The Secoya people are an indigenous

Indigenous peoples in Ecuador

Indigenous peoples in Ecuador are the groups of people who were present in what became the South American nation of Ecuador when Europeans arrived. The term also includes their descendants from the time of the Spanish conquest to the present...

 ethnic group

Ethnic group

An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...

 living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or The Oriente region of Ecuador

Oriente (Ecuador)

The Oriente is a region of eastern Ecuador, comprising the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes and the lowland areas of rainforest in the Amazon basin.- Geographical Location :...

 (est. population 297 (1987 Vickers)), and in Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 (est. population 144 (1982 SIL)). They speak the Secoya language

Secoya language

The Secoya language is a Western Tucanoan language spoken by 297 Secoya people in Ecuador and 144 in Peru....

, part of the Western Tucanoan group. They share territory along the Shushufindi, Aguarico

Aguarico River

The Aguarico River is a river in northern Ecuador. It is the main river of the Sucumbíos province. In the last part of its course it is the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border. It empties into the Napo River...

, and Cuyabeno river

Cuyabeno River

River located in Sucumbios in Ecuador, start in the high part of the Cuyabeno Reserve, and ends in the Aguarico River, Cuyabeno in Siona - Secoya Language means "Kindness River""...

 with the Siona people

Siona people

The Siona people are an indigenous ethnic group living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or Oriente , and in Colombia...

, with whom they are sometimes considered a single population.

The Siona people are organized politically through the Secoya Indigenous Organization of Ecuador. They have been involved in a conflict with Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum

Occidental Petroleum Corporation is a California-based oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and South America...

over oil drilling in Block 15 of Ecuador.http://forests.org/archive/samerica/takeongi.htm