ReachBeyond / Spearing Attack in Ecuador’s Jungle Leaves Waorani Man Dead, Woman Wounded

15.2.16

ReachBeyond: The couple are members of the Waorani indigenous group. No one was apprehended, but other Waorani denounced one of the two jungle tribes that remain in voluntary isolation—the Tagaeri and the Taromenane*. While authorities used more guarded language such as spearing “presumably by” the Taromenane, Waorani leader Alicia Cahuiya accused the Taromenane of carrying out the attack.

Cordero reported that an army helicopter evacuated the woman (also referred to as Onenca Tega and in some reports as Baihua’s wife) to a hospital in nearby Orellana province. Ecuadorian authorities referred to treatment of her for “spear wounds to her ribs and legs” but did not elaborate; another report listed her condition as stable.