Refugees in Ecuador: Plan Colombia and the Asylum Lottery

Written by Stuart Schussler for UpsideDownWorld

Tuesday, 07 October 2008

After eight years and $7 billion spent, Plan Colombia has merely dented the drug trade. Perhaps its greatest "achievement" has been the rise in displaced persons and subsequent refugee flows, in turn making Ecuador home to the most refugees in the Western Hemisphere. But "refuge" is a misnomer: the great majority of refugees are undocumented and have little more stability than they did in Colombia.

From La Violencia to Plan Colombia

To understand the ties between Plan Colombia, its familiar neoliberal template, and the refugee situation in Ecuador, a little context is in order. Land reform is the primary thread in Latin American resistance, from the Mexican Revolution to the Sem Terra in Brazil. And Colombia's civil war is no exception.

In the 1950s, the recently deceased Manuel Marulanda Vélez (better known as "Tirofijo," or Sureshot) founded a militia that would become the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). It was the epoch known as La Violencia, when the type of rural massacres, wholesale land seizures and political persecution that has plagued Colombia since the 1980s was also the norm. Tirofijo and other peasants created a self-defense militia, adopted a Communist ideology, and after unifying with other rural, separatist groups formally became the FARC after the Colombian military first attacked them in 1964.

Fast-forward to the 1980s and Colombia's conflict begins to better resemble the Scarface stereotype. At that time, the burgeoning US and European yuppie class popularized cocaine as their drug of choice, and the emergence of crack as an alternative to be pushed in poor African American neighborhoods enabled armed groups in Colombia to use narco-trafficking as a new and seemingly-unlimited source of income. This aided paramilitaries in organizing, and as a result they became a mélange of government-subcontracted fighting forces, land-thieves at the service of elites and transnational corporations, self-defense militias, narco-mafias, and groups seeking vendettas against the guerrillas for kidnapping and land seizure.

The appearance of the paramilitaries marked a turning point in the conflict. What had been a rather clear-cut war between the Colombian military and a handful of guerrilla groups became an explosive and murky morass of insurgents, paramilitaries, narcotraffickers, soldiers and compromised politicians. Today, with rumors that FARC members may be collaborating with new emerging paramilitary groups, it is clear the ideological underpinnings that shaped the conflict decades ago have taken a distant back seat.

After the cocaine/paramilitary explosion, the FARC also engaged in tactics such as kidnapping and drug trafficking, especially after paramilitaries murdered thousands of FARC members who attempted to transition into politics via the Patriotic Union party. With the moderate, pro-dialogue wing of the FARC killed off, only the group’s more extreme and militant leaders remained.

Throughout the 1990s chainsaw massacres, mass displacements and avalanches of cocaine money became the norm in this violence-plagued country. The consequences of this gruesome conflict are hardly quantifiable: 300,000 killed in the last ten years, 3,800 trade unionists murdered since the mid-1980s, 1,300 mass graves found since April 2006, between 2 and 4 million people displaced by violence, and 4 million hectares—one-third of all arable land in Colombia—has been robbed, leaving 0.3% of Colombians with more than half the land. All this while, at the height of its power, the Cali cartel made $7 billion in a single year.

Plan Colombia, the United States' ingenious supply-side assault on "narcoterrorism," has dispensed $6.7 billion since its inception in 2000 (or about as much as one cartel can make in a year). An average of 80% of the funds goes to military and police aid while a scant 20% is dedicated to economic and social assistance.1 The plan is couched in the language of the wars on drugs and terror, but its function is traditionally neoliberal—to make Colombia safe for business and secure access to valuable mineral, petroleum, water and biodiversity resources.

When President Clinton traveled to Colombia to transfer the first installment of Plan Colombia funding, he was accompanied by more than twenty executives, amongst them chiefs of Drummond mining, the oil company Seven Seas, Bell South and Liz Clairborne.2 The Occidental Oil Company receives around $90 million per year from Plan Colombia towards protection of its pipeline, and Drummond has been exposed for hiring paramilitaries to murder union officials.

Plan Colombia funding also goes towards training Colombian soldiers and police, buying armaments and helicopters, the blanket fumigation of coca crops (as well as whatever legal crops happen to be around, which at times include USAID's own alternative development projects), and efforts to reform and strengthen the Colombian justice system.

Theoretically, 25% of this funding is contingent on Colombia meeting human rights norms, but considering the current parapolitics scandal,3 continued death threats towards union organizers, the trend of innocent civilians being killed by the military and then dressed as FARC guerrillas, and the sorry state of the paramilitary demobilization process—intentionally undermined via extradition of paramilitary bosses to the US, such human rights stipulations appear to be little more than a meaningless window dressing.

How far is far enough?

Plan Colombia, after dispensing with $7 billion, has had little effect on the amount of cocaine entering the US and its street price. However, its effect on displacement has been enormous. Since 2000, 2.4 million Colombians have been displaced from their homes, and while only 475 people solicited refuge in Ecuador in 2000, this number jumped to 3,017 the next year and 6,766 in 2002. Only a fraction of all refugees actually solicit formal asylum.

Internal displacement and refugees are the same issue, only one involves an international border. People living in rural areas are frequently displaced to the major cities due to Plan Colombia fumigation, forced recruitment by the FARC and paramilitaries, the taxes they demand (called la vacuna- the vaccine), land seizure, the persecution of political organizers, the targeting of relatives in vendettas, and retaliation by one side against those forced to collaborate with the other. However, as the FARC and paramilitaries have national intelligence networks (Jorge Noguera stands accused of giving information to paramilitary groups while leader of the Administrative Security Department—Colombia's equivalent to the CIA), one move is hardly enough.

Rolando, a merchant from the countryside near Bogotá, was displaced twice before coming to Ecuador. He shared his story:

"In the year 2000 they killed a brother of mine in Bogotá. The Colombian national police intervened in [the case of] the assassination. My brother was a judge, and at the moment of his assassination he was with a driver he had and as a witness he involved certain people. We lived four hours from Bogotá, and when they told us that he'd been killed we went to reclaim the body. The Attorney General of Colombia had already captured all the people involved in the murder, but by that evening there was no longer anyone detained, which makes us think there was a superior order to remove all these shameless people from the case.

"But we believed in the justice of our country. We hired a lawyer and pushed for an investigation. Then, in April 2003, they killed another brother of mine at the entrance to our farm and before [the eyes of] his mother, his wife, his four-year-old son and his nephew.

"From the investigations we knew that we were dealing with groups of [paramilitary] caciques (bosses) that act in accordance with the state…. And I say this because one year after the death of my second brother, they capture one of these caciques. They capture him in 2004 and in 2006, having been threatened, our lawyer has to abandon the case.

"In 2000 we moved from where we had lived to another city, changed our telephone lines, etcetera, due to the threats. When they killed my other brother in 2003 we had to leave in a national displacement to another region of Colombia. In 2004 we returned because they told us there was a judgment [in the case].

