OAS Checking Ecuador-Colombia Border

Quito, Mar 16 (Prensa Latina) A mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) is touring on Tuesday the northern Ecuadorian zone, to check the situation of bordering people, affected with the Colombian conflict.

"This concerns an observation work on site, to analyze security, defense measures and the issue of refugees in the Ecuadorian border with Colombia," Victor Rico, chief of the OAS delegation, highlighted.

After visiting towns of Chiral, El Carmelo and Tulcan, in Charchi province, the regional organization commission will move today to San Lorenzo, Tobar Donoso and Mataje, in Esmeralda.

Their aim is to prove consequences of the entrance of irregular groups from the neighboring country in that territory.

The nation's President Rafael Correa denounced some days ago that the Colombian military raid in that area has provoked the displacement of people within the country.

The delegation expects to visit Wednesday localities of General Farfan, Puerto Nuevo, Puerto Mestanza and El Palmar, in the province of Sucumbios.

Ecuador Pledges Immediate Election Results

Quito, Mar 17 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador's National Election Council (CNE) has promised to release the results of the April 26 general elections immediately.

One and a half hour after all polling booths are closed, the first results will be released, CNE chairman Omar Simon said.

He pointed out that 12-16 hours after elections are over, the results of 60 percent of the votes will be released and the final election results will be available within the next ten days.

Simon noted that 60 Intermediate Vote-Counting Boards will make it possible to release the election results soon.

The boards will be made up of 1,500 people, including third-level professionals certified by the CNE and guaranteed by the National Higher Education Council, he noted.

That way, representatives of either the parties or the candidates will be prevented from participating in the vote-counting process, Simon added.

The CNE president pointed out some three million dollars will be paid to the Armed Forces to transport and protect election materials.

Around 10.5 million Ecuadorians will vote April 26 in the elections for president, for members of the legislature and for local authorities.

According the last polls, Correa has enough support to win re-election.

Ecuador lifts mining ban on Kinross and Corriente

By Euan Rocha and Alonso Soto

TORONTO/QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador lifted a mining ban on Kinross and Corriente that allows the Canadian miners to restart operations immediately, a government official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Vancouver-based Corriente, which explores for copper in Ecuador, said earlier it received a notice from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in Ecuador authorizing the restart of its field operations.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa banned all mining operations last April to halt land speculation and growing environmentalist protests in some mining provinces.

The approval of a new mining law in January led to the lifting of the freeze while it boosted governmental control over the industry that in recent years has attracted dozens of foreign companies exploring for precious metals.

The top official said both miners will have to update their environmental studies immediately and seek an authorization for the use of water in their concessions.

Corriente said it received its concession for general water use at its Mirador camp on February 26, and it plans to update its environmental permits and water use concessions for exploration drilling with the appropriate agencies.

The official, who asked not to be named because he was not allowed to speak publicly, said authorities have to visit the sites of IamGold, International Minerals and Dynasty before it decides whether to lift their bans.

He didn't say how long those official checks could take.

Corriente was banned more than two years ago by a previous administration to tame growing violence between pro- and anti-mining communities near its concessions in southern Ecuador.

"We are encouraged and pleased with the Ecuador government's continuing progress in working together to establish an environment in which large-scale mining can participate," Corriente Chief Executive Ken Shannon said in a statement.

Although Ecuador has no large-scale mining, some companies have found big deposits of copper, gold and silver in the OPEC member's southern region. The nation is scrambling for funding to cover a widening fiscal deficit, as the global economic crisis has crushed crude oil prices.

POTENTIAL SALE NEARS

In December, Corriente said it was in talks with a third party to sell itself. The company said the exclusive negotiation period would extend to March 31, and analysts believe a deal could be imminent.

"We believe negotiations to achieve this goal are well underway and should reach a successful conclusion within the next 2-3 weeks," Desjardins analyst John Hughes said in a note to clients.

Hughes raised his price target on Corriente to C$6 from C$4.50 on Friday, citing its value as a take-out play, rather than as a long-term resource development company.

Corriente shares, which have risen more than 35 percent year-to-date, rose 4 percent to C$5.46 in early trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The company has not identified its suitor, but senior mining ministry officials in Ecuador told Reuters last year that China's Tongling nonferrous Metals, Xstrata and top copper producer Codelco were interested in Corriente's Panantza-San Carlos project.

Corriente's principal assets include an estimated 1.7 billion tonne copper deposit in Ecuador.

Injustice in Ecuador

This is a guest post from Daniel Denvir on Gristmill: the environmental news blog, a journalist who recently moved from Quito, Ecuador, to Philadelphia, Pa. He is writing a book on poor people's environmentalism in Ecuador.

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Ecudaorian President Rafael Correa.

Ecuadorian government shuts down leading environmental group

Last Monday, environmentalists were shocked to learn that the Ecuadorian government had shut down Acción Ecológica (Environmental Action), withdrawing the legal status of one of South America's best-known environmental groups. Acción Ecológica has in recent months supported indigenous-led, mass protests and highway blockades against President Rafael Correa's support for large-scale mining.

Ecuador possesses a fantastic ecological and cultural diversity, from coastal dry forests and mangroves, to Andean wetlands, to a breathtaking corner of the Amazon rainforest. Ecuador's environmental movement, sustained by an alliance between the country's indigenous and peasant organizations and urban environmental groups, is one of Latin America's strongest, making Ecuador's Left one of the region's greenest.

Health Minister Caroline Chang initially claimed that Acción Ecológica failed to undertake the work specified by the NGO's charter. But as a public outcry arose in Ecuador and criticism poured in from civil society organizations around the world, including Amnesty International, Chang changed tack, saying that it was simply a matter of needing to move Acción Ecológica's registration to the Ministry of the Environment, a body that did not exist at the time of Acción Ecológica's founding. In a press release, the Health Ministry said, "the suspension of the environmentalist NGO Acción Ecológica has nothing to do with persecuting this organization."

