Interview with ALLPA, Lourdes Túquerrez Maigua. The October days in Ecuador from the perspective of Uma Warmikichwa

Abstract

Ecuador experienced intense days of protest that lasted eleven days in October 2019, in response to a set of neoliberal measures adopted by the government of Lenín Moreno, of which the one that drew most attention at first was the increase in fuel prices. Various actors took part, among whom the Ecuadorian Indigenous movement predominated and, within it, the role of women and young people. This interview gathers events narrated through the lived experience of Allpa, a warmi-kichwa—a young Indigenous woman—from the community of La Calera in Cotacachi, who participated actively in the October days. Her account of her experience during the strike, of her own life story and her perspective sheds light on the events of October, explores explanatory elements and perhaps advances hypotheses about generational renewal within the movement, as well as some of the lessons these days left for the social movement.