"Around this time another brother of mine, due to the same conditions as the rest of us, fled to Ecuador with his family and later the UN High Commission for Refugees [UNHCR] resettled him in the US. The rest of us didn't go because we thought we could sustain ourselves in our country. But around the beginning of 2005 another threat arrived. It came in my email. I was a national leader in Colombia, fighting for the rights of the displaced. And when we saw the threat, we had no other option than to follow the footsteps of my brother and come to Ecuador."

"International agreement? But we are a sovereign nation!"

If constantly fleeing from one city to another due to threats weren't bad enough, once Colombians come to Ecuador and try to truly distance themselves from the conflict, the majority are denied official refugee status and left trapped and undocumented in a foreign country. Ecuador only approved 14,300 out of 45,231 asylum requests between 2000 and 2006.

Despite the fact that Rolando's brother was awarded asylum in Ecuador and even resettled in the US—a service reserved only for the most pressing cases—when Rolando and his extended family arrived and presented the same documentation, they were denied.

"You come here to Ecuador, where they use the same declaration and they say no", he says. "'No, and I have sovereignty,' is what they told us."

Rolando tells me all this as he sits behind his desk in Quito. It has just stopped hailing (a bizarre but frequent event in the Ecuadorian Andes) and he nibbles on a piece of chicken another undocumented refugee woman has given us. Because Ecuadorian law forbids solicitants of refugee status from working (the solicitation process commonly lasts at least six months) and because undocumented refugees are obliged to purchase a labor visa for $1000 if they want to legally work, Rolando doesn't make much money. His lunches are frequently comprised of a bowl of soup or a couple cigarettes, and he considers himself lucky.

"Go to the market—you'll see refugee women and their children begging for rotten tomatoes."

The Asylum Lottery: Divide, Quiz and Conquer

Ask three different people to define "a refugee" and how many of them there are in Ecuador, and you'll get three different answers. Most agree that the 1951 Convention and the Declaration of Cartagena amply defines legitimate reasons for seeking asylum. But certain civil society organizations which aren't allied with the UNHCR will tell you that anyone coming into Ecuador for these reasons is a refugee, regardless of whether they've officially received this status or not. As for how many there are, it's anyone's guess since the great majority of de facto refugees don't solicit official asylum for fear or divulging their personal information and being tracked down once again. There are currently an estimated quarter-million de facto refugees in Ecuador.

Talk to the UNHCR and its partner organizations and they'll offer the same estimate of 250,000, but they limit "refugees" to those conferred official status by the government and those de facto refugees who have not yet solicited (although they are pressured to do so immediately). As for those who have been denied refugee status, according to Xavier Orellana, spokesman for the UNHCR in Ecuador, "they fall outside our mandate." So, according to the UNHCR, there are 14,300 refugees in Ecuador and a much larger "invisible population" who cannot fully take advantage of their refugee rights until they receive official refugee status.

Talk to people in the Office of Refugees, the Ecuadorian bureau which handles refuge requests, and there exist 14,300 refugees in Ecuador, no more and no less. According to the state, only a sovereign nation has the right to decide who can consider themselves a refugee and who cannot. As a result, Ecuador says that only 5.7% of those 250,000 people who have fled Colombia due to persecution, violence and the violation of their human rights there can consider themselves refugees.

The interview process is the sieve used by the government to separate a quarter-million de facto refugees into those with official refugee visas and soon-to-be undocumented, unofficial refugees. The latter, after being informed of their negation, are given 30 days to either resolve their immigration status (read, buy a $1000 labor visa, marry an Ecuadorian or have a child in Ecuador) or leave the country. Since returning to Colombia is a fatal risk for many, the only option is to remain in Ecuador undocumented.

The first step in the legal-lottery of obtaining a refugee visa is a trip to the Office of Refugees, part of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Exterior Relations. The Office is in a tacky-looking building that sits above a bustling consumer electronics department store. Built on shaky foundations, you wonder whether the nearby volcano, Pichincha, is erupting each time a truck drives past on the avenue below.

Inside, the asylum applicant registers her information into a database, furnishes the necessary documents, is photographed and provides a signature. Needless to say, all this documentation turns many refugees away. Michel, who was forced to leave Colombia after her brother reported on collaboration between the Colombian military and paramilitaries, says that, "I don't have refugee documents because I don't dare to recount my problem. I don't want them to try and locate my brother through me, or for my children to be endangered. That's why I've never solicited asylum." A mere five hours in bus from the Colombian border, many refugees in Quito don't feel sufficiently distanced from their problems.

For those who choose to undergo the interview process, an Office of Refugees functionary interviews family members individually. One such functionary explains, "What we try and do is extract all the information possible so that we can make a recommendation based on [legal] criteria to the eligibility commission which makes a decision concerning the request." This "extracted" (sacado) information is meant to be complimented with objective information.

However, the very notion of objective information concerning the Colombian conflict is a naïve fantasy. First, the Colombian consulate denies that Colombians have any grounds for soliciting asylum in Ecuador. One functionary of the Office of Refugees told me, "Sometimes we just need a birth certificate for the kids or a marriage certificate in order to regularize someone's situation. And the consulate doesn't even give us access to basic documentation, to someone's identity. Imagine—the cooperation we get from Colombia is zero."

Secondly, most displacement originally happens in Colombia's rural expanses and urban ghettos, which totally lack the police presence necessary to document it. As with Michel's case, merely reporting injustices frequently causes more persecution. Lastly, many refugees are forced to gather up their belongings in a matter of hours or minutes and flee for their lives—making it nearly impossible to collect any type of records or evidence.

"We left of ham business, we left our animals, we left everything," said Andrea. "When you plan ahead you bring money, but when you do it [flee] from one day to the next, you leave everything."

Reacting to this lack of documentation and "objective information," the interview turns a sadistic, high-stakes quiz show where the applicant's fate depends on their ability to coherently recount the minutiae of their displacement, despite the effects this trauma has on their memory.

Esperanza recounts that, "One day, I asked the person attending me if the interview was always like this, because he was asking me for my national ID [cédula] number and things like that. So I told him 'Why do you ask me so many times?,' and he said it was for security, to see if someone is lying or not." Functionaries use the same method when they individually interview family members, making sure they are totally in accordance regarding places, names and dates.

Needless to say, this strategy is extremely effective in limiting the number of applicants who actually receive asylum. Only one in three applicants receives refugee status, and it is estimated that only one in five of all de facto refugees even apply for refugee status. Those denied status are allowed an appeal, but, as no specific reason for their denial is given, organizing an effective appeal is impossible.

The result: more than two hundred thousand refugees forced into the informal sector, forced to pay off police to prevent being deported back to a country where they are being pursued, and who can't denounce employers who rob them and educators who deny their children schooling. They are truly refugees without refuge.

