COICA
From NativeWiki
In 1984 Indigenous organizations from the Amazonian areas of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru formed the Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA, Coordinating Body for the Indigenous People’s Organization of the Amazon). This was one of the first attempts of Indigenous peoples to organize not only across ethnic boundaries, but also across the colonial-imposed national boundaries. AIDESEP organized this meeting in Lima, which unified their efforts with CIDOB from Bolivia, UNI from Brazil, ONIC from Colombia, and CONFENIAE from Ecuador. Much of the discussion at this meeting revolved around issues related to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Issues, in particular their right to recognition as peoples and to a territorial base.
Because AIDESEP had organized the meeting, the members decided to begin with AIDESEP's president, Evaristo Nugkuag, as the first president of COICA with the base in Lima. At a second assembly in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in 1988, Nugkuag was reelected president of COICA. He would hold this position until 1992 as COICA gained support among international groups (particularly in Europe) and, in 1991, the Goldman Environmental Prize awarded him $60,000 for his work on environmental issues.
COICA first established contact with European environmentalists in 1986, and then met with a similar group in the United States in 1990. This led to a meeting in May, 1990 in Iquitos with sixteen environmental and fifteen non-governmental organizations from nine countries in North America, Europe, and Peru. Those present signed a document known as "The Iquitos Declaration" which stated their intent to continue working together in an "Indigenous and Environmentalist Alliance for an Amazon for Humanity."
In November of 1992, national organizations from nine Amazonian nation-states (expanded from the previous group of five) gathered in Manaus for COICA's fourth congress. The Confederacão du Organizacãos Indígenas Amazonia Brasilera (COIAB) replaced UNI and the Confederación Nacional Indígena de Venezuela (CONIVE, Venezuela), the Amerindian Association of Guyana, the Association des Amerindiens de Guyane (French Guiana), and the Organization Indígena of Surinam joined the organization. It was a truly international encounter, with over seventy different Indigenous groups from five different colonial traditions (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English) present at the meeting. Valerio Grefa, president of CONFENIAE in the Ecuadorian Amazon, was elected general coordinator of COICA at this meeting, and the organization's headquarters were moved permanently from Lima to Quito.
