shingre

Human rights' Day - 10th december 2003

Born in Loja, Ecuador, Angel Shingre devoted the last 20 years of his life to campaigning on environment rights, and defending communities affected by petrol companies in their struggle for justice.

At the time of his death, 47 year old Shingre was the coordinator of the Office of Environmental Law in the Orellana province in Ecuador, where he was advising communities engaged in a lawsuit against ChevronTexaco.

He spent the final 6 years of his life dedicated to the defense of environmental rights in the Orellana province, an area containing rainforests, rivers and many indigenous communities who attempt to maintain their traditional way of life in the face of the oil companies operations. Shingre worked as an ecologist for the environmental monitoring network in the Amazon region; he was a member of the affected people committee for the oil extraction activities in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and former coordinator of the environmental rights office in the Orellana Province.

In 1998, Angel Shingre was arrested and sent to jail in the City of Coca, accused by Petroecuador of the spilling oil at his own farm. After two years, a trial in which he was faced with charges of robbery and sabotage, collapsed when he proved that he was 150 km away when the incident took place.

During the course of his work, defending the environment and the rights of indigenous people, Angel Shingre received many threats. He was murdered on the morning of 4 November 2003 in the city of Coca, in the Orellana Province.