Yet Acción Ecológica now has no legal status with which to operate and was not warned in advance of the ministry's action, making it hard for most activists to believe that the move was merely an attempt at streamlining government administration.

Acción Ecológica leader Ivonne Ramos released a statement calling the government's action arbitrary. "If the elimination of our legal status is a retaliation against our organization's opposition to government policies such as large-scale mining and the expansion of the oil frontier, it would set a precedent for authoritarianism that is intolerable in a democratic regime," she wrote.

Organizations in North America have helped to publicize Acción Ecológica's predicament, including Canada-based Mining Watch, San Francisco-based Amazon Watch, and the Ecuador Solidarity Network (with whom this writer volunteers his time).

Rafael Correa's 2006 presidential campaign called for a crackdown on tax evasion by the wealthy, better funding for social services like health care and education, and a foreign policy more independent of U.S. power. Correa also spoke in favor of environmental rights, and received the backing of many Ecuadorian environmentalists and the country's powerful indigenous confederation. But disagreement over large-scale mining, and the concessions awarded largely to Canadian mining companies, has created a growing rift between the president and the country's grassroots movements.

In January, indigenous-led street blockades protesting a new mining law shut down highways throughout the country.

In a Thursday interview with Quito's El Comercio, former Minister of Mines and Energy Alberto Acosta called the government's move "a form of violence." He said, "If Acción Ecológica had committed an error, there should have been some mechanism for them to respond to the allegations -- but not just withdrawing their legal status." The erstwhile Correa ally has long worked with the country's environmental and indigenous peoples' movements. In July 2008, he quit as president of the assembly drafting Ecuador's new constitution, but played a key role in ensuring that a number of green provisions were included; the establishment of legal rights for nature has drawn a fair share of international attention, protecting the earth's "right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution."

Acción Ecológica has often criticized mainstream environmentalism, arguing in favor of ecologismo popular, similar to what people in the United States call environmental justice. Confronting the stereotype that environmentalism is only espoused by the comfortable and middle class, Acción Ecológica works closely with communities affected by industrial shrimping, logging, mining, and oil exploitation, forming a particularly strong bond with the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), one of Latin America's most powerful movements.

Since its founding 20 years ago, Acción Ecológica has played a lead role in defending Ecuador's Amazon rainforest against oil exploitation, logging, and mining. Since the 1990s, they have supported the landmark, multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Texaco, accusing the oil giant of polluting the rainforest's land and water and sickening the indigenous people and peasant farmers who live there. But opposition to large-scale mining, built upon decades of experience with oil exploitation, has increasingly defined Ecuadorian politics. Movements now pose the novel question of whether, in a poor country like Ecuador, natural resource exploitation is truly the only path to development.

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Naomi Klein, award-winning journalist and author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, wrote the following open letter to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa about the Acción Ecológica shutdown. Klein visited Ecuador in May 2008.

March 12, 2009

Dear President Correa,

As you may know, last May I had a wonderful visit to Ecuador during which I witnessed firsthand many of the bold and innovative measures your government is taking to deepen national democracy and advance the goal of economic and ecological justice. In my book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, I write with great admiration about how you have stood up to U.S. imperialism in multiple ways, from exposing World Bank extortion to the closure of the base at Manta.

So it was with genuine shock and confusion that I learned of the Health Ministry's move to close down Acción Ecológica by withdrawing its legal status. I have been following Acción Ecológica's groundbreaking (or should I say "ground protecting") work for years. When I was in Quito, it was a genuine thrill to meet several of the group's leaders in person and I was very proud to share a platform with the incomparable Esperanza Martinez at the official launch of the Ecuadorian edition of my book.

In my research and public speaking, I have been very fortunate to travel widely, meeting with hundreds of activist groups around the world. Yet I have never seen an environmental organization like Acción Ecológica. Too often the environmental movement is part of a professional class of NGOs, more interested in nature than in people. What impressed me so much about Acción Ecológica was the fact that it is so clearly part of a genuine people's movement, working in direct solidarity with the communities affected by the extractive industries. It is also on the absolute vanguard of what will surely prove to be the most important intellectual movement of our time: the one seeking to protect the "rights of nature" and to fund that project by requiring the wealthy polluting nations to pay our "ecological debts." Related to this, I was excited to learn recently that you had signed a decree to keep the Yasuni-ITT oil in the ground (at least for now).

That is what makes the attacks on Acción Ecológica so disconcerting. As you well know, in nine months, the United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Copenhagen. This may be the most important gathering for the future of our planet, a chance to put global warming back on the international agenda (after being pushed off by the financial meltdown) and, more importantly, to resist the push from financial speculators to have a "green bubble" to replace the derivatives bubble.

There are many of us who are determined to put the issue of "ecological debt" at the very center of the debate in Copenhagen. Ecuador should naturally be at the forefront of this movement, which is why, in the lead-up to Copenhagen, activists around the world are looking to your country for inspiration.

What a shame it is that instead of seeing what I saw -- a progressive government working with grassroots and indigenous movements to find solutions that reconcile economic justice with ecological imperatives and indigenous rights -- these activists are instead seeing something all too familiar: a state seemingly using its power to weaken dissent. In this crucial time, we need Acción Ecológica more than ever, and we need it to be as strong and stable as possible.

Mr. President, I fully realize how difficult it is for an outsider to understand the complex internal forces shaping actions in another country. I may very well have misconstrued your government's intentions, and if so, I am genuinely sorry. Still, I thought you would want to know how this action is being perceived by many outside Ecuador who are anxious to work with you in the run up to Copenhagen.