Towards a broad normalization of refugees

To remedy this situation, in February 2007, newly elected President Correa, along with his Ministers of Government and Exterior Relations announced their willingness to carry out a general normalization of Colombian refugees. Despite the brief euphoria of refugees and attempts by civil society to organize a concrete plan for normalization, this plan has never become more than a hypothetical intention.

This stagnation is partly due to the current administration's investment of nearly all its political capital into the creation of a new Constitution, but it also with a low-intensity bureaucratic revolt coming from the Office of Refugees. This Office, which would be a major player in such a normalization process, contradicted their superiors in asserting that their ideas were legally infeasible.

"We can't just give refugee treatment to whoever," said one functionary from the Office of Refugees. "We must carry out a very detailed analysis to see if the person brings together the necessary elements in order to give them asylum."

Bureaucrats assert the overriding necessity of an individualized interview process, despite the fact that, until the year 2000, all refugees were officially recognized prima facie (that is, without undergoing an eligibility process) and even though the Cartagena Declaration establishes generalized causes for the displacement of refugees.4

This obstruction of a massive normalization of refugees is due in large part to the tendency of legally trained functionaries in the Office of Refugees to allow legal concerns to overshadow humanitarian ones. They all paid lip service, many times very convincingly, to their commitment to aid refugees.

Yet the current refugee situation in Ecuador is anything but humanitarian. The small minority of de facto refugees with official status lack real access to their rights and the majority of undocumented refugees don't even have recognized formal rights.

The current situation resembles the neoliberal model: there is a free flow of trade and capital between Ecuador and Colombia, while human migration is restricted. If President Correa and the Ecuadorian social movements that support him truly wish to emerge from the "long, sorrowful night of neoliberalism," they must put human rights first, starting with a massive normalization of Colombian refugees.

Stuart Schussler was a Fulbright scholar in Ecuador, where he worked with refugees in Quito. He was also a human rights observer with the Intag Solidarity Network in Intag, Ecuador, where peasant ecologists fight to protect their land from open-pit copper mining. He can be reached at stuartcan4(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Notes:

1 For the numbers, go here and here (pdf).

2 Leech, Garry (2002). Killing Peace: Colombia's Conflict and the Failure of US Intervention. Information Network of Americas. pp.63-64.

3 "Parapolitics" refers to the 39 Colombian Congress members who are currently under investigation for having ties with paramilitary groups. Go here for the current list.

4 This document, which forms the core of refugee law in Ecuador along with the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, defines refugees as "persons who have fled their country because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order."

Ecuadorian Indigenous Debate Constitution

Quito, Oct 6 (Prensa Latina) The Confederation of the Kichwa Nationality of Ecuador (ECUARUNARI) is holding a meeting on Monday to define that movement's strategy after the new Constitution come into force.

ECUARUNARI President Humberto Cholango pointed out that they will propose draft bills to implement the articles on intercultural issues and plurinationality in the new Constitution, which was approved by 64 percent of Ecuadorians in a referendum on September 28.

He added that during this period of transition, the indigenous people must submit draft bills to facilitate the implementation of the new Constitution and prevent any misinterpretation of Ecuadorian legislation.

The strategy will be defined in conjunction with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), whose leaders were invited to the meeting, Cholango noted.

Participants in the meeting will discuss the ways to defend the rights of native communities.

Ecuador`s Correa Threatens to Expel Oil Companies

Javno, October 6, 2008

The volatility of world oil prices has worried experts who say a free-fall could prompt Correa to halt repayments foreign debt.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has threatened to expel foreign oil companies if they fail to lift dwindling output in the OPEC nation.

Correa, a leftist former economy minister, issued the warning in a speech over the weekend, only days after he won a referendum to increase his sway in the country's oil and mining sectors.

"Don't play with fire. You (companies) either raise output or leave the country," Correa said on Saturday during his weekly media address. He added that output of foreign oil companies has declined since negotiations for new contracts began last year.

He also threatened to nationalize oil fields owned by Brazil's Petrobras over delays to transfer an oil block to the state. Both sides had already agreed to hand over the block inside a protected Amazon jungle park.

Oil exports are Ecuador's main source of revenue and key to Correa's plan to boost public investment to help the poor.

The volatility of world oil prices has worried experts who say a free-fall could prompt Correa to halt repayments foreign debt.

Nearly a year ago, Ecuador initiated talks with foreign companies including China's Andes Petroleum and Spain's Repsol to switch to new contracts that would allow the state to keep all the oil the companies extracted, in exchange for a fee. In the meantime, most companies have halved investments in Ecuador until they reach new deals.

Andes has signed a temporary deal with Ecuador while it negotiates a new service contract. Other companies have started negotiations.

Correa in the past has threatened to expel companies over dwindling production, but has so far stayed away from nationalizations. Correa's ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has nationalized major sectors of its economy in his drive to bring socialism to his country.

Ecuador produces around 500,000 barrels of oil per day, extracted almost evenly by the state company, Petroecuador, and foreign companies.

The revolutionary struggle and social reform in Ecuador

From Anarkismo.net

The following interview was made in July and August 2008 with a member of the "15th November" Anarchist Communist Group, a recently-formed libertarian group in Ecuador, which among other things publishes the magazine "Chasqui Anarquista" with other anarchists, of which two issues have so far come out. In this interview, we tried to find out a little about the origins of the libertarian movement in Ecuador and understand how anarchist communists feel about the social reforms being carried out by Rafael Correa's government. [Castellano]

An interview with a comrade from the Grupo Anarco-Comunista "15 de Noviembre"

To begin with, comrades, can you tell us about the 15th November Group and how it was formed?

Hi, comrades! The "15th November" Anarchist Communist Group is a specific organization which was set up about two years ago. It came about as a result of a process involving groups like RxL (Reincidiendo por la Libertad), ACL (Autonomía Cultural Libertaria), the Biblioteca Popular de la Casa del Obrero "Ateneo Libertario", and from a process of political maturity that went beyond the notion of a synthesis. We have been strongly influenced by the great work carried on by the comrades of the Platform of Russian Anarchists, Georges Fontenis' Libertarian Communist Manifesto and also Mikhail Bakunin. Our vision was of Revolutionary, Class-Struggle, Materialist and Dialectic Anarchism. But we also believe that it is essential to study the values and practices of our ancestors, as much of this had an explicitly libertarian basis. We seek to bring Anarchism back to the people, who have forgotten it over the past 60 years or more. We involve ourselves among the working-class and on various fronts where we can make a difference, struggle, organize and bring new militants together in some way.

Why did you choose your name?

