Macas, Luis (1950–)

A Quichua (Saraguro) intellectual and political leader, Luis Macas is perhaps the most important contemporary indigenous political figure in Ecuador. Born in the southern province of Loja, Macas has been a social movement leader, parliamentarian, minister of agriculture, university president, and candidate for president. As founder and president (1990–1996, 2005–) of the Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, CONAIE), Macas has been at the forefront of powerful mobilizations, beginning with the historic 1990 levantamiento (uprising). He has also founded and led indigenous academic institutions including the Instituto Científico de Culturas Indígenas (Scientific Institute of Indigenous Cultures, ICCI) and the Amawtay Wasi Intercultural University of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples.

In 2005 Macas was once again elected to the presidency of CONAIE to help the organization rebuild after a bitter and short-lived experience of co-government with the administration of Lucio Gutiérrez (2002–2005). In 2006 he was chosen to be the presidential candidate of the Pachacutik party.

See alsoConfederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE); Gutiérrez Borbúa, Lucio; Indigenous Organizations; Movimiento de Unidida Plurinacional Pachacutik (MUPP); Movimiento Indígena Pachacutik.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador. Available from http://www.conaie.org.

Instituto Científico de Culturas Indígenas (Institute for Science and Indigenous Cultures). Available from http://icci.nativeweb.org/english.html.

Macas, Luis. El levantamiento indígena visto por sus protagonistas. Quito: ICCI, Amauta Runacunapac Yachay, 1991.

Macas, Luis, Linda Belote, and Jim Belote. "Indigenous Destiny in Indigenous Hands." In Millennial Ecuador: Critical Essays on Cultural Transformations and Social Dynamics, ed. Norman E. Whitten Jr. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2003.

Selverston-Scher, Melina. Ethnopolitics in Ecuador: Indigenous Rights and the Strengthening of Democracy. Coral Gables, FL: North-South Center Press at the University of Miami, 2001.

                                   JosÉ Antonio Lucero