Yaku Pérez Guartambel

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Yaku Pérez Guartambel
Yaku Perez Guartambel foto (cropped).jpg
26th Provincial Prefect of Azuay Province
In office
14 May 2019 – 5 October 2020
Preceded byBolívar Saquipay
Succeeded byCecilia Méndez Mora
President and Coordinator-General of Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations
Assumed office
19 January 2017
Preceded byGerardo Jumí Tapias
President of ECUARUNARI
In office
21 April 2013 – January 2019
Preceded byDelfín Tenesaca
Succeeded byBlanca Chancoso
Personal details
Born
Carlos Ranulfo Pérez Guartambel

(1969-02-26) 26 February 1969 (age 52)
Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
Political partyPachakutik (Until 2021)
Spouse(s)
Verónica Cevallos
​
​
(m. 1998; death 2012)​
Children4
EducationUniversity of Cuenca (JD, Diploma in Watershed Management)
Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Specialization in Environmental Law)
University of Los Andes (Master in Criminal Law and Criminology)

Yaku Sacha Pérez Guartambel (born Carlos Ranulfo Pérez Guartambel, 26 February 1969), often simply known as Yaku Pérez, is an Ecuadorian politician and indigenous rights, human rights activist, who ran for president of the country in the 2021 Ecuadorian presidential elections and came third in the first round.

Ethnically Cañari,[1] Pérez is a former member of the eco-socialist Pachakutik Party. On 14 May 2019, he was elected as Provincial Prefect of the Azuay Province.[2] As the former president of indigenous rights group ECUARUNARI, Pérez then rose to national prominence during the 2019 demonstrations against President Lenín Moreno's neoliberal economic policies. Described as an "anti-mining activist", Pérez has been involved in protests against water privatization efforts and the proposed Quimsacocha mining project,[3] which led to him being charged with terrorism. Though a leftist, Pérez is noted for opposing the extractive measures championed by former socialist President Rafael Correa and his allies.[4]

Early life and education[]

Pérez was born in the Cuenca Canton of the Azuay Province on February 26, 1969. Pérez holds:

In 2017, he legally changed his name to Yaku Sacha, which translates to "Forest of Water" in the Quechua language. He stated that he consulted with both his mother and Pachamama before making his name change.[5] His heritage is Quechua Cañari.[6]

Pérez's first wife, Verónica Cevallos, passed away in 2012, following complications from cancer.[7]

In 2013 he married Manuela Lavinas Picq, a French-Brazilian academic, through a Cañari ancestral rite.[8] Picq was forcibly deported from Ecuador by the Rafael Correa government, due to political persecution.[9]

Early political career[]

After being involved in the Federation of Indigenous and Farming Organizations, Pérez became a city councilor in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1996.[10]

In 2002, he participated in protests against Lucio Gutiérrez that sought to stop the privatisation of the water supply.[11]

During the presidency of Rafael Correa, he was charged with "sabotage and terrorism" for blocking the roads in protest against the .[3][12]

As an activist, Pérez announced his candidacy for the presidency of Ecuador in the 2017 Ecuadorian general election, but lost in the Pachakutik primary election to National Assembly member Lourdes Tibán.[13] He later endorsed the center-right opposition candidate Guillermo Lasso in the run-off election, against Correa's deputy, the PAIS Alliance candidate Lenín Moreno,[14] saying "A banker is preferable to a dictatorship that has deprived us of our territories, that has declared a state of exception, that has locked us in jail".[15]

In 2017, he was elected to lead the Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations, ECUARUNARI.[16]

Rise to political prominence and presidential candidacy[]

Pérez during his 2021 presidential campaign.
Pérez during a protest in 2015.

