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Yaku Pérez Guartambel

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez and the second or maternal family name is Guartambel.

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, and nature's rights activist, who ran for president of the country in the 2021 presidential elections and came third in the first round. He ran for president again in the 2023 elections.[1][2]

Yaku Pérez Guartambel
President and Coordinator-General of Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 January 2017
Preceded byGerardo Jumí Tapias
26th Provincial Prefect of Azuay Province
In office
14 May 2019 – 5 October 2020
Preceded byBolívar Saquipay
Succeeded byCecilia Méndez Mora
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 55)
Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
Political partyPachakutik (until 2021)
Spouse(s)
Verónica Cevallos
​
​
(m. 1998; died 2012)​

​
(m. 2013)​
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)

Ethnically Cañari,[3] 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.[4] 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 Kimsacocha mining project,[5] 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.[6]

Early life and education

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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.[7] He is of Quechua Cañari descent.[8]

Pérez's first wife, Verónica Cevallos, died in 2012, following complications from cancer.[9]

In 2013 he married Manuela Lavinas Picq, a French-Brazilian academic, through a Cañari ancestral rite.[10]

Early political career

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After being involved in the Federation of Indigenous and Farming Organizations, Pérez became a city councilor in Cuenca, Ecuador in 1996.[11]

In 2002, he participated in protests against Lucio Gutiérrez that sought to stop the privatisation of the water supply.[12]

During the presidency of Rafael Correa, he was charged with "sabotage and terrorism" for blocking the roads in protest against the Quimsacocha mining project.[5][13]

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.[14] 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,[15] 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".[16]

In 2017, he was elected to lead the Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations, ECUARUNARI.[17]

Rise to political prominence and presidential candidacy

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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.[18][19]

Pérez rose to national prominence for his role in the 2019 demonstrations against the neoliberal economic policies of President Lenín Moreno.[20]

Pérez belonged to the indigenous political party, Pachakutik, and defended a "flexible and open left", hostile to the policies of Rafael Correa.[15] He has said a free trade agreement with the United States is not an unreasonable proposal, depending on its details.[21]

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.[15] 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.[22] 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.[23]

In his first statement after the announcement of the partial results, Pérez welcomed a "victory for ecology and the defense of water".[24]

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.[25]

Further reading

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yaku Pérez.
  1. ^ "Yaku Pérez será candidato en el 2023 y en presidenciales del 2025". Expectativa (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  2. ^ "YAKU PÉREZ Y GUSTAVO LARREA CONSOLIDAN UN ACUERDO POLÍTICO ENTRE SOMOS AGUA Y DEMOCRACIA SÍ". PlanV. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Yacu Sacha: músico y defensor del agua". Revista Mundo Diner (in Spanish). 5 October 2018. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  4. ^ "Con el 99% escrutado, Yaku Pérez Guartambel es el nuevo Prefecto del Azuay" (in Spanish). 25 March 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "Dos 'perseguidos políticos', Yaku Pérez y Cléver Jiménez, ganan en seccionales". El Universo (in Spanish). 2019-03-28. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  7. ^ a b "Pérez Guartambel: 'Pedí permiso a la Pachamama y a mi mamá para cambiarme de nombre'". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  8. ^ "Yaku Pérez: No es descabellado un acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos". El Universo (in Spanish). 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  9. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel, presidente de la Ecuarunari, habla de su amor: Manuela Picq". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  10. ^ Distancia enfría relación entre Yaku Pérez y Manuela Picq
  11. ^ "Dirigentes de las marchas sociales y sus hojas de vida". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  12. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel - Atento Ecuador". Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  13. ^ "An anti-mining activist will govern a province". Plan V (in Spanish). 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  14. ^ "Un tercer precandidato surge en PachaKutik". El Universo (in Spanish). 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  15. ^ a b c "Arauz, Lasso y Pérez: estos son los candidatos favoritos a gobernar Ecuador". France 24. 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  16. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel: Es preferible un banquero a una dictadura". El Universo (in Spanish). 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  17. ^ "Carlos Pérez Guartambel, reelecto presidente de Ecuarunari | La República EC" (in Spanish). 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  18. ^ "En Azuay empezó la elaboración y comercialización de las bicicletas ecológicas". www.24ecuador.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  19. ^ administrador, Publicado por (2019-09-03). "Prefecto del Azuay rinde cuentas de 111 días de gestión". Portal Diverso (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  20. ^ "Yaku Pérez: 'El gobierno de Lenín Moreno debería terminar su período'". El Comercio. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  21. ^ "Yaku Pérez: No es descabellado un acuerdo comercial con Estados Unidos". El Universo (in Spanish). 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ Gomez, François-Xavier (2021-02-08). "Equateur : la surprise Yaku Pérez à la présidentielle". Libération (in French). Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  25. ^ "Yaku Pérez renuncia a Pachakutik". El Telégrafo (in European Spanish). 2021-05-19. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
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