An indigenous community in the Ecuadorian rainforest says they "will die fighting to protect the rainforest" after they say they were swindled by an oil company into signing away rights to 70,000 hectares of one of the most biodiverse areas in the world.

 

But the state-backed oil company, PetroAmazonas—backed by the Ecuadorean army—plans to begin prospecting the Kichwa village on the Napo River on Tuesday, The Guardian reports.

PetroAmazonas, one of the biggest oil companies in South America, originally offered the village a new school, university places for village children and better healthcare, but dropped those provisions before the chief of the village signed away the rights to the land for $40 per hectare.