The name was chosen in honour of all those workers who were killed during the general strike on 15 November 1922 in the city of Guayaquil, due to the rise in the dollar and the drop in cacao prices, on which the country's economy was based at the time. The strike was called by the FTRE (Federación de Trabajadores Regional del Ecuador)[1], an anarcho-syndicalist organization whose origins go back to the early years of the century, with a membership of about 30,000 workers in various sectors.

Our idea is to rescue this struggle from a large sector of the left, that denies or hides its revolutionary, anarchist origin. Also because it was one of greatest demonstrations in history of what the Ecuadorian working people can do and the best demonstration of anarchist combativeness. And with that great example and the valour of so many workers, to continue this wonderful task, so that their lives will not have been in vain.

Can you tell us a little about anarchism in Ecuador?

Anarchism in Ecuador has a history much like that of most Latin American countries, where it arrived at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. The ideas mostly arrived together with European immigration to the continent and the seeds were fertilized in the country's ports, though were put into action in an original way, suited to the conditions of our people.

With the triumph of the Liberal Revolution the power of the church in the coastal areas was lessened, something that was not so evident in the mountainous regions, and this was an important factor in the appearance of socialist tendencies in our country. The first signs of a libertarian press were among the railway workers of Jamaican origin at the end of 19th century. In the early 20th century our history really begins. Various groups were founded: Luz y AcciónVerbo y Acción [3], Ricardo Flores Magón, the Centro de Estudios Sociales LibertariosAsociación Gremial del Astillero)[9], the Asociación de Cacahueros "Thomas Briones"[10], etc. After the massacre of 15th November 1922 the movement retreated, a widespread phenomenon throughout the continent as a result of rise of populist governments, the rise of Stalinism as the revolutionary model and the emergence of the fascist-style governments, up until the 1940s.

From then on, there were attempts at labour organization in 1970s and in the '80s it became mostly an artistic and literary wave. But by the '90s, it was another story. Several young people had begun to identify with punk counter-culture, but by the start of the new century they understood that it was necessary to go beyond a type of politics detached from reality and the class problems in the country. That's how our history developed. It's a history that we will go on building, winning the hearts of the people and keeping our distance in no uncertain terms from the dominant structure.

In what way has the movement changed since the fall of Gutiérrez?

Since the last decade of the 20th century, the country has seen increasing diffidence among the people towards neo-liberal policies and the various governments that there have been. This diffidence led to the overthrow of Abdalá Bucaram in 1997, of Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and more recently in 2005 it manifested itself with the removal from power of Lucio Gutiérrez, leader of the Patriotic Society Party (PSP). The discontent was also obvious in the popular opposition to Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in our region, and also to the US presence at Manta Air Base.

The mobilizations against neo-liberalism and its representatives have been led by the indigenous movement, the workers, students and social movements. These sectors have often sought to go beyond the established framework but each time they have fallen into the same trap, that of accepting the crumbs thrown to them. To this should be added the absence of an autonomous, revolutionary political project that could enable the boundaries of protest to be overcome and generate a new way of conceiving society.

Some anarchists, either individually or collectively, have participated in these protests since 2002, but a basic problem with our activity has been the absence of an organization that could allow us to leave spontaneism behind us and also allow us to instigate proposals for change from within the people.

Nevertheless, the fall of Lucio Gutiérrez and the events that occurred at the time have served to enable us to see the necessity of an organization in order to go beyond spontaneism and draw up a strategy, because in the hurly-burly of the demands for the overthrow of this corrupt individual, there was no-one to provide guidelines in order to develop a new, horizontal and assembly-based political praxis with direct democracy. There wasn't even any analysis of the fact that the cause for the evils that afflicted - and still afflict - the Ecuadorian people lie in the practices handed down by the State and the exploitation with which Capital keeps us in submission. What we mean is that the people, as an autonomous and revolutionary body, lack any sort of political tool. Slogans such as "Que se vayan todos!"[11] were continuing to lose ground to variants like "Que se vayan todos, pero primero el dictador!"[12] or suchlike.

This experience has taught us two lessons:

a. The need for an organization that can allow us to leave behind the spontaneism that is inherent in and necessary to the people, and

b. the development of an economic, social and political programme from within the people, that can be applied at times of social crisis, so that we do not see a repetition of the opportunism that fills the void that the popular movement leaves behind itself.

Ecuador is currently in the process of re-writing its Constitution. What do you think about that?

Since the foundation of the republic in 1830, our country has been under a totally anti-popular dominant class. Over all this time there have been an endless stream of constitutions, none of which have reduced the power of the oligarchic bourgeoisie by an inch. On the contrary, they have enabled it to survive and adapt to the new difficulties that the world's economy presents.

The Constitutions drawn up by the Right and the Left have not diminished political power, or worse still, the economic power of the dominant classes. In this sense, the current government which declares itself to be the standard-bearer of 21st-century socialism, is trying in some way to reduce the political power of the powerful class in this country, but when it comes to breaking its economic power, it is doing little or nothing.

Let us be clear that the socialism referred to above is only camouflaged capitalist reformism of a type signalled over a hundred years ago by the Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin, when he said: [2], (linked to the IWA)[4], and others. The newspapers at the time were "Alba Roja"[5], "Bandera Roja"[6], "El Proletario"[7], "El Hambriento"[8]. And there were trade unions such as the FTRE, the AGA (

"There is an infallible sign by which workers can recognize a phoney socialist, a bourgeois socialist; when talking to them about revolution or social transformation, if he says that the political must precede the social and economic transformation; if he denies that both must be made at the same time, or maintains that the political revolution must in a certain way be separate from a full, immediate and direct social liquidation, then the workers must turn their backs on him: because he who is speaking is either an idiot or a hypocritical exploiter."

The constitutional process that the country is going through has been the product of some channelling of the popular mobilizations. We are aware that this is not the solution to the needs that the people aspire to solve, and in this sense the new "Magna Charta", like any constitution, will be nothing special as it will not make significant improvements to the level of poverty and widespread exclusion.

Our position goes beyond the current situation and the traps that the current polarization could lead us into. And it in this sense that we are continuing to propagandize the people becoming organized and conscious, through our daily militant work, since we are sure that only this will allow us to work towards those fundamental changes that Ecuadorian society is incessantly searching for.

Some people are enthusiastic about the idea of a pluri-national State... Do you believe that these illusions have any basis?

In some indigenous sectors those who defend the need for a Pluri-National State are fond of the notion that the creation of such an institution will enable a high level of social participation, demonstrating at the same time that the State is open to the inclusion of sectors that historically have been dominated.

These notions are false insofar as participation cannot be measured by the levels of access to political power and its institutions, as many among the Indigenous leadership think.

On the other hand, the process of inclusion that is expected by the spheres of power and has been one of the demands of the indigenous, is a limited one since all debate and political practice revolves around acceptance of the ethnic aspects of the demand for pluri-nationality without any thought for the political and economic aspects. Consequently, we have the Ecuadorian State trying to proclaim itself pluri-national without losing its hierarchy, a fact which has been noticed by some indigenous sectors.