With great respect,

Naomi Klein

Ecuador Legislative Works for Electoral Campaign

Quito, Mar 16 (Prensa Latina) The president of the Ecuadorian Legislative Commission, Fernando Cordero, said Monday that the work of that organization still continues amid the electoral campaign, in which more than 50 percent of the assemblymen are participating.

"Previous to this electoral process, 15 laws were approved, now we are concentrated in the analysis of another two and we hope to sanction three more before the period of this Commission concludes," said Cordero.

He remarked that the sanctioned legislations respond to the interests of the country and of most of the Ecuadorians, although he recognized the need to count on bigger participation of the population in the debates in the parliamentary subcommittees.

"The period of this institution is temporary, we have tried to induce to a bigger intervention of the Ecuadorians in the discussions," he asserted to a channel of the national television.

"I believe that the new National Assembly will play an important role on this," he emphasized when he highlighted the wish that the population knows gets involved in the work of the Legislative.

Cordero, who aspires to his reelection, defended the discussions taking place in the Parliament around the creation of the Member's Bank.

"I made the proposal myself that two more people get incorporated to the analyses, a representative of the active members (of the Institute of Social Security, IESS) and another one of the pensioners, and contribute to the elaboration of the regulations of the bank entity, which will be of first level," he pointed out.

He clarified that IESS cannot become a bank, because it is a financial structure dedicated to manage investments and the utilities generated by the social security.

"People will also be able to have her saving accounts in that future entity, that will have bank agencies in the whole national territory," he emphasized.

When referring to the postulation of current legislators to different dignities and the participation in the electoral campaign, Cordero pointed out that he was on a license in previous days himself, because he aspires to a seat in the coming Parliament.

"Other members of the Commission are still working, because they are part of the subcommittees, but they carry out their proselytizing activity outside of the labor schedule," he said.

The Legislative leader underrated the criticism of the opposition, requesting inspection, and he stated that this inspection will be carried out when a reason exists and it will be executed in a serious way, far from the scandal, aggression and insult.

Correa Could Get Second Term in Ecuador

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) March 16, 2009 - Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa remains popular in the country’s two largest cities, according to a poll by Perfiles de Opinión. 47 per cent of respondents in Quito and Guayaquil would vote for Correa in next month’s ballot.

Álvaro Noboa of the Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) is a distant second with 13 per cent, followed by former president Lucio Gutiérrez with 10 per cent, and Matha Roldós—the daughter of former head of state Jaime Roldós—with eight per cent.

Correa, a former finance minister, ran for president as an independent leftist under the Alliance Country (AP) banner. In November 2006, Correa defeated Noboa in a run-off with 56.69 per cent of the vote. He officially took over as Ecuador’s head of state in January. Correa’s party nominated no candidates to the National Congress.

In September 2008, Ecuadorian voters ratified a new constitution in a nationwide referendum. The draft was approved by the pro-government majority in the Constituent Assembly. Under the terms of the new constitution, Ecuador will hold a new presidential election on Apr. 19. Correa is eligible for a new term in office.

On Mar. 10, Noboa challenged the incumbent, saying, "Rafael, I will defeat you in the first round like I did in 2006".

Polling Data

Which candidate would you vote for in the presidential election?

Rafael Correa	47%
Álvaro Noboa	13%
Lucio Gutiérrez	10%
Matha Roldós	8%
Would spoil ballot	13%
Blank ballot	7%

Source: Perfiles de Opinión
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 854 Ecuadorian adults in Quito and Guayaquil, conducted on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, 2009. Margin of error is 3.4 per cent.

Chevron Lawyers Explode In Anger After More Oil Found at "Remediated" Sites In Ecuador Trial

Business Wire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009-03-15

Karen Hinton
703-798-3109
Karen@hintoncommunications.com

Chevron Lawyers Explode In Anger After More Oil Found at "Remediated" Sites In Ecuador Trial

Tirade Marks End of Difficult Week of Setbacks for Chevron In $27 Billion Case

COCA, Ecuador - (Business Wire) After a frustrating week of setbacks in an environmental trial in Ecuador's rainforest, two Chevron lawyers exploded in anger at representatives of the victims after a technical expert demonstrated for the third time in a week that oil was visible at a well site that the company claimed to have "remediated" a decade ago, said lawyers for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Chevron.

Chevron lead lawyer Adolfo Callejas, who was a lawyer for Texaco in Ecuador over the three decades that the company admitted to dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the country's Amazon basin, on Thursday unleashed a tirade of personal insults at plaintiff's lawyers Pablo Fajardo and Julio Prieto during a judicial inspection at a site called Auca Sur, deep in the Amazon jungle, said Fajardo and Prieto.

Callejas repeatedly called Fajardo and Prieto "gallinas" (which translates literally as "hens") – a highly insulting and emasculating term in Ecuadorian culture. He also likened their legal arguments to the cackling sounds hens make, said Fajardo and Prieto.

They also said another Chevron lawyer, Alberto Racines, seemed to threaten Prieto by asking that they settle their differences in a rumble after the Auca Sur court hearing. Prieto, 27, is 5'8" and 150 pounds while Racines, in his late 40s, is a large and strongly-built man well over six feet.

"Callejas is frustrated because his life's work as a lawyer for Texaco in Ecuador is going up in flames as the company's defense falls apart," said Prieto. "Racines has threatened me on multiple occasions during the trial."

The tirade and apparent threat marked the end of a difficult week for Chevron in the long-running trial, where a final decision on a $27 billion damages claim is expected later this year. The company has told U.S. regulators that it expects "a significant adverse judgment" in the case while telling Ecuador's indigenous leaders to expect a "lifetime of litigation" if they persist in pressing their claims.

