Maria Taant

Environmental Protector – Ecuador Rainforest (Deceased)

María Taant was a Shuar leader from the Ecuadorian Amazon. She was a widow and mother of four children who fought for their ancestral lands and the rights of the women of Amazonia. ⁠She was run over by a car while returning to her home after a march in the ancestral town of Puerto Santa Ana in the Pastaza providence.

On 8 March 2018, when María Taant and her companions delivered the Mandate of Amazonian Women to the government of Lenín Moreno. The events of March 2018 were transformative. The women of the Amazon – from the Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Waorani, Sapara and Mestizo peoples – had gathered to tell a story of negotiation and struggle, as they sought to redefine their place in the family and in wider society. For many years, they had been cultivating knowledge and resistance in their territories and communities.

Taant was prepared for the struggle. Eleven days before leaving for Quito, she fasted, visited the waterfall, dreamed and spoke to her ancestors. At 25 she had been chosen by the Shuar elders to be a healer. At 47, she did not dream of shields as male warriors do, but of women walking, painting the great anaconda, talking and laughing. She dreamt the resistance. She saw it all clearly: a gruelling journey followed by hours of waiting. “It will be hard for them to listen to us,” she told her gathered sisters….It has been almost 30 years since the Ecuadorians spoke of us as the warriors of the Cenepa, defenders of Ecuador, to which we belong. But now it is necessary that through our own voice they know who we are.”

She grew the best peanuts in the area. With her songs, she always demanded fairness, justice, and respect for nature. She never gave up. And when she noticed that we felt weak, she told us, “I’m going to sing, to raise the energy.” And she sang. Her song was strong and alive, and she sang with both her voice and her hands.

She always arrived with the energy of the forest and taught us that the best way forward was always together. We also remember her advice on how our main principles should be dignity, our struggle, and the defense of our territories. We learned from her about how we should not let fear paralyze us. We learned from her how strength and unity made Amazonian Women exceptional.

Dreaming is doing. María Taant saw the Amazonian women sowing the land and walking forward.

“We demand the deletion of the contracts and/or agreements and concessions granted by the Ecuadorian government to oil and mining companies in the south-central Amazon.”

María Taant and her companions delivered the Mandate of Amazonian Women to the government of Lenín Moreno. It read:

Article: The women of the Amazon who dream the resistance

Video: In Memory