What it has been impossible to make people aware of it that one of the premises of the State is its centrality at all levels. Given what plurinationality implies, proclaiming a pluri-national State would mean the destruction of one of the basic principles of the State - centralism.

Can you tell us how you, as libertarians, saw the crisis with Colombia?

The constant border violations by the Colombian army demonstrate the Uribistas plans to expand the conflict to our region, due to the inability of these forces to defeat the Colombian guerrillas militarily.

We closely watch these and other practices that try to involve the Ecuadorian people in the civil war that has been causing so much bloodshed for our Colombian brothers for over forty years.

We must denounce the class character that hides behind this conflict and the demands of the Colombian government.

Do you believe there is some tangible threat on the part of the aggressive Colombian military forces, who are undoubtedly acting at the dictates of the USA?

Uribe's right-wing government is the expression of the imperialist re-composition of South America. This was seen in the plan to put "Plan Colombia" into operation at the start of this decade.

Behind the euphemism of combating drug trafficking, the United States is trying to set up geopolitical control over our lands. This behaviour, together with the growing arms funding and professionalization of the Colombian army, demonstrates the interests and influence of Yankee imperialism over the Colombian government.

The real danger is that the conflict will spread throughout the region, a policy that guides the Colombian government's relations with its neighbours, including Ecuador. There have of course been set-ups, like the cowardly murder of the FARC-EP commander "Raúl Reyes" in this country, or lies like Ecuador being the home of the guerrillas' rearguard.

We must be careful with the distortions that can easily be given to this problem, and at least for the moment prevent any direct intervention in "our America" by the imperialists.

Lastly, could I ask you what chances there are of building a revolutionary, libertarian alternative in Ecuador?

What possibilities there are, depend not only on the conditions for it. It would be ironic to say that, as they are already in place; we live in a class society.

It depends on the conviction and dedication of each member of the Organization in being a part of the class war, in the neighbourhoods, in schools and universities, in the workplace. It is interesting to see that in Ecuador, three consecutive presidents in a row have been swept away by the "Out, all of them!" movement - and not only these three parasites, but also the institutions and both private and State bodies. And one of our most basic weapons in this revolutionary task is to take advantage of this discontent.

Any last points you would like to make?

We'd like to thank comrade José Antonio for the very kind interview. We would also like to extend a warm, fraternal greeting to all those Organizations and militants around the world who work day in day out for this huge task. It is a task that depends on every single one of us if we are to achieve it. Unite, Convince, Win to the side of the people. Because that's where we come from!

One way or another.. we will win!
The hand of friendship to our comrade, the closed fist to the tyrant!
Revive the Class Struggle!
Long life and Revolt!

To contact the Grupo Anarco-Comunista "15 de Noviembre", write to: ateneo_libertario@yahoo.es
Translated by FdCA - International Relations Office

---

Translator notes:
1. Ecuadorian Regional Federation of Workers.
2. Light & Action.
3. Words & Action.
4. Centre for Libertarian Social Studies.
5. Red Dawn.
6. The Red Flag.
7. The Proletarian.
8. The Hungry.
9. Shipyard Trades Association.
10. Association of Cacao Workers "Thomas Briones".
11. "Let's get rid of them all!"
12. "Let's get rid of them all, but first let's get rid of the dictator!"

Correa blasts Uribe's decision to skip Andean summit

Colombia Reports
Saturday, 04 October 2008

Relations between Ecuador and Colombia once again took a turn for the worse after Colombian president Álvaro Uribe’s announced Friday he was skipping a regional meeting hosted by his neighbor.

Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa called the decision “rude” and “insolent” in his weekly radio and television address.

“It is the same old story, at the last minute boycott the get together with Ecuador. At the end, Uribe doesn’t want to reestablish relations,” he said, according to Caracol Radio. "Mr. President Uribe doesn't want to come to our country? Don't come, we're not going to miss him."

Explaining his choice to skip the October 14 meeting of the Andean Community of Nations, Uribe said host Ecuador has failed “to provide appropriate conditions” to allow his presence.

Specifically, Correa has made statements “in unaccomodating terms toward the Colombian government, which has occurred on past occasions,” said the statement, reported Caracol Radio.

Relations between the Andean neighbors have long been tense, with Colombia accusing Ecuador of taking a hands-off approach to FARC encampments along the countries shared border.

But the situation boiled over when the Colombian army attacked a FARC camp in Ecuadorian territory, killing guerrilla commander Raúl Reyes and 25 others in July.

The relationship was further damaged when Colombia alleged that ten government officials were kidnapped by the FARC in Ecuador. Ecuador denied the charges.

Gordon Brown urged to pay millions to stop oil firms destroying Amazon rainforest

By David Harrison, The Telegraph

05 Oct 2008

Rainforest campaigners will this week urge the Government to pay out millions of pounds to stop oil reserves under the Amazon being exploited.

Anita Rivas, will urge Gordon Brown's Government to sign up to the plan as a way to demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate change Photo: Tom Stockill

Leaders of indigenous tribes in the Amazon, some of whom have had no contact with the outside world, will call on the UK to back a plan to stop vast areas of the rainforest being destroyed by oil companies.

Anita Rivas, the mayor of Ecuador's Orellana province, will urge Gordon Brown's Government to sign up to the plan as a way to demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate change.

She will launch a campaign in London to persuade western countries to support the proposals, put forward by the Ecuadorian government, by donating £350 million a year for 10 years in return for guarantees that the rainforest will be preserved.

Ms Rivas will meet Gordon Brown's environmental advisers, MPs, senior officials from the Department for International Development and Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman, to seek support for the proposal which has received initial backing from Germany and Spain.

"Britain and other western countries are committed to tackling climate change and they agree that preserving the rainforest is one of the most important weapons in that struggle," she said.

"This is a chance for them to do something about it, to keep the oil underground, protect indigenous communities and save an area with the world's greatest biodiversity.

"£350m a year is not much if all the rich countries contribute - it is less than the Americans spend in a day in Iraq and will make a big contribution to tackling climate change.

"We want Britian to play its part and help ensure that the agreement is legally watertight and will save the forest in perpetuity."

Diplomatic breach widens between Colombia, Ecuador

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA (Reuters) October 4, 2008 - The diplomatic breach between Colombia and Ecuador widened on Saturday when Colombia called on the neighboring country to crack down on rebels using its territory to hold kidnap victims and launch attacks.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a Wall Street favorite and staunch White House ally, said he has information showing that Marxist Colombian guerrillas have camps on Ecuador's side of the border that are also being used to produce cocaine.

Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Colombia in March after a Colombian raid carried out on Ecuador's side of the border killed Raul Reyes, a top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

On Friday, Uribe canceled an October 14 trip he had planned to a regional diplomatic meeting in Ecuador after that country's president, Rafael Correa, said his government would "never forget the aggressions of Colombia."

