Yaku Pérez Guartambel
Yaku Pérez Guartambel | |
|---|---|
| President and Coordinator-General of Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations | |
| Assumed office 19 January 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Gerardo Jumí Tapias |
| 26th Provincial Prefect of Azuay Province | |
| In office 14 May 2019 – 5 October 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Bolívar Saquipay |
| Succeeded by | Cecilia Méndez Mora |
| President of ECUARUNARI | |
| In office 21 April 2013 – January 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Delfín Tenesaca |
| Succeeded by | Blanca Chancoso |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carlos Ranulfo Pérez Guartambel 26 February 1969 Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador |
| Political party | Pachakutik (until 2021) |
| Spouse(s) |
Verónica Cevallos
(m. 1998; died 2012) |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Cuenca (JD, Diploma in Watershed Management) Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (Specialization in Environmental Law) University of Los Andes (Master in Criminal Law and Criminology) |
Yaku Sacha Pérez Guartambel (born Carlos Ranulfo Pérez Guartambel, 26 February 1969), often simply known as Yaku Pérez, is an Ecuadorian politician and indigenous rights, human rights, and nature's rights activist, who ran for president of the country in the 2021 presidential elections and came third in the first round. He ran for president again in the 2023 elections.
Ethnically Cañari, Pérez is a former member of the eco-socialist Pachakutik Party. On 14 May 2019, he was elected as Provincial Prefect of the Azuay Province. As the former president of indigenous rights group ECUARUNARI, Pérez then rose to national prominence during the 2019 demonstrations against President Lenín Moreno's neoliberal economic policies. Described as an "anti-mining activist", Pérez has been involved in protests against water privatization efforts and the proposed Kimsacocha mining project, which led to him being charged with terrorism. Though a leftist, Pérez is noted for opposing the extractive measures championed by former socialist President Rafael Correa and his allies.