Animal Rights Belong in Politics: Meet Ecuador’s New Animal Rights Candidate

When animal protection enters politics, the conversation becomes bigger: about compassion, social justice, nature and the kind of society we want to build.

The Animal Politics Foundation is delighted to introduce Mónica Cabrera Bohórquez, known in activist circles as Keke, an Ecuadorian animal rights advocate from Guayaquil who is taking an important step into public life by standing as a candidate for city council.

Her candidacy is significant for a simple reason: Keke is entering politics with her commitment to animal rights at the heart of her political identity.

For the Animal Politics Foundation, this is precisely why political participation matters. Animals are affected by political decisions every day — through municipal regulations, veterinary services, public spaces, environmental policy, wildlife protection, food policy and the way communities deal with companion and street animals.

Animal protection should therefore not be treated as a separate issue that politicians address only when everything else has been solved.

It is part of how we build a just society.

From animal advocacy to political action

Keke in action for animal rights

Keke's vision is rooted in the belief that compassion should not stop at the doors of city hall.

One of her priorities is to make good-quality public veterinary care accessible to everyone, particularly people with limited financial resources. Public veterinary services already exist in Guayaquil, but their quality and accessibility need to improve.

Her proposals therefore include strengthening the quality of these services, expanding public veterinary centres into underserved areas and making it easier for people to actually reach them. This also means making public transportation more inclusive and accessible for people travelling with animals.

Accessible spaying and neutering, vaccinations, preventive healthcare and emergency assistance can all be part of a stronger public veterinary system — one that brings services closer to the communities and animals who need them most.

Because poverty should never mean that someone has to choose between buying food for their family and paying for urgent medical treatment for a beloved companion animal.

Animal protection should not be a privilege.

This is where animal rights and social justice meet.

Food that brings people together

Keke also wants to promote the creation of community spaces and kitchens within neighbourhoods, supported by the municipality.

These spaces could bring people together around affordable, nutritious and compassionate food, while promoting mindful, plant-based eating through workshops, talks and community activities.

The idea goes beyond simply encouraging people to eat differently.

Community food initiatives can create a space to talk about health, poverty, sustainability, animals and the environment — while sharing a good meal together.

In this way, plant-based food becomes not a luxury or a lifestyle reserved for a few, but something that can be accessible to everyone.

Healthy, affordable and compassionate food should be for everyone.

Protecting trees means protecting life

Another important part of Keke's vision is the protection of nature.

Guayaquil lies in an extraordinary natural landscape on Ecuador's coast. Around the city are mangroves, tropical dry forest, the vast Guayas River and an estuary connected to the sea, while the Pacific Ocean lies less than an hour away.

Trees, forests, mangroves and other natural areas are not simply resources. They are homes for wildlife, part of vital ecosystems and essential to the wellbeing of human communities.

A political agenda for animal protection therefore also needs to include the protection of biodiversity and natural habitats.

One possible campaign message captures this beautifully:

“Menos tala, más vida.” — Less logging, more life.

Protecting existing trees, planting native species, strengthening urban biodiversity and preventing unnecessary destruction of green spaces can all contribute to healthier communities and safer habitats for wildlife.

And in a country as biologically rich as Ecuador, protecting nature is inseparable from protecting animals.

Wildlife needs a voice too

Ecuador is home to extraordinary wildlife, from the Andes to the Amazon and the coast.

But wildlife protection must also reflect the animals and ecosystems of the place where political decisions are being made.

In and around Guayaquil, wild animals live among mangroves, tropical dry forests, hills, rivers and coastal ecosystems. Among the wild felines found in this region are the ocelot and the majestic jaguarundi.

These animals face many of the same pressures affecting wildlife across the world: habitat destruction and fragmentation, illegal hunting, wildlife trafficking and the continued loss of natural ecosystems.

Protecting a wild animal means protecting much more than one species. It means protecting its habitat, food sources, ecological corridors and the countless other species that share the same ecosystem.

Keke's vision therefore includes a broader approach to wildlife protection: protecting animals and the places they call home.

This means strengthening the fight against wildlife trafficking, protecting habitats, opposing illegal hunting and supporting cooperation with local communities.

It also means recognising the people who have deep connections to these landscapes. The coastal region includes Indigenous communities in the Puná Island area, native to this territory. At the same time, Guayaquil is home to tens of thousands of Indigenous people from the Andes who have migrated to the city in search of work and opportunities.

Protecting nature successfully means listening to communities, respecting local knowledge and ensuring that people, animals and ecosystems are considered together.

Water is life

There is another connection that brings all these issues together: water.

For Guayaquil, this means protecting the ecosystems and natural areas on which the city and surrounding communities depend.

The hills and natural areas of Cerro Blanco and Cerro Azul play an important role in this landscape, while the Guayas River is fundamental to the region's ecology, communities and relationship with water.

Protecting these hills, forests, rivers, mangroves and wetlands is therefore not merely an environmental concern.

It is about drinking water.

It is about communities.

It is about biodiversity.

It is about wildlife.

And it is about future generations.

Protect nature. Protect water. Protect life.

A new kind of politics

What makes Keke's candidacy particularly interesting is that these issues do not stand alone.

Animal welfare connects to poverty.

Food connects to health and sustainability.

Trees, mangroves and forests connect to biodiversity.

Wildlife protection connects to habitats and communities.

Water connects all of them.

This is why animal politics is about much more than animals.

It asks a fundamental question:

What kind of relationship do we want to have with the other beings and ecosystems with whom we share this planet?

The Animal Politics Foundation believes that people with a strong commitment to animal rights have an important role to play in answering that question through democratic politics.

We warmly congratulate Keke on her candidacy and on taking this courageous step from animal advocacy into public life.

Her journey is a reminder that political change often begins when someone is willing to say:

Animals deserve a voice — and I am prepared to be that voice.