"We won't miss you," Correa replied to Uribe on local radio on Saturday.

Uribe issued a statement earlier on Saturday calling for "effective" cooperation from Ecuador in combating the FARC, which has been fighting the state since 1964.

The guerrillas have used Ecuadorean ground to house Colombians kidnapped as recently as last month and to process the cocaine that funds the insurgency, the statement said.

Late on Friday, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos warned of a renewal of the Cold War as Russia plans joint naval exercises in the Caribbean next month with Venezuela, governed by leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez.

The Russian warships, led by the nuclear-powered heavy missile cruiser Peter the Great, left their base on September 22 in the latest show of strength by Moscow as it builds links with some of Washington's sharpest critics.

Colombia says information found in the computer of late FARC leader Reyes shows links between the rebels, labeled terrorists by Washington, and neighboring Venezuela.

"Who would have thought that we would be getting close to restarting the Cold War, involving neighboring countries that in one form or another have had direct connections with our internal enemies," Santos said.

Correa Threatens to Expel Foreign Oil Companies Over Output

By Stephan Kueffner

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he may expel foreign oil producers, including Spain's biggest energy company, Repsol YPF, and Brazil's state-owned Petroleo Brasileiro SA, because of declining production.

The companies, particularly Petrobras, as the Rio de Janeiro-based Brazilian company is known, have dragged their feet in contract negotiations in which Correa wants a greater share of oil income, he said today in his first regular Saturday address after almost two-thirds of voters approved a new constitution he had proposed.

``Don't play with fire,'' he said. ``Invest and recover production or you will leave the country.''

Correa wants the companies to agree to be paid for producing the oil, rather than the current terms under which they share in the revenue up to a set price. The new constitution strengthens the government's role in areas of the economy including transportation and energy.

``Now, more than ever, we have the democratic legitimacy to demand that these companies comply with the country,'' Correa said.

Several companies, including Repsol and Petrobras, in August agreed to start negotiating a switch to the payment model favored by the government within 12 months. Foreign oil companies account for close to half of Ecuador's daily production of close to 500,000 barrels of crude oil.

If Petrobras fails to reach an agreement ``soon,'' Ecuador would take over its fields, Correa said. ``If they take too long I'll nationalize their fields and they'll leave the country.''

Correa has taken a hard line in negotiations with the private sector. In October last year, he imposed a 99 percent windfall tax on oil companies, later reduced to 70 percent. He secured financial concessions from America Movil SA, which holds the biggest share of Ecuador's mobile phone market.

On Sept. 23, he expelled Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht SA and seized its projects in a dispute over a $338 million power plant. A final decision on whether to re-admit Odebrecht will be made this week after it signed a document agreeing to the government's demands, Correa said in today's address.

Ecuador is the smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Correa Says Colombia's Uribe Won't Attend Summit in Protest

By Stephan Kueffner

Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia won't attend a summit of four Andean countries this month to protest comments Correa made in an interview.

The decision shows Colombia doesn't want to re-establish diplomatic ties that were severed in March, Correa said in his regular Saturday address.

``President Uribe, if you don't want to come, don't, we won't miss you,'' he said. ``Fix your guerrilla and drug trafficking problems alone because you're the one who has these problems.'' Correa currently holds the presidency of the Andean Community, which includes Bolivia and Peru along with Colombia and Ecuador.

Correa cut top-level diplomatic ties with Colombia after a March 1 raid in which Colombian planes and troops leveled a rebel base just inside Ecuador without permission. In a Sept. 29 meeting with foreign journalists, Correa said that the relationship was gradually improving after Colombia toned down comments in recent weeks.

Correa in an interview published Oct. 2 in Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo was quoted as saying that the conflict would ``never be resolved.'' In his address today, he said that he had been misquoted.

If Uribe was interested in resolving the dispute, he would have sought to clarify the comment rather than canceling his participation in the Oct. 14 summit, Correa said.

Ecuador Passes Constitutional Referendum

From COHA.org

The following COHA release, authored by COHA research associate Lauren Nelson, was commissioned by the forthcoming issue of Interconnect, a publication for grassroots movement-building and sharing of resources within the U.S. - Latin America Solidarity Community. To receive the entire issue of Interconnect, visit their website.

On September 28, an estimated 63 to 69 percent of Ecuadorian voters opted in favor of a new constitution for the country. As promoted by President Rafael Correa, the constitutional referendum gave the executive branch increased authority to cast forward an agenda of political, economic, and social reform. President Correa previously had asserted that if the measure to enact a new constitution failed, he would not seek re-election; now, due to the passage of the referendum, Correa will be eligible, if re-elected, to hold office until 2017.

Correa’s most staunch opposition came from the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s economic powerhouse, commercial center and most significant port. The President claims that the new constitution will wrest power from the nation’s often corrupt elites, who over past decades have wreaked havoc upon the country’s political legitimacy and hobbled its social welfare programs. In return, Correa’s critics insist that the new constitution permits him too much influence over the economy and threatens the orderly development of democratic institutions.

Correa has been an outspoken foe of economic neo-liberalization, rejecting the Washington Consensus model of development in favor of increased economic control by the state. The new constitution allows the Ecuadorian government to oversee the central bank and redistribute idle lands to the poor, as well as appoint a majority of pro-government judges to the courts. Correa has asserted that Ecuador’s foreign debt payments may be suspended in the future if domestic issues require more immediate attention; yet, the approval of the new constitution raises the possibility of real political, economic, and social reform, as well as a redistribution of power to the country’s poor and indigenous.

President Correa is a self-proclaimed proponent of “21st century socialism” and a stalwart of the Latin American political left. Like Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, he has sought to induce reform through the approval of a new constitution. However, Correa limited the influence of Chavez and Morales on his domestic political agenda, displaying his willingness to govern independently of Latin America’s leftist political bloc.

Though Correa has refused to renew the U.S.’s lease of its air base at Manta, Washington continues to applaud the Ecuadorian president’s efforts at drug eradication. Ecuador maintains official diplomatic ties with the U.S., and has made no mention of any efforts to nationalize its electric and telecommunications sectors, as has been done in Venezuela. Correa has not attempted to draw Ecuador closer to Russia, and the new constitution specifically mentions the protection of private property as a key goal of the Ecuadorian government.

Though Correa’s socialist rhetoric has roused negative sentiment among Ecuadorian elites, his policies up to now have been enormously popular among the country’s poor. In a country that has functioned under 20 different constitutions and ousted three presidents from power in the past 10 years, Correa offers a new approach to achieving stability and progress.