In May 2019, Pérez was elected to serve as the Prefect of the Azuay Province. During his tenure as Prefect, Pérez prioritized environmental and water policy, carrying out reforestation, promoting bicycle use in the province, and pushing to eliminate single-use plastic bags.[17][18]

Pérez rose to national prominence for his role in the 2019 demonstrations against the neoliberal economic policies of President Lenín Moreno.[19]

Pérez belongs to the right-wing faction of Pachakutik, defending a "flexible and open left", hostile to the policies of Rafael Correa.[14] He has said a free trade agreement with the United States is not an unreasonable proposal, depending on its details.[20]

He was a candidate in the 2021 Ecuadorian general election, coming in to a close third place, according to the controversial and partially revoked election commission.[14] Initial exit polls put him at 20% in the first round of elections, making him the second-place candidate and therefore would participate in the run-off election against the former minister under Rafael Correa—Andrés Arauz.[21] This was considered a surprising result, as unreliable and possibly biased pre-election polling had put Pérez in third place, behind Arauz and right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso.[22] While the Left-wing candidate Arauz proposed giving $1000 to one million working-class Ecuadorian families - as Ecuador grappled with the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 crisis - Pérez attacked that plan on the grounds that poor citizens would spend all the money on beer in one day.[14][23][24]

In his first statement after the announcement of the partial results, Pérez welcomed a "victory for ecology and the defense of water".[25]

On 19 May 2021, Pérez left Pachakutik in disagreement over the party's legislators working together with CREO to elect the new speaker of the National Assembly. He had earlier expressed his opposition to any legislative alliance with either of CREO or UNES.[26]

Further reading[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Yacu Sacha: músico y defensor del agua". Revista Mundo Diner (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  2. ^ "Con el 99% escrutado, Yaku Pérez Guartambel es el nuevo Prefecto del Azuay" (in Spanish). 25 March 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Hora, Diario La. "El azuayo Carlos Pérez Guartambel preside la Ecuarunari - La Hora". La Hora Noticias de Ecuador, sus provincias y el mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  4. ^ "Dos 'perseguidos políticos', Yaku Pérez y Cléver Jiménez, ganan en seccionales". El Universo (in Spanish). 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Pérez Guartambel: 'Pedí permiso a la Pachamama y a mi mamá para cambiarme de nombre'". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  6. ^ "Yaku Pérez: No es descabellado un acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos". El Universo (in Spanish). 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  7. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel, presidente de la Ecuarunari, habla de su amor: Manuela Picq". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  8. ^ Distancia enfría relación entre Yaku Pérez y Manuela Picq
  9. ^ "El abominable exilio de Manuela Picq | La República EC" (in Spanish). 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  10. ^ "Dirigentes de las marchas sociales y sus hojas de vida". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  11. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel - Atento Ecuador". Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  12. ^ "An anti-mining activist will govern a province". Plan V (in Spanish). 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  13. ^ "Un tercer precandidato surge en PachaKutik". El Universo (in Spanish). 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Arauz, Lasso y Pérez: estos son los candidatos favoritos a gobernar Ecuador". France 24. 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  15. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel: Es preferible un banquero a una dictadura". El Universo (in Spanish). 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  16. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel, reelecto presidente de Ecuarunari | La República EC" (in Spanish). 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  17. ^ "En Azuay empezó la elaboración y comercialización de las bicicletas ecológicas". www.24ecuador.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  18. ^ administrador, Publicado por (2019-09-03). "Prefecto del Azuay rinde cuentas de 111 días de gestión". Portal Diverso (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  19. ^ "Yaku Pérez: 'El gobierno de Lenín Moreno debería terminar su período'". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  20. ^ "Yaku Pérez: No es descabellado un acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos". El Universo (in Spanish). 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  21. ^ Valencia, Alexandra; Ellsworth, Brian (2021-02-08). "Arauz wins first round of Ecuador vote, runner-up too close to call". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  22. ^ Valencia, Alexandra; Ellsworth, Brian (8 February 2021). "Surprise surge in support for anti-mining activist throws open Ecuador election". Yahoo! News. Reuters. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  23. ^ [1], Brasil de Fato, 10 February 2021
  24. ^ Yaku Pérez: los pobres se gastan la plata en cerveza, Ecuador Ya, 2 February 2021
  25. ^ Gomez, François-Xavier (2021-02-08). "Equateur : la surprise Yaku Pérez à la présidentielle". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  26. ^ "Yaku Pérez renuncia a Pachakutik". El Telégrafo (in Spanish). 2021-05-19. Retrieved 23 May 2021.

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