Amazon Girls Won a Court Order to Snuff Out Ecuador's Gas Flares
by Unión de Afectados y Afectadas por las Operaciones Petroleras de Texaco (UDAPT) · HQ 🇪🇨 Ecuador
UDAPT unites six Indigenous nationalities and about 80 peasant communities of the northern Ecuadorian Amazon, and backs the Guerreras por la Amazonia, the girls behind the Caso Mecheros lawsuit. In January 2021 a Sucumbios court ordered the progressive elimination of oil-field gas flares by 2030, starting with those near settlements, but a 2022 regulation counts as near only flares within 100 metres of at least 20 contiguous homes. Amnesty International's July 2026 follow-up counts 486 flares still active in the Amazon, and UDAPT has registered 749 cancer patients near them. Petroecuador says it has eliminated 183 flares, while in May 2026 the girls, UDAPT and Amnesty handed the environment ministry 492,174 supporting actions demanding compliance.