Interconnect is published quarterly by Grassroots Interconnect, Inc. Its purpose is to encourage dialogue on movement building among 1,850 U.S.-Latin America solidarity groups and to share resources. Free but contributions are appreciated. Your reactions and comments are important. Past issues available.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Lauren Nelson
September 30th, 2008
Word Count: 600

Peasants Say New Ecuador Constitution Allows Them To Take Land

Friday October 3rd, 2008 / 0h05 QUITO (AFP)--Ecuador's new leftist constitution, approved by a landslide in a weekend referendum, has triggered occupations by impoverished peasants who believe the document authorizes them to take over unused land.

Machetes in hand, peasants in at least four regions of Ecuador have taken over farms and natural reserves, alleging that the new constitution gives them the right to build homes there.

Environment Minister Marcela Aguinaga blamed the chaos on "unscrupulous people who are using the constitution to say that it allows them to take unproductive land from whomever, regardless of whether it is a national reserve or private property."

The new constitution guarantees universal health care and free education up to the third year of college, as well as "a dignified and adequate home, independent of one's social and economic situation."

The government of President Rafael Correa, however, said the land occupations are illegal, and has ordered police to kick out the squatters.

The most serious problems were reported in the provinces of Guayas, Esmeraldas, Zamora Chinchipe and in the outskirts of Quito, where crowds took over unused land, farms and protected woodlands.

"We're here because the constitution allows it," said one of the squatters interviewed on local television. His face was painted in green camouflage.

"We are very sorry if there are people who are misinterpreting the constitution," Interior Minister Fernando Bustamante said.

Ecuador's new constitution strengthens the government's hold on the economy of this small nation of 13.9 million people -- half of whom live in poverty -- which is based chiefly on oil, banana and coffee exports, and money sent home by emigrants.

Correa has said he wants his country to pursue "21st century socialism," as Ecuador follows Venezuela and Bolivia, making it the latest South American country to chart a leftward course.

The new constitution is inspired by the leftist majorities in power in Venezuela and Bolivia and their repudiation of the neoliberal policies of the 1990s, but falls short of nationalizing the country's national resources as Bolivia and Venezuela have done.

Change Triumphs in Ecuador's Constitutional Referendum

Helga Serrano N. and Eduardo Tamayo G. | October 2, 2008 Translated from: Referéndum en Ecuador: Triunfa la esperanza de cambio Translated by: Katie Kohlstedt
Americas Policy Program, Center for International Policy (CIP) americas.irc-online.org
Ecuador's new constitution was approved with 64% voting "yes" on Sept. 28. "No" won 28% of the votes, 7% were invalid, and 0.7% left blank, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The results of the referendum reflect the high expectations for change that the majority of Ecuadorians are feeling, and which they have ratified with their votes in the last four elections. This desire for a profound transformation also extends to the immigrants that have left for the United States and Europe, who have been hit by the economic crisis. People voted for a more participative democracy and for the ability to intercede actively in political life. The constitution combines a series of progressive traits that overcome some of Ecuador's current inequalities, discrimination, and injustices, such as the following: the balanced living concept (sumak kawsay), which implies living in harmony with oneself, society, and nature; nature's right to assure "the maintenance and regeneration of its vital cycles, structure, functions, and evolutionary processes"; national diversity and collective rights; the right to water and the prohibition of its privatization; food sovereignty and the permanent right to secure food sources; the right to communication, and access to public, private, and community media. The constitution also has articles that are significant in terms of sovereignty and the prohibition of foreign military bases, as Article 5 states: "Ecuador is a peaceful territory. We will not permit the establishment of foreign military bases nor foreign facilities with military aims. It is prohibited to cede national military bases to foreign armed or security forces." Ecuador defines itself as a country that promotes peace, universal disarmament, condemns the use of weapons of mass destruction, and the imposition of bases or facilities with military purposes of some states in the territory of other nations (Article 416, 4). This is a victory not only for Ecuadorian organizations, but also for continental and worldwide networks that have struggled to abolish foreign military bases. Rethinking the Economic Model The new constitution also has a chapter on the prioritization of national production in its economy. In regards to development, it recognizes the "group of economic, political, social, cultural, and environmental systems that guarantees the realization of the balanced life, sumak kawsay." This means that economic growth is not the only priority as a means to reach development; instead, it is considered an integrated vision. It proposes, among other things, "to build a fair, democratic, productive, solidarity-based, and sustainable economic system founded on the equitable distribution of development benefits, means of production, and the generation of dignified and stable work" (Article 276). The constitution recovers the role of the state in participatory development planning in areas such as healthcare, education, housing, and water supply, among other things. Some of these had been turned over to the private sector during years of neoliberal implementation. Now the state will maintain control of the financial sector and develop policies to avoid the concentration or hoarding of means of production. It also proposes the development of specific policies to eradicate inequality and discrimination toward women, including the valuation of non-paid work in the home, and universal social security. Strategic sectors are recognized in the new constitution, such as all forms of energy, telecommunications, non-renewable natural resources, transportation, and refining of hydrocarbons, biodiversity, genetic heritage, and water. The state reserves the right to "administer, regulate, control, and manage" these sectors because of their decisive economic, social, political, or environmental influence. Though this is fundamental, concern also exists in some sectors that a door has been left open in terms of exploitation of protected areas, if the National Assembly should choose to do so. The indigenous movement proposed that the policy of "previous informed consent" be used, as in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Native Peoples, but the Constitutional Assembly approved the "previous informed consultation" policy, which is now part of the constitution. Despite this limitation, Humberto Cholango, indigenous director of ECUARUNARI, the largest organization of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, celebrated the approval of the constitution and its inclusion of the diverse nationalities that make up the nation, which "is of historical importance, because it has been proposed as such since the first indigenous uprising 18 years ago," according to Cholango. A key player in the "yes" decision was without a doubt President Rafael Correa, whose administration stands out for its reorientation of public investment away from the usual elite classes, and instead toward health, education, and public works. This has been favored by the high price of oil and increased tax revenue collection, as many businesspeople have been forced to pay. Foreign Military Forces Sent Home Another positive element is the defense of national sovereignty, expressed as a rejection of the warmongering politics of the government of Colombia and President Alvaro Uribe. It also puts an end to the agreement with the United States that allowed it to have a military base "for the drug war" in Manta, Ecuador. In reality this base was used for other purposes such as the interception of boats transporting migrants and also for Plan Colombia. American military personal will leave Ecuador next year. Another important theme was the impulse toward political, economic, and social integration into Latin America as a region, with emphasis on the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR). Although some of the proposals initiated by the government have been questioned by the indigenous and environmental movements—such as oil exploration, mining, and agricultural policies based on agrochemicals and agrofuels—the organizations recognize that this can be limited through the use of the constitution to ensure the defense of natural resources, life, and biodiversity. It's important to recognize that the constitution compiles varied aspirations from diverse social sectors that have fought for more than a decade against neoliberalism and policies that assured the payment of external debt to the detriment of social programs. The Constitutional Assembly and the triumph of President Correa are the result of social struggles against the successive governments that opted to govern on the side of economic interests and not of the people. Many mobilizations have caused the ousting of president after president that deceived the people, which was the reason Ecuador had seven presidents between 1995 and 2005. Citizen Participation and Who Voted "No" Thousands of organizations took part in the Assembly in order to present their proposals (3,500 in all) and dozens of forums were held on topics such as water, food sovereignty, heath, etc. Citizen demands were incorporated into the 444 articles that make up the constitution. This was a participatory process, but it also had contradictions, precisely because of the different positions of the political parties in the Assembly and "Acuerdo Pais." This process, as well as the thousands of forums and debates in neighborhoods, schools, universities, and communities prior to the Referendum, allowed the people to take ownership of the constitution's content. Those that bet on "no" votes were those who didn't want to lose their privileges and maintain the neoliberal policies that have deepened poverty, inequality, and the concentration of wealth. According to sociologist Mario Unda, the real losers were from the right, that has been reduced to the city of Guayaquil, massive media outlets that did an open "vote no" campaign, as well as the hierarchy of the Catholic Church that led the opposition from the pulpits, spreading lies about the new constitution being pro-abortion and gay marriage. This referendum has ended a phase that began with the second round of the 2006 election when Correa won by a significant margin over banana magnate Alvaro Noboa. The old elites that had monopolized the economy and politics and had once run things were defeated at the ballot box. A new era is beginning while the new balance of power adjusts and new actors define their new policies and strategies. The institutional transition period starts with the provisional delay of the Constitutional Assembly, in order to create several laws and name the National Electoral Commission and the Electoral Tribunal, which will convene a new general election in 30 days. The election is predicted for January or February 2009. Correa will most likely run for his second four-year term. This will be a time of intense struggle, during which the character of the government will be defined—it now has the option to shift its positions to the left according to the demand of the majority of Ecuadorians. They're gaining traction on a new road paved with hope. Translated for the Americas Policy Program by Katie Kohlstedt. Helga Serrano works at the Christian Youth Association of Ecuador and coordinates the No Bases Ecuador Coalition. Eduardo Tamayo is a journalist with ALAI—they are analysts for the Americas Program found at www.americaspolicy.org.