Both Fajardo, 37, and Prieto are Ecuadorian lawyers who have won international renown for their long battle to hold Chevron accountable for what experts believe is the worst oil-related disaster on the planet. Texaco admitted to dumping more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways, and abandoning hundreds of waste pits gouged out of the jungle floor, when it operated an oil concession in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990.

Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and will bear any liability in the case, where soil and water damage cover an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. Callejas, who hails from a prominent Ecuador family that traces its lineage to the Spanish conquest, has served as Chevron's lead counsel in the trial since it began in 2003.

For several months, the plaintiffs have accused Chevron of violating various court edicts as part of a strategy to delay the trial indefinitely. Early in the week, Callejas was openly rebuked by the trial judge for seeking a last-minute postponement of a series of judicial inspections that for months Chevron had insisted take place, even though the evidentiary phase of the trial was all but completed last year.

As the four inspections initially requested and then opposed by Chevron went forward last week, Callejas became increasingly embarrassed with the results. On Tuesday, at two separate Chevron well sites deep in the rainforest that the company claimed to have remediated, oil was clearly visible in the soil -- setting the stage for the tirade on Thursday.

At the Aucua Sur site, the court-appointed technical expert, Marcelo Munoz, for the third time in a week lifted soil samples that contained shiny, visible oil sludge. The sight was almost too much to bear for Callejas, who lashed out at Fajardo and Prieto with his "hen" comment.

After trial judge Juan Nunez cautioned Callejas to treat his younger adversaries with respect, he seemed to calm down. But tempers flared yet again when Racines told Prieto that "this is personal and we will see later how it ends."

The "remediation" of the waste pits, the basis of Chevron's defense at trial, has now become almost completely discredited in the eyes of scientists and independent court experts. Even before the inspections this week, 45 out of 54 waste pits purportedly "remediated" by Texaco and examined in the trial contained extensive levels of toxins, according to the independent court expert who worked with a team of 14 scientists to review the more than 62,000 chemical sampling results submitted as evidence.

Several of the "remediated" sites have levels of toxins thousands of times higher than permissible norms in the U.S. and Ecuador, according to the court expert. Texaco claimed it had spent $40 million on the remediation, a paltry amount compared to the cost of a comprehensive clean-up, according to the court expert.

Callejas angered Amazonian residents in an earlier phase of the trial when he insisted that oil does not cause cancer, contradicting decades of scientific research. He also said candy bar wrappers contain more lead than oil and that the Amazon rainforest was "an industrial production" zone rather than a delicate ecosystem.

The trial in Ecuador began in 2003 after a U.S. federal judge in New York granted a request from Chevron that the case be transferred there because the courts there were a more adequate forum. When evidence in the Ecuador trial started to point to Chevron's culpability, the company began to attack the very courts that it previously praised as fair.

If accepted, the $27 billion damages award could be the largest ever for an environmental case.

Repsol accepts Ecuador new contract rules for oil sharing

Mercopress, March 16, 2009

Ecuador’ government owned Petroecuador signed a transitional contract with Repsol-YPF, giving the Ecuadorian government a bigger share of the Spanish oil company’s profits for one year and paving the way for new fee-for-service deal.

The “modificatory contract” was signed last week by Petroecuador CEO Rear Adm. Luis Jaramillo and the manager of Repsol-YPF Ecuador S.A., Sergio Affronti.

The contract extends Repsol’s presence in the country through 2018 and covers its licenses to Block 16 and another field it shares with Petroecuador, Bogi-Capiron, which are located in the Ecuadorian Amazon and produce a combined total of 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

The accord will be in force for one year, after which time Repsol, like all private companies operating in Ecuador, must negotiate a new fee-for-service contract that allows the country to keep all oil produced.

The agreement states that Repsol and its partners in Ecuador – including Taiwan’s OPIC and China’s Sinochen – must make new investments worth 315 million US dollars over the next nine years to sustain current production and increase it in the future.

Repsol-YPF also has pledged to pay some 447 million USD in back windfall-profits tax, a levy first imposed in 2006 and raised even higher by the current populist President Rafael Correa.

The debt will be paid off over a period of five years, with a first payment of 89 million USD this week.

Affronti said the contract was the result of a “great effort” at negotiation between the two sides, adding that Repsol has invested some 2 billion USD since it began operating in Ecuador.

“Repsol and its partners in the block are prepared to continue ensuring operative efficiency, social responsibility, care for the environment and the safety of the people who work at the company,” Affronti said.

According to the manager, taxes paid by Repsol in Ecuador have provided some 1.5 billion USD to government coffers.

Energy and Mines minister Derbis Palacios said the two parties had reached a positive agreement and that it is “important that the company will continue working here,” in Ecuador.

Under the new interim deal, “the higher the price of oil, the greater the share (the state has of the production from Repsol’s wells) and we’ll have better revenues” the minister

He also said under the temporary contract, Ecuador will receive 70% of Repsol’s windfall profits, down from 99%.

Repsol-YPF said Friday that the accord reached with Quito increases the value of its assets in the country and is an “important” step in the process of normalizing its relations with the Correa administration.

In a statement, the company said the agreement, which includes a commitment to invest 173.5 million USD through 2018, represents progress in the process of working out a new legal framework for Repsol’s operations in Ecuador.

Repsol added that the extension of its presence in Ecuador to 2018 “increases the value of the company’s assets and investments in the country.”

Ecuador produces some 500,000 barrels of crude oil a day, 60% of which exploited by the state and the remainder by a dozen private companies.

Ecuador's Correa set to win April re-election-poll

QUITO, March 13 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has enough support to win re-election in the first round of a presidential election at the end of next month, but many voters are undecided, a poll released on Friday said.

Correa, a leftist former economy minister, would win 46 percent of the vote versus 14 percent for his nearest rival, banana magnate Alvaro Noboa, who lost to Correa in an election more than two years ago, the Cedatos-Gallup poll found.

