Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador in South America (for example Plan Colombia). In 2013 CONAIE became more involved in discussions with other indigenous organizations involving land rights and environmental sustainability due to deals made by the government with large multinational oil companies. These deals primarily concern the Amazon basin, and would take over much of the indigenous land that is currently inhabited. There has been much debate for many years between the governments, the indigenous peoples, and the oil companies. Chevron (formerly Texaco) is a major oil company which has had a presence in Ecuador; recently Chevron has come into many Ecuadorian headlines regarding drilling
LGBT rights in Ecuador Ecuador became the first country in the Americas (and only the third worldwide after South Africa and Fiji) to include sexual orientation as a protected category in its Constitution. Ecuador includes both sexual orientation and gender identity in its constitutional prohibition against discrimination. An unofficial English language translation of Article 11(2) states: All persons are equal and shall enjoy the same rights, duties and opportunities. No one shall be discriminated against for reasons of ethnic belonging, place of birth, age, sex, gender identity, cultural identity, civil status, language, religion, ideology, political affiliation, legal record, socio-economic condition, migratory status, sexual orientation,