Successive governments have failed to improve the political and economic conditions of Afro-Ecuadorians. Drug-related crime is making their conditions even worse. Afro-Ecuadorians represent approximately 7-10% of Ecuador’s total population. This means that there are between 1.2 and 1.75 million Afro-descendants in a country of approximately 17.5 million people. Most of this population is concentrated in…

The new progressive executive is the spokesperson of ‘los nadies’, the marginalized, the “nobodies”, including Afro-Colombians. Many reforms are designed to create greater social justice. But they clash with a parliament in the hands of the opposition. After more than two hundred years of republican history characterized by political violence and conservative and oligarchic governments,…

With December, the decade (2015-2024) dedicated by the United Nations to Afro-descendants ends. Little has been done. Injustice and poverty still have an Afro face. Latin America and the Caribbean make up the most “biodiverse” region in the world. By biodiversity we mean not only flora and fauna but also ethnodiversity. The region’s multi-ethnic range…

The constitution and laws should protect their rights. In reality, this is not the case: because of confiscated land, 70% of these Afro-descendants live below the poverty line, their language is threatened with extinction and their human rights are systematically violated. The Garifuna are an Afro-indigenous people originally from the island of Saint Vincent, but…