Ecuador's new constitution says a presidential candidate who receives at least 40 percent of the valid votes with a difference of more than 10 percentage points over the nearest rival automatically wins the election in the first round.

"If the elections were held right now, he would win in the first round. There are still a lot of days of campaigning ahead, but his level of support is very high," Carlos Andres Cordoba, a Cedatos-Gallup representative, said of Correa.

Other pollsters have also shown Correa, a U.S.-educated economist, would win in the first round of the April 26 election.

The new constitution allowed Correa to run for a second term and he called an election after it was approved.

The poll of 2,766 people conducted from Friday to Tuesday with a margin of error of about 5 percentage points found 44 percent of respondents still undecided about the candidates.

Correa has maintained strong popularity since he took office in January 2007, thanks to his policies to help the poor majority, his moves to increase state control over major industries and tough stance against foreign companies.

The opposition, fractured among traditional political parties and other movements, says Correa has used state resources to carry out his re-election campaign.

Ecuador's Correa to offer debt buyback in April

By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO, March 13 (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Friday he will offer investors a foreign bond buyback plan in April, a proposal based on what he considers to be legitimate terms rather than on the value of the debt.

Correa, a left-wing, U.S.-trained economist, has defaulted on the OPEC nation's 2030 and 2012 Global bonds -- with a face value of around $3.2 billion -- after saying the debt was illegally contracted by past governments.

The Ecuadorean leader, who has rattled Wall Street in the past with moves against foreign assets, will likely now offer investors tough negotiations over debt as the global financial crisis batters the Andean country's vital oil income.

"By the middle of April we will have a proposal to buy back those bonds from creditors, but based on what we consider legitimate and not on the nominal value of the bonds," Correa told local radio in an interview.

To assist in its restructuring, Ecuador has hired Lazard Freres, the French consultancy which advised Argentina in its negotiations when it defaulted on around $100 billion in foreign bonds in 2002. Those talks are still going on.

Ecuador declared a default on a payment on its 2030 bonds on Thursday and refused to pay on its 2012 bonds in December. The defaults came after a government-ordered audit said it found irregularities in the debt.

Government officials have said investors can expect a large reduction or "haircut" in the value of their debt, perhaps as big as 60 percent.

The finance ministry said on Thursday the government would not pay a $135 million coupon on its 2030 global bonds that is due on March 15, the end of a 30-day grace period.

Correa, a former finance minister who criticizes "vulture" markets, will run for reelection at the end of April and his often tough stance with Wall Street and foreign investors is widely applauded by his supporters.

One of his popular rallying slogans is "life before debt".

Wall Street generally expected Ecuador to default on the 2030 bonds, which have a face value of $2.7 billion, even after Correa recently admitted the non-payment has hurt banks seeking overseas financing, especially amid the world credit crisis.

Alternative Measures will Beat Crisis, Ecuador

Quito, Mar 12 (Prensa Latina) Establishing a productive system, different from that of today's capitalism, will allow overcoming the current international financial crisis, Ecuadorian Economic Policy Minister Diego Borja said.

We have to seek alternatives to the capitalist logics, for the poor and those unprotected not to pay for this catastrophic financial, economic, energy, and environmental situation, as in 1982, 1983, 1986, 1998, 1999 and 2000, Borja said, according to the Legislative Commission web site.

He also said this crisis is costing $9 trillion to humanity and has resulted in around three million unemployed people per month in the world.

The minister highlighted the need to find different ways from those traditional, to overcome this complicated problem, and supported implementation of a different productive system.

He was in favor of boosting the sector of people's economy, cooperatives, the autonomous people, communities, and others, which have renovation capacity, by means of a different conception.

"The crisis is not only financial, but also real, environmental and institutional," and incapacity of neoliberalism, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the multilateral authorities to change this situation has been notorious in the last 20 years, he asserted.

After saying this is a worse problem, the minister demanded a reform, because he said that life in the world in the year 2050 would be in danger, due to energy waste.

Borja said there is a negative economic growth, because of the six percent previously predicted for La tin America, there will be only three percent, while of the 5.2 percent planned in Ecuador, only 2.3 percent will be reached.

Ecuador freezes oil income from firm slated for massive Peru contract

Posted at WW4 Report on Mon, 03/09/2009 - 20:56.

The French company slated for a massive contract in Peru's Amazon region is having its income from oil revenues frozen in neighboring Ecuador. The announcement was made by PetroEcuador after the company, Perenco, missed its deadline to pay off $350 million in back taxes to Ecuador's government. According to reports, PetroEcuador said it would freeze the income from 720,000 barrels of oil produced by Perenco.

Ecuador's Oil Minister Derlis Palacios said the government still hopes to settle the dispute and allow the company to continue extracting crude from oil blocks 7 and 21 in the country's Amazon region. He denied speculation that the company is to be nationalized. "This doesn't mean we will take over its (Perenco) oilfields," Palacios told state television. "The dialogue from Ecuador's side is open."

Ironically, Ecuador's decision follows statements from high-ranking officials in Peru that Perenco's work there will transform Peru's economy. Perenco is hoping to exploit what is believed to be the biggest oil discovery in Peru in 30 years—a discovery which was welcomed by President Alan García by a personal visit to the site. Since then, the former Minister of Energy has expressed hopes Perenco's find will convert Peru from a net importer of oil to a net exporter, and the president of the "Hydrocarbon Committee" from Peru's mining, oil and energy trade association recently said he hopes Perenco will help overturn Peru's billion-dollar oil and gas deficit.

But the region where Perenco is working is inhabited by at least two uncontacted tribes. Peru's indigenous peoples' organization, AIDESEP, has proposed the creation of a reserve for the tribes, but to date no reserve has been created. Survival is urging Perenco to cease working in the area immediately. The identity of the tribes is not clear. One is known as the Taromenane, believed to be a sub-group of the well-known Waorani, and the other the Pananujuri.

