Indigenous healers in ecuador fight back after 30 years of industrial pollution from bank-funded meat company

For nearly three decades, the Indigenous Tsáchila people of Peripa village in Ecuador have watched their sacred rivers transform from sources of healing into carriers of disease. What was once pure water used by traditional healers for purification ceremonies now causes skin infections and illness among community members.

The transformation began in the late 1990s when Pronaca, a major meat and poultry company, established pig farms near the village in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province. Soon after operations began, residents noticed their surface and groundwater sources becoming contaminated. Despite years of complaints to Ecuadorian authorities, their concerns went unaddressed—until now.

A damning report released in September by the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism of the Inter-American Development Bank Group confirms what the Tsáchila people have been saying for decades: Pronaca has systematically polluted their ancestral territory. The investigation is particularly significant because the IDB provided financing to the company responsible for the environmental damage.

“Water was one of the main sources of power for the poné [healers], and purification baths were performed in the rivers,” explained Ricardo Calazacón, a Tsáchila resident who has led the fight for environmental justice for 25 years. “Now, if someone visits us and goes into the river, they will come out with a skin disease.” As medicinal plants disappear and traditional healing practices become impossible, Calazacón and his community continue pushing for reparations, viewing the report as validation but knowing their struggle for justice continues.