Speaking at the fifth International Andino-Amazonian Forum for Rural Development [7] in Cobija, Bolivia, a member of the delegation from Ecuador accused the Quito government of masking the despoliation of indigenous territories in populist phrases. Mónica Chuji [8], a community leader from the Ecuadoran rainforest, accused former president Rafael Correa [9] of invoking the indigenous concept of Sumaj Causay or Vivir Bien [10] (Good Living) in his new constitution only to "folklore-ize it [folklorizaron] so it ends up being a cliché without content." She said there is a "divorce between the discourse and the reality" as Ecuador's Amazon is opened to "mega-corporations that destroy our territories with the protection of successive governments." She also charged the government with persecution of indigenous leaders who resist. "In Ecuador, there are now more than 500 leaders, men and women, subject to different legal processes—some sentenced, other facing trial, and many fugitives in the face of persecution and prosecution of social protest." (Agencia de Noticias Fides [5], Bolivia, Oct. 17)