Survival International director Stephen Corry said, "Oil work on the lands of uncontacted tribes will destroy them. It violates the UN declaration and international law. Peoples must no longer be destroyed, whether or not it's for the supposed betterment of the many." (Survival International, March 9; Reuters, March 4)

Ecuador: Correa to Win First Electoral Round

Quito, Mar 9 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa looms large as favorite to win the polls of April 26 with widespread support, according to the Investigaciones y Estudios pollster.

Less than 24 hours before the start of the campaign in the country, Correa World be re-elected in the first round, with 54 percent of the votes, a survey carried out in 23 of the 24 provinces found.

His main rivals, banana businessman Alvaro Noboa would win 13 percent of the votes and ex President Lucio Gutierrez would get 11 percent, followed by Martha Roldos, with five percent, said the pollster director Santiago Perez.

At least 72 percent of Ecuadorians described their president's performance as good while 25 percent considered it bad.

According to Perez, these results confirm broadcast that Correa would win smoothly in the first round, with more than 40 percent of the votes and 10 points above rivals.

At least 10.5 million eligible Ecuadorians are expected to cast their vote in the coming elections.

World Crisis Hardly Shakes Ecuador, Correa

Quito, Mar 9 (Prensa Latina) The international financial crisis has been ongoing for five months and it has hardly shaken Ecuador, due to a good economy management, President Rafael Correa claimed.

Although the critical economic situation hit us strongly, because it caused the fall of the oil price and reduction of remittances, "we have not felt it so far," Correa said on Sunday night.

In a meeting with journalists of national television station associations, he called smart the decision of imposing restrictions on imports and favoring exports.

Those measures are necessary to guarantee liquidity and employment, and we can see results already, and the money does not go out of the country, he said.

They also started a campaign, calling to consume national products to encourage productivity and generation of new sources of employment, the president said.

Correa also defended the tax imposed on the flight of capitals, and criticized the excessive trade liberalization that existed in this nation, something that was a disaster, he stated.

The invasion of cheap products finished the Ecuadorian craftsmanship, he asserted after accepting that dolarization is in danger.

Thus, he highlighted the need to diversify economy, because the two mainstays of the US dollar circulation: high oil price and remittances, dropped with the crisis.

When we have a foreign currency, we lose competitiveness, because foreign currency can not be devaluated, he explained, stressing that this originated the restriction imposed on imports and the increase of taxes on different products.

The head of State said the nation gives priority to investment in strategic sectors and has assured contributions by China, Iran, and Venezuela, for the construction of hydroelectric stations and a refinery.

Those fundings show the government seriousness, because despite the crisis, there is interest in investing in Ecuador, he concluded.

Ecuador says arrested suspect not rebel leader

QUITO, March 11 (Reuters) - A man captured by Ecuador's police is not a Colombian rebel leader wanted by the United States as initially claimed, authorities said on Wednesday.

Ecuadorean security officials said earlier on Wednesday they had arrested FARC guerrilla leader Sixto Antonio Cabana, also known as "Domingo Bioho," in a remote town near the Colombian border. Washington has offered a $2.5 million reward for his arrest, on charges of drug smuggling.

Judicial police chief Oswaldo Yepez said later the arrested man's fingerprints did not match those of Cabana after checks with Interpol.

"They are two different people," Yepez told reporters.

Yepez added that authorities were investigating if the man arrested on charges of smuggling chemicals used to make cocaine was a member of the FARC guerrilla group.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, whose U.S.-backed military offensive has weakened Latin America's oldest insurgency, recently asked neighboring countries to do more to counter rebels hiding inside their territory.

The deaths of three top FARC leaders last year, increasing desertions and military setbacks have driven the guerrillas deeper into Colombia's remote jungles near its border with Ecuador and Venezuela.

Ecuador has rejected Colombia's attempts to mend ties, but has increased security in its northern border to combat growing violence from rebel and paramilitary groups that battle for cocaine-smuggling routes. Ecuador is a major trafficking route.

The FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- has fought the state for more than four decades, helped by finances gained from extortion, kidnapping and trade in the country's huge cocaine business.

Chevron's Legal Strategy Backfires During Ecuador Court Inspections

Amazon Defense Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009-03-11

Karen Hinton
703-798-3109
Karen@hintoncommunications.com

Oil Visible At "Remediated" Sites As Judge Rejects Chevron's Motion to Delay $27 Billion Trial

Chevron's Legal Strategy Backfires During Ecuador Court Inspections

Coca, Ecuador (March 11) -- As part of a last-ditch effort to delay a final decision in the world’s largest environmental trial, additional soil testing demanded by Chevron backfired Tuesday when waste pits in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle that the company claimed to have “cleaned” a decade ago revealed large amounts of oil clearly visible to the naked eye.

The final series of tests of Chevron oil production sites, scheduled to be completed by the end of March, will clear the way for a court decision on a $27 billion damages claim against the company, said Julio Prieto, a lawyer for the 30,000 Amazon residents who have sued the oil giant over what experts believe is the worst oil-related contamination on the planet.

In what has become a common delay tactic in the epic 15-year legal battle, Chevron lawyer Adolfo Callejas had demanded for months that he be allowed to take soil samples at eight additional oil production sites even though the evidentiary phase of the case had been all but completed two years ago. The court scheduled the tests for Tuesday, but Callejas requested a postponement of the very tests he had called for just minutes before they were to be conducted even though court officials and technical experts had traveled under armed guard for hours to reach the sites deep in the jungle.

