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The Sápara, also known as Zápara or Záparo, are an indigenous people native to the Amazon rainforest along the border of Ecuador and Peru. They once occupied some 12,000 mi2 between the Napo River and the Pastaza River. Early in the 20th century, there were some 200,000 Zapara. From the year 2009 on the Ecuadorian Zápara call themselves Sápara. The official name is Nación Sápara del Ecuador (NASE). It means Sápara Nation of Ecuador. The president of this nation is Klever Ruiz. The Sápara Nation was officially registered by CONDENPE – the Council of Development of the nationalities and peoples of Ecuador – on September 16, 2009. The current name of the organisation is the result of a unification process of upriver and downriver communities. There was a conflict between these different groups about their authentic ethnic identity in the last years of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. With this unification this conflict seems to be solved. CONDENPE confirms as well officially the legal status of autonomy or self-government of the Sápara Nation of Ecuador N.A.S.E. and confirms their territory between the rivers Pindoyacu, Conambo and Alto Corrientes (Upper River) in the province of Pastaza Province. It is confirmed as well that the head office of NASE is the city of Shell, Pastaza.
The name Sápara is also a result of the fact that the alphabetic character Z does not exist in the alphabet of the Sáparas. This is information of Bartolo Ushigua Santi from December 10, 2009. He wrote that this fact is a result of investigations about the grammar of the Sápara language made by the Sápara Board of Education Bilingual – Dirección de Educación Bilingüe Sápara (DIENASE). They found out that the alphabet of the Sáparas ended with the character W.
Today, only four Sápara people, all aged over 70, still speak the Záparo language with some degree of fluency.
The UNESCO declared the Záparo language as an "Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" in 2001.
The Sápara, along with the Quechua people and Shiwiar mentioned above, have made it clear through multiple assembles, congresses, and in indigenous declarations that they do not want
/ref> Gloria Ushigua, the current president of the Sápara Women’s association (Ashinwaka), has been leading the struggle to protect her people’s territory for a long time. Another factor that worsens the already urgent situation is that the Ecuadorian government has been drastically cracking down on organizations and civil society opposing oil expansion. As an outspoken voice, Ushigua has been targeted in public, harassed in her home, received threats and was included in a group of eight indigenous leaders who came under fire when formal complaints were filed with the Department of Justice. “We are currently fighting a battle against oil companies that enter our territories and threaten our very existence,” said Ushigua. “We have reached out to our allies, we are ready to fight with all the strength of our ancestors against the companies and government to protect the land from which we came, a land that must remain free from oil exploration.”
Because of the threats facing their people, the Sápara Nation organized a congress in Community of Torimbo where they nominated their own native leaders. This nomination was ratified by the Indigenous Sentence through the exercise of the Justice System in the Community of the Jandiayacu, with the participation of the Sápara elders who served as judges. This sentence was recognized by CONAIE and CONFENIAE, the Sápara's own government, in addition to CODENPE, the Council of Development of the nationalities and peoples of Ecuador. The Ecuadorian government however, through the Secretary of Political Management, is now pressuring CODENPE to not recognize this Indigenous Sápara Sentence. Critics believe that in order to exploit oil blocks 79 and 83, part of the Sápara territory, the Ecuadorian government is committing the offense of contempt towards indigenous justice (Article 171 of the Constitution of the Republic amongst others).
A Message of Manari Kaji Ushigua Santi, son of Bartolo Alejandro Ushigua Santi – the current (2016) president of the Sápara Nation of Ecuador – in Spanish, subtitled in English, with the title "Sapara leader Manari speaks from the Ecuadorian Amazon 22.02.2106” you can find on YouTube, February 2016, 4 minutes, Author Susannah Darling Khan.
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