The Woarani fight

The past of the Waorani was violent. They defended their jungle with spears, an area that today corresponds to the provinces of Orellana and Pastaza, the last region reached by colonization. The first invaders were the caucheros (rubber tappers), who captured Indigenous people across the Amazon and sold them as slaves in Iquitos, Peru. Later came the loggers and oil companies. Carlos Sevilla’s rubber plantation was the target of several Waorani attacks since the early 20th century and played a crucial role in the contact established by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). In 1948, this landowner captured four Waorani women, one of them being Zoila. Guiñami, now Zoila Enomenga, was lured into the protectorate before the age of 20 and could not escape the fate that the evangelical missionaries decided for her: to be given to Davo, one of the old Waorani warriors who is still alive.