From here in Ecuador — this beautiful and complex territory that, through the many turns of history, eventually came to be known as Ecuador — it becomes possible to reflect upon a broader Latin American reality that has deeply shaped the way we understand life, society, and our relationship with the Whole (a concept we use to refer to the material and immaterial aspects of everything that surrounds us).
Within this context, an important structure of power has been identified by the Peruvian scholar Aníbal Quijano, who described this phenomenon as the “coloniality of power.”
The coloniality of power refers to a system of domination that emerged in Latin America following the arrival of European colonizers more than five centuries ago. However, it is not merely a historical event of conquest and occupation. Rather, it is an ongoing process through which political, economic, spiritual, and cultural structures were gradually organized according to Eurocentric models of thought and existence. Over time, this process shaped many of the institutions that continue to organize modern society today.
As a result, contemporary Latin American societies inherited institutional systems modeled after European structures. The modern nation-state, ecclesiastical institutions, capitalist economic systems, and educational models centered on scientific rationality all emerged from this historical framework. These institutions were built upon the admiration for European forms of knowledge, power, and progress, which came to be perceived as universal ideals to imitate and reproduce.
This phenomenon was also explored by Homi K. Bhabha, who analyzed how colonized societies often internalize the values of the colonizers themselves. Bhabha described this process as “colonial mimicry,” a condition in which the victims of colonial domination gradually seek to resemble and reproduce the structures of power imposed upon them. In this way, colonial power is not maintained solely through external force, but also through internalized systems of admiration, imitation, and cultural reproduction.
Understanding this Eurocentric historical origin is fundamental for comprehending how modern institutions have been constructed and legitimized over the centuries. Political systems, educational structures, economic practices, and even spiritual conceptions were progressively organized according to these dominant paradigms. Consequently, this historical process contributed to the fragmentation of the ancestral organic relationship with the Whole.
The rupture was not only material, but also spiritual and symbolic. Humanity increasingly separated itself from the sacred dimensions of existence, reducing nature to a resource, knowledge to productivity, and human progress to economic accumulation. The deep interconnection that ancient peoples maintained with water, mountains, forests, stars, and life itself became progressively obscured within systems centered on domination, extraction, and control.
From this perspective, projects such as La Ceiba Milenaria seek to critically reflect upon these historical processes while recovering the memory of alternative ways of understanding existence. The intention is not to reject modernity entirely, but rather to question the structures that have disconnected human beings from the Whole and to reopen spaces for sacred memory, relational understanding, and reconnection with life in all its dimensions.
This reflection becomes especially important at a moment in history when humanity is facing a profound global crisis that invites us to rebuild our relationship with what we commonly call nature.
Based on the information presented in the YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuWXqFPtfLE&t=340s