The court denied the motion and ordered the tests to proceed at well sites Auca 17 and 19, leading to a dramatic and embarrassing moment for Chevron. With Callejas and several colleagues watching, a court-appointed technical expert, Marcelo Munoz, lifted soil samples from waste pits that Texaco reportedly had “remediated”. Oil sludge was clearly visible to the naked eye in waste pits that Texaco had certified to Ecuador’s government as “cleaned” in the mid 1990s.

Since 2004, the court has inspected 94 former Chevron oil production facilities in the rainforest and found extensive toxic contamination at 100% of the sites, according to a 4,000-page report by a court-appointed expert and a team of 14 independent scientists released last year. That report found the oil giant could be liable for up to $27 billion in damages for creating what experts believe is the worst oil-related catastrophe on the planet, covering an area the size of Rhode Island.

The lawsuit seeks damages for the dumping of more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into Amazon waterways and the clean-up of 916 waste pits gouged out of the jungle floor. The pollution occurred between 1964 to 1992, when Texaco operated a large oil concession in the area, but the expert found it is still leaching toxins into soils and groundwater in an area where tens of thousands of people live.

Chevron bought Texaco in 2001 and will bear any liability in the case, which was initially filed in 1993 in federal court in New York.

“The inspections today were a double defeat for Chevron,” said Prieto, a lawyer for the 30,000 plaintiffs in the class action case. “Chevron’s attempt to delay backfired and we now have even more evidence of how Texaco polluted the rainforest.”

Chevron consistently has tried to use the inspections as a ploy to delay the trial proceedings. When it appeared several weeks ago that the judge might rule on the damages claim, Chevron’s lawyers rushed to schedule the eight inspections. Once they were scheduled, Chevron’s lawyers tried several times to postpone them, including the attempt yesterday by Callejas.

Chevron had initially requested the eight inspections in 2003 and was holding them in reserve to delay any court decision on the damages claim, said Prieto. The plaintiffs believe the eight inspections are producing redundant evidence and violate their due process rights, he added.

The trial in Ecuador began in 2003 after a U.S. federal judge in New York, Jed Rakoff, granted a request from Chevron that the case be transferred to the South American country because the courts there were fair and a more adequate forum. When evidence in the Ecuador trial started to point to Chevron’s culpability, the company began to attack the very courts that it previously praised and promised the indigenous groups they would face a “lifetime of litigation,” in the words of Chevron General Counsel Charles James.

Chevron also has refused to pay $64,000 in Ecuador court costs for “blind” soil samples it had requested. Chevron realizes the “blind” samples corroborate the presence of high levels of toxins in the soil as determined by the court expert and thinks it can get them suppressed by not paying for them, said Pablo Fajardo, another lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Once the inspections are completed at the end of March, the judge will be in a position to rule on the case later in the year, said Fajardo.

Campaign Flurry Marks Ecuador Vote

Quito, Mar 11 (Prensa Latina) Massive electoral campaigns in Ecuador are off and running Wednesday between politicians competing in the April 26 general elections.

This is the most complex and important vote in the country's democratic life, in which more than 10 million voters must elect nearly 5,960 posts next month, under the new Constitution.

National Electoral Council president Omar Simon stated Tuesday at the start of this electoral race that the nation has entered a process of significant changes that guarantees conditions for all candidates to the different posts.

Simon said that this totally transforms the courses and parameters of the political system, as well as allows increasing participation of different sectors, groups and those representing the society.

This time, there are eight presidential candidates and thousands of applicants to other positions, who have started to spread plans and proposals since yesterday.

According to surveys, Head of State Rafael Correa, who expects to be re-elected under the new Constitution, looms large as a favorite.

His adversaries, banana tycoon Alvaro Noboa, ex President Lucio Gutierrez and assembly member Martha Roldos, among others, hardly have enough support to compete with Correa.

Other applicants to assembly members, municipal mayors and provincial prefects are cranking up their campaigns to find supporters of their political programs.

Specialized media note the popularity of the Country Alliance Movement Correa leads over older parties like Social Christian Party, Democracy-Christian Party and Roldosist Party that are still in crisis, due to their leaders' loss of prestige.

Ecuador Correa for Voted Revolution

Quito, Mar 11 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa explained that he aspires for reelection in April 26 to continue with the process of change, called here the Citizen Revolution.

The objective is not to have a Rafael Correa in the presidency but to change the country. For that I need to continue in the presidency, so I have to run for reelection, explained the president in an interview with the El Telegrafo paper published last Tuesday.

For this reason we need a majority in the National Assembly. We do not want power for the sake of power, we need power to change the system, he emphasized.

He warned that at stake in these elections is the continuation of the process of reforms, and said otherwise would mean a return to the past.

The head of state pointed out that the opposition aims to obtain a majority in the legislative house to boycott the socio-economic transformations.

He insisted that he is not intoxicated with power and his movement is not very interested in regional powers.

Correa warned of the attempts of destabilization in certain sectors, especially the "crooked press that can invent or create a believable lie" or prevent his triumph this April.

Recent surveys place him as the favorite in the elections but according to Correa anything can happen until April 26, since there is proof that there was an attempt to link his movement Alianza Pais with receiving drug money.

There is a clear indication to link me with drug trade, he emphasized, although he stressed that luckily his government has a greater credibility than the national press.

The president also qualified as positive his two years management during which he said changes and large satisfaction were registered.

However, he emphasized that his mission would not be complete until seeing his country free from poverty and on an irreversible road to development.

Finally he asked forgiveness for having delayed implementation of transformations when offering a "revolution, rapid and radical changes of existing structures" and that is what must be done now within peace and democracy.

Ecuador lifts ban on miners, sees them as priority

By Alonso Soto

QUITO, March 10 (Reuters) - Ecuador will immediately lift a mining ban on Kinross and Corriente, two companies that are part of a handful of projects considered "priority" by the Andean nation, a top mining official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Deputy Mining Minister Jose Serrano said the government planned to start individual negotiations with miners to ink new deals and set the base price for a windfall tax he says will be fair for both sides. A new mining law allows the state to opt for service contracts, but Serrano said Ecuador wants extraction deals.

