Interview with Manari Ushigua – Political and Spiritual Leader of the Sapara Nation
By Editha Torres, October 7, 2024
“What happened to me is that my father was a leader of the Sapara world, but he didn’t like the connection with the outside world; he wanted to lead only in the jungle and with the people of the jungle. When I was with him, I was a child who loved me very much, so he told me that I had to go to the city and start studying.” —Leader Manari Ushigua.
Sitting at my work desk, with a computer in front of me, I could see him, but I still couldn’t hear him, perhaps because we were connected more than 2,000 miles away: Manari in the Ecuadorian Amazon and I from Florida. Again, we reconnected to the call, now successfully. Finishing his work day, he continued with his authentic painting, with Sapara symbolism, on his face. Manari is a healer and leader of the Sapara Nation, former vice president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), and has defended indigenous rights in international forums such as the UN “Climate Summit.” He has conserved more than 276,000 hectares of primary forest and has welcomed numerous visitors to his community, sharing his ancestral wisdom, including the artist Channing Tatum, who has visited Naku in Sapara territory.
Our conversation began by exploring part of his journey, his worldview as a human being and his deep desire to contribute to the knowledge of the world, integrating the teachings he has received from the ancestral wisdom of the earth, of the trees and of the world of dreams. In the middle of the interview, after a retrospective question about his childhood, he recalled: “My father had a mission for me. I went on that mission, but I felt like a rejected child, who was not with them. I asked myself: why are they sending me? Why aren’t they sending other people?” He shares it with serenity on his face.
Among so many things that Manari would have to learn, there was something that his aunt made him know: “The Sapara world, what Piatza said, is that when cultures from another world arrive, the Sapara culture disappears.” He recognizes that changing that was his responsibility, but admits that “fighting against a prophecy is very complicated.” For this reason, he had to mature quickly, going from child to adult without living his youth.
His father, his mentor and greatest advisor, left him facing an uncertain future. However, Manari believes that his father’s wisdom and teachings continued to manifest themselves through the world of dreams, even after his death, when Manari was 22 years old. During his years as a leader, he shares that his greatest achievements were the recognition of the country, achieving that his community be named “Sapara Nationality” in 2022, and added: “Seeing that, the other nationalities in the country began to write their statutes using that word, so it was a very big impact.” In addition, his territory became an Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
Manari is a resilient leader who has found in his aunt’s prophecy not an end, but an opportunity to share Sapara wisdom with the world. He maintains that: “Even if we disappear in this world, wisdom will never disappear. It will remain in the global archive of the world, which is the jungle on the one hand, and, on the other hand, it will remain in the memory of the people.” In addition, he summarizes the mission of the human being, including himself: “Our mission for each being that has been born on this planet is to leave a good story and, with that, the earth is nourished and its energy is renewed; new lives continue to emerge on planet Earth. I want to leave a good story for the Earth.”
After more than two hours of a fascinating conversation, many questions remained in my mind. To conclude, we talked about love, Manari said: “My advice, as Manari, is that when people want to fall in love, they must first fall deeply in love with their own life and, from there, learn to love themselves. That self-love is the medicine for our emotions.” Then, he added: “Simply, I am going to be loving myself, and another person is going to connect with that energy and say: ‘What this person does begins to transform them into someone very special to me, because they are giving me a lot of life.'” In the end, he concluded: “They realize, they value, and the union continues.”
