Secoyas
From NativeWiki
The Sionas and Secoyas are located in the northeastern Amazon nearby the A'I (Cofan). These groups have historic and linguistic connections with neighboring Indigenous groups in Colombia.
Also known as Angotero, Encabellao, the Secoyas are an indigenous ethnic group living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or Oriente (est. population 297 (1987 Vickers)), and in Peru (est. population 144 (1982 SIL)). They speak the Secoya language, part of the Western Tuconoan group. They share territory along the Shushufindi, Aguarico, and Cuyabeno Rivers with the Siona people, with whom they are sometimes considered a single population.
The Siona people are organized politically through the Secoya Indigenous Organization of Ecuador. They have been involved in a conflict with Occidental Petroleum over oil drilling in Block 15 of Ecuador.[1]
Originally they were two separate ethnic groups with similar cultures and languages which were part of the Tucano language family. At the beginning of the twentieth century, they began to merge, particularly due to intermarriage, and by the 1970s were considered to be only one ethnic group (the Siona-Secoya). More recently, however, recognizing the advantages of maintaining their distinct ethnic identities, they now consider themselves to be two separate groups, the Sionas and Secoyas. Their territory has been devastated by oil exploration, and in November of 1993, the Sionas and Secoyas fought back by suing Texaco for more than one billion dollars for a variety of environmental abuses, including dumping more than three thousand gallons of oil a day into their lagoons.
