BOGOTA/RIO DE JANEIRO ¨C For decades, indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo has been battling to keep her Amazon rainforest home in Ecuador safe from exploitation by oil companies ¡ª now she hopes U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will become an ally in that fight.
Her message from the Waorani people she represents to Biden in Washington D.C. is: respect our forests and culture.
¡°As indigenous peoples, the Amazon is our home and we will always protect it,¡± said Nenquimo, 35, president of the Waorani Pastaza Organization. ¡°But for the rest of the world, the Amazon is treated as a place for looting.
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