"The rules of the game are clear for everyone now," Serrano said. "The mining decree has been fulfilled... it can't be revived."

Still, analysts worry the cash-strapped government could seek much better contractual terms in tough negotiations with miners. The global crisis has hit key oil exports and severely curtailed the OPEC nation's income.

Serrano said the government "wants companies to keep a reasonable profit when prices climb, but share it with the state." The windfall tax has worried investors seeking capital in an industry hit hard by the global crisis.

Mining companies and investors have grown wary of the leftist government of President Rafael Correa, which set a tax on extra revenues from high metal prices and banned mining to end what he called speculation and tame mounting protests from environmental groups.

"We are in a show-me period were investor have to see if Ecuador is serious about restarting mineral exploration," said Michael Gray, an analyst with Genuity Capital Markets in Vancouver. "Its a wait-and-see approach for the industry."

"INVESTMENT PRIORITIES"

Serrano said the government considers Kinross, Corriente, IamGold and International Minerals as investment priorities for the country.

Correa, a U.S.-educated economist, is seeking investment ranging from Canada to China and Iran, to compensate for dwindling oil revenue that had been financing multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects.

Still, the president, who faces reelection on April 26, has hardened his rhetoric against foreign companies that many Ecuadoreans regard as pillagers.

In January, Ecuador approved a new mining law that boosted governmental control over an industry that in recent years had attracted dozens of companies exploring for precious metals.

Ecuador has no large-scale mining. Some companies have found big deposits of copper, gold and silver in its southern and Amazon regions.

Environmental and Indian groups have threatened to resume street protests to demand communities have veto powers over local large-scale mining. Violent demonstrations could pose a risk to the nascent industry.

Serrano said the government had no plans to auction the Junin copper project, which was taken over by the government from Ascendant Copper on charges the Canadian miner illegally acquired the concession. The project was marred by sometimes violent clashes between anti-and-pro mining communities and private security guards.

The Ecuador Solidarity Network stands with Acción Ecológica!

Written by The Ecuador Solidarity Network

Tuesday, 10 March 2009

PLEASE CIRCULATE Dear Friends, We need your help! In a clear act of censorship, the Ecuadorian government has closed Acción Ecológica (Environmental Action), the country’s leading environmental organization. We believe that this action is a retaliation against Acción Ecológica’s opposition to mining, an activity eagerly promoted by President Rafael Correa’s government. Acción Ecológica has over the past twenty years worked closely with Ecuador’s indigenous movement and the communities directly affected by mining and oil exploitation. They are a critical voice for social and environmental justice in Ecuador. We ask that you send an e-mail to President Rafael Correa (see the sample below) at the following address. rafael.correadelgado@presidencia.gov.ec With copies to: alexis.mera@presidencia.gov.ec ffalconi@hotmail.com info@accionecologica.org ecuadorsolidaritynetwork@gmail.com Please send the Spanish-language version below and adapt it if you choose to do so. This English version is provided so that you know what you are sending. Please email any questions to ecuadorsolidaritynetwork@gmail.com Dear President Correa, I am writing to express my opposition to your government’s decision to close Acción Ecológica by withdrawing their legal status. One could have expected such an action from earlier governments known for being against the people and the environment, but not from yours. I am among many who have applauded the recognition of the rights of nature and the right to good living (buen vivir) in the new Ecuadorian Constitution, proposed and approved under your presidential administration. In Ecuador, there is no doubt that Acción Ecológica is one of the few organizations that has worked for years to defend nature’s rights and the rights of the people to good living. This organization’s work in defending the Amazon and its peoples against oil companies such as Texaco is recognized throughout the world. Everyone who knows of them recognize their courage, intelligence and dedication to the protection of the country’s social and ecological wealth, fighting against the economic interests of national and transnational corporations anxious to extract resources in a social unjust and environmentally unsustainable manner. Everyone who has had the privilege of working with Acción Ecológica can express their admiration. The protection of natural resources and of the people against industrial logging, industrial shrimp farming, oil exploration and production, monoculture tree plantations, biopiracy, the privatization of water, etc—which Acción Ecológica has done for many years—is clearly mandated by the new Ecuadorian Constitution. In fact, such action is an obligation for whatever person, organization or institution in Ecuador. For these reasons I find the decision made by your administration to totally contradict the objectives established in the new Constitution. I can only hope that this is an error committed by some poorly informed person inside your administration. Your government is perceived by many to be one of the most progressive in the region and to be setting an example for many other governments that do not respect nature or the people’s right to good living. Your government is a symbol of hope for many of us that fight for a world that is socially just and environmentally sustainable. Regardless, your government’s credibility is now in question due to this attack on one of Ecuador’s most respected civil society organizations: Acción Ecológica. As a result, I hope that your government will intervene in this matter and ensure the immediate restitution of Acción Ecológica’s legal status, so that they can continue doing what they do best: protecting the rights of the people and of nature. Sincerely, [your name] PLEASE HELP AND CIRCULATE THIS URGENT MESSAGE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SOLIDARITY! -------------------------------------------------- URGENT The National Government through the Ministry of Health has ordered the closure of Acción Ecológica. Acción Ecológica was registered under the Ministry of Health because 20 years ago the Ministry of the Environment did not exist. They argue that we have not been doing the work for which we were created. To remind everyone of our objectives, in accord with our statutes: - Promote the defense of nature with the aim of preserving a clean environment. - Publicize problems associated with the use and contamination of rivers, oceans, air, land, etc. - Promote programs to train and educate the most marginalized rural and urban groups in environmental education and protection. - Promote research and the diffusion of technologies appropriate to the environmental, social and economic reality of