the Via Tigüino, Colonist owned houses and farms are carved out of forest that once belonged to the Huaorani. Missionaries have made inroads into Huaorani culture, converting and relocating a large number of the population. Many of the young Huaorani are learning Spanish. In many cases, oil companies and missionaries create divisions among the Huaorani. Though many Huaorani are proud of their culture and resist change, others have given in to outside pressure and no longer live traditional lifestyles. Thus, each Huaorani community is like its own sovereign nation state; the Huaorani of the Western Orient in some cases only resemble the Huaorani of the Eastern Orient in name.
In one of the most remote regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon is the 758,051-hectare area of rainforest known as the "Intangible Zone." It is an area of jungle about the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Inside the zone, there exists at least three Huaorani communities: Bameno, Gabaro and Bowanamo. The zone is supposed to be a refuge, void of any and all activity having to do with petroleum excavation and logging. This has not been and continues not to be the case.
The people of the Intangible Zone though are still living life styles that resemble those of their ancestors. The hunting is still good; the people chant; they dance and though their culture is changing, they are still proud to be Huaorani.
Also believed to live in this zone is the last known group of uncontacted Huaorani, the Tagaeri-Taromenane. In the case of the Tagaeri-Taromenane, one can only assume that they are living exactly or almost exactly the same as their ancestors did. Facing outside intrusion, The Tagaeri-Taromenane have been known to kill those that enter their territory uninvited. In 1987, they killed the Catholic priest Monseñor Labaca. Recently, the uncontacted group killed two loggers that came into their territory. The Tagaeri-Taromenane will no doubt further have to deal with external pressures from missionaries and oil companies: Jim Manley of the Mission Aviation Fellowship has been quoted as saying that "when a Tagaeri dies, he does not have the opportunity of going to heaven since he has not listened to the word of God."
Where the Tagaeri-Taromenane have had almost no contact with outsiders, the Huaorani of Bameno and Bowanamo have been exposed for thirty plus years to "the civilized world." Pressure mounts from this world. Oil companies want in. Loggers want wood and many of the Huaorani want what the outside world has to offer; whether it be rice, t-shirts, cigarettes or medical care many of the Huaorani of the Intangible Zone have already incorporated Western goods and practices into their native lifestyle; to continue to do this they need money.
Huaorani like Penti Baihua, the Bameno community coordinator and representative, seem to recognize the inevitability of their people's continued contact with the Western World. Realizing this, Penti and the Bowanamo community coordinator and representative, Otovo, also known as El Oso, have set out on separate endeavors that would allow them to interact with the Western World on their own terms, making a profit from their unique culture and knowledge, controlling the changes their culture undergoes. Through eco-tourism, Penti and Otovo hope to provide their communities with a source of income to rival the temptation of working with oil companies and loggers. Through their work, Penti and Otovo hope to preserve the Intangible Zone, to make sure that the forest remains pure and that the zone is truly intangible.
The people of Bowanamo and Bameno respect the right of the Tagaeri-Taremenone to remain isolated and they rightfully believe that tourism does not affect the uncontacted group.
Kimerling, Judith. "TRANSNATIONAL OPERATIONS, BI-NATIONAL
INJUSTICE CHEVRONTEXACO AND INDIGENOUS HUAORANI AND KICHWA IN THE AMAZON
RAINFOREST IN ECUADOR." AMERICAN INDIAN LAW REVIEW" (2007).
Mondragón, Martha L., and Randall Smith. Bete Quiwiguimamo. Quito, Ecuador: Centro de Investigación de los Bosques Tropicales CIBT, 1997.
To find out how you can help or to express interest in visiting the Huaorani email
pentibaihua@yahoo.es or
Huaorani1@gmail.com
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8:35
Interview with Penti Baihua on the Tiguino River part 2/2by mruggi34,256 views
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cloudburstlenepmhq 1 year ago
asi se hace mis quieridos compatritas hay que defender nuestras tierras su cultura sus raices y mandarles siguiendo como a perros aesos mal paridos que quieren destruir su habitad y si se ponen tercos los putos esos hagan lo que tengan que hacer pero luchen por sus tierras felicitaciones compatriotas
pmtheman2012 2 years ago 2
asi se hace paisanos a defender se a dicho y mandarles siguiendo como a perros a esos mal paridos que estan queriendo explotar sus tierras que bien y si se oponen necios hagan lo que tengan que hacer el mundo les va apoyar pero no se dejen
pmtheman2012 2 years ago
me da gusto que se defiendan asi mismos por que nadie lo va hacer por ellos roy
torresgonzalezrosend 3 years ago