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55 2 Identity collectivity and difference One of the most important achievements of the Zábalo Cofán was the ejection of oil companies from their territory in the mid-1990s. After discovering seismic exploration crews on their land, community residents went on the offensive. After a series of encounters, they confiscated the workers’ equipment and brought the workers to the village center, where company officials had to retrieve them and negotiate with Borman and other angry Cofán. The most definitive act of resistance, however, occurred after the people of Zábalo found an exploratory well at the southeastern edge of their territory in 1993. Realizing that their way of life was in danger, residents decided to take over the well in order to shut it down and force a confrontation with Petroecuador, the involved company. With a pair of gringo allies who came along to film the event (and make it available to the international media), a community-wide contingent trudged for days through swampy forest to reach the well. Shortly before arriving at their destination, the Cofán put on face paint, traditional tunics, and palm-reed headbands. They also applied red dye to the tips of their spears. When they entered the site, they moved in and out of the forest to give the impression of a much larger group. They knew that mestizo workers would be terrified to see indios emerging silently from the jungle in such a remote area, with spears in hand. After rounding up the workers, who offered no resistance, the party used the radio to call company officials. Shortly thereafter, a military helicopter arrived with an angry colonel and heavily armed soldiers. At first, the colonel refused to speak to Borman, who was wearing the same clothing and face paint as the others. Then, a Zábalo man stepped up to defend Borman. In broken but angry Spanish, he accosted the colonel. As recorded in the video, which two television documentaries have featured, the exchange occurred in the following terms, which Zábalo residents have confirmed:1 [Narrator:] When the delegation arrived, the chief negotiator was an indignant army colonel with armed soldiers ready for a fight, but not prepared for a gringo chief. 56 An Individual and a People [Colonel, speaking to Borman:] Listen, you are an American. And I’m asking you, Do Americans allow us to come to your country and decide your fate? I will only talk to someone who is a native, with the authority to decide matters that affect the Cofán people. [Narrator:] What happened next was a defining moment for Randy and the tribe. [Cofán man:] Hey, listen. He is a native. He was born here in Ecuador. You don’t even speak our language. He speaks it fluently. He is a Cofán, and he speaks for all of us. [Narrator:] Suddenly the army and oil company were facing Cofáns armed with a new weapon: Randy Borman. . . . When Randy spelled out, point for point, the details of Ecuadorian environmental law, it was all but over. You could see it on the colonel’s face. Shortly after the confrontation, the company decided to abandon the wells and offer compensation to the community. As of yet, neither Petroecuador nor other corporations have returned. A large part of the action’s success was Cofán people’s defense of Borman’s identity in the face of doubting outsiders. They had to position him as an authentic Cofán person and a legitimate Cofán leader. Today, outsiders continue to arrive in the community. Most are friendly, but many feel a similar skepticism. Almost every journalist, tourist, official, and scientist who visited Zábalo during my fieldwork asked me the same question: “Is Randy Borman really Cofán?” Some posed the issue in terms of social dynamics, wondering whether the Cofán “accept” Borman as “indigenous” or as “one of them.” At the most general level, the answer to the queries is “yes.” Cofán people consider Borman to be Cofán. In Zábalo, he fits the pragmatic criteria of Cofán-ness: he speaks A’ingae; he produces his own food through hunting, fishing, gardening, and gathering; and he participates seamlessly in the daily flow of social life. Borman’s political position, however, depends not only on what he shares with other Cofán people but on what makes him different. The recognition of his difference is a key element of Cof...

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