Ecuador Plans Power against Ebb Tide

Quito, Oct 2 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador has developed a national plan to face the ebb tide season and guarantee power supply.

The National Energy Control Center reported that from October 2008 to March 2009, Ecuador would lack 225 megawatts of thermal energy.

Director of the Center Gabriel Arguello said that hydraulic energy drops from 70 percent to 46.8 percent during this season which increases fuel purchase for thermoelectric stations.

Water level drops affect the Paute hydroelectric station, biggest in the nation, and there are other stations like San Francisco and Termoguayas that are currently out of service.

Arguello said there is a $20 million budget approved to double the megawatts to 500 per hour in the interconnection line with Colombia plus $170 million to purchase fuel from other thermoelectric stations and guarantee service.

Ecuador and Colombia signed and international power transaction agreement in 2003, which has allowed Ecuador to have energy during low tide season.

Law Goes Wild in Ecuador

Lizard atop an iguana in the Galapagos Islands. Photo by RK & TinaCC)

Indigenous People and Ecosystems Gain Rights

By Christina L. Madden
From Policy Innovations

October 2, 2008

Ecuador's citizens voted recently in support of a new constitution, the nation's 20th since independence in 1860. Approved by roughly two-thirds of voters, the new document significantly expands social rights. Ecuador now boasts free universal health care, free education up to university level, and legalized same-sex civil unions.

The constitution also grants nature the inalienable right "to exist, flourish, and evolve," giving the Ecuadoran government and its citizens the "duty and right" to file lawsuits for any damage done to ecosystems and natural communities. Wild law, as it's sometimes called, has been enforced by a handful of municipalities in the United States to restrict corporate license to pollute. Ecuador is the first country to pass such a law, which expands the mandate of environmental protection beyond personal injury.

For resource-rich Ecuador, the difficulty of winning a case under the old legal system is all too familiar.

Indigenous groups living near the Colombia border are battling a 15-year-long case over environmental damages allegedly caused by the U.S. oil company Texaco. Texaco was accused of dumping up to 16 million gallons of toxic waste in the Amazon rain forest. A series of health studies found that the rate of cancer is 150 percent higher in oil drilling locations and that child leukemia is three times more prevalent there than in other parts of the country.

Chevron, which bought Texaco in 2001, claims the lawsuit lacks credible scientific evidence. The company attributes the high cancer rates to poverty and other problems in the community and blames environmental destruction on the state-run oil company, Petroecuador. Texaco operated in partnership with Petroecuador until 1992.

Opposition to resource exploitation is common in Ecuador, and mining policy was also amended in the new constitution to enforce stricter environmental controls and require mining companies to consult affected indigenous groups before launching projects.

Some of these environmental regulations may be seen as part of a broader move by Ecuador's President Rafael Correa to gain more state control over the economy. The country is facing lawsuits by foreign investors over a contract dispute with Occidental Petroleum and a windfall profits tax imposed last year.

Concerns have been raised that imposing strict regulations on corporations will negatively affect foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ecuador. A study by Tufts University's Working Group on Development and the Environment in the Americas, however, found that FDI alone didn't sustain economic growth in any Latin American countries. The paper recommends that FDI instead be worked into part of a "comprehensive development strategy aimed at raising the standards of living of the nation's population with minimal damage to the environment."

Ecuador's various indigenous groups, which together make up over 40 percent of the population, are the country's poorest inhabitants. According to the World Bank, 87 percent of indigenous Ecuadoreans live in poverty. Many receive little to no education and are disproportionately affected by child malnutrition.

Politically speaking, Ecuador's indigenous population has gained power in recent decades, securing representation in local and national government and pressuring the country to redefine itself as multiethnic in the 1998 constitution. Indigenous groups also played a large role in ousting two presidents since 2000. Backed by international organizations, various indigenous groups protested a pipeline project led by U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum, as well as Brazilian oil development in the rain forests of Yasuni National Park.

Despite the success of the new constitution, some in the indigenous community are skeptical of Correa. The Confederation of Ecuadorian Indigenous Nationals (CONAIE), Ecuador's main group of indigenous political and social organizations, split with the president in May on the grounds that the new mining regulation fell short of their demand to be given veto power over projects affecting their land. The group is skeptical of his commitment to a plurinational state, which would expand indigenous capacity to shape development policies.

The new constitution allows Correa to run for two more consecutive terms in office, and overhaul Ecuador's legislative and judicial systems. Correa says the new presidential powers will allow him to weed out a corrupt political class and institute rapid change toward a more equitable and just society.

Voters decided to give the constitution a chance to bring about the changes promised by Correa. For the president himself to lead those changes, he'll first have to win next year's election.

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