The Achual People

Achuales, are also known as Achuar and are a sub culture of the Jibero lingustic grouping. There are about four thousand or more achuales and 30 to 35 villages boardering Equador and Peru. Amazon Wakani participates with one village, Nueva Jerusalén. This village is not near the Equadorian Boarder as the elders of this village migrated down to an area closer to the Amazon River in Peru.

Founder Ramón Arahuanaza

Founder Ramón Arahuanaza, the Elder “Apu” (Chief) and Shaman named the village Nueva Jerusalén because of the beauty and the abundent natural resources.

The Achuales lives are based on the seasonal ecology of the rainforest. Their diet consists of fish protein supplemented with forest animals, and the carbohydrate base is manioc and plantain.

The people are suffering severely from the impact of settlement and intrusions of modern society. This has resulted in a steady acculturation and dislocation of their natural coexistence with their rainforest environment. The consequences are tragic and result in loss of culture, emigration of youth to the cities, the depletion of natural resource and economic marginalization.

The Achuales gained native status in the year 2003, allowing them to manage their lands. Then timber companies began to exploit the Achuales by giving them “loans”. Logs, from their Rainforest Territories, are then exchanged for these loans, as the people cannot repay them. Also, trees and plants that are cut for subsistence and for repayments to the timber companies have not been replanted, and soils are not being restored. Without knowledge about how to manage their forest, restore the land, create a more efficient means of food production and economic stability the tribe will not survive.