Federation of Evangelical Indigenous celebrate 23rd Anniversary

Manuel Quintero, QUITO, Ecuador, December 15, 2003

In a festive environment, the Ecuadorian Federation of Evangelical indigenous (FEINE) celebrated the 23rd anniversary Taxi Heathrow Airport since its founding in an act held December 12 with the participation of the Mayor of Quito Paco Moncayo, government ministers and authorities and representatives from international organizations.

During the first 10 years of their existence the FEINE, founded in 1980, was principally concerned about the education and health programs and others linked to the development of indigenous communities.

As of the 1990s, with the growing organization and mobilization of indigenous peoples and nationalities, the FEINE began to enter the political arena and on the international front it participates in the UN Committee for the Decade of Indigenous Peoples.  

Its presence in the country’s political life increased in the first years of the new century, first with the overthrow of President Jamil Mahuad in January 2000 after a series of grassroots mobilizations and the coup carried out by a civilian-military coalition, in which indigenous organizations played a decisive role.

Later, in January 2001, the FEINE and two other indigenous organizations convened and carried out a major indigenous uprising to protest the economic measures implemented by the government of Gustavo Noboa.

The uprising, which lasted two weeks and paralyzed the central region, achieves its main objectives: freezing the price of fuel and creating dialogue tables with the government.

A fruit of this experience and after a prolonged debated within the FEINE, a political movement called Amauta Jatari, which means the “wise one rises up” in Quechua, was created and registered in the Supreme Electoral tribunal in 2002, officially paving the way for its participation in the elections. 

However, the new political movement did not achieve the support of the indigenous grassroots and the failure of this experience reopened the debate among local communities and leadership about the profile and specific role of the FEINE.

In the opinion of Julian Guaman, an Ecuadorian indigenous theologian who recently wrote an essay about the issue, a significant sector of Evangelical indigenous think that FEINE should focus on the strictly religious and Church related issues and leave social and political issues to the other indigenous organizations.

On the margin of this debate, it cannot be denied that in recent years other political forces and Ecuadorian society as a whole have recognized FEINE. This recognition was manifested December 12 in speeches by authorities such a Carlos Polit, Minister of Welfare, who emphasized the importance of the religious contribution in the road to national unity.

Polit also signed a collaboration agreement between his Ministry and the FEINE and promised to make it effective as one of the goals of his mandate and government.

The Mayor of Quito, Paco Moncayo, awarded the FIENE a medal from the Metropolitan Council and affirmed that the local government recognizes and respects diversity and has created a special office to strengthen the participation of indigenous communities in the project to convert the capital in a “equitable, productive city marked by solidarity.”

For his part, Pastor Israel Batista, who was responsible for the Biblical reflection during the celebration, said it would not be possible to construct a State without the wealth of indigenous cultures and that one of FEINE’s task is to “struggle for the unity of indigenous peoples and nationalities in the country.”

“If the FEINE becomes one more political party or one more NGOs it will no longer fulfill a prophetic role among its people”, said the secretary general of CLAI, recalling the vision of the prophet Ezequiel, adding that FIENE must place flesh on the dry bones of a country so that they proclaim hope.

In the closing speech, the head of FEINE, Marco Murillo recalled that Evangelical indigenous have had to confront a double discrimination: for being indigenous and for being Evangelicals in a country where, up until recently, many were unaware of ethnic and religious plurality and diversity.  

Regarding the problems of governance and political tensions present in national life, Murrillo said that it is politicians and not indigenous who are causing the problems.

Murillo concluded by affirming that Evangelical indigenous “will struggle so that the country changes, without egoism or partisan criteria, but rather with a project for sustainable development for the well-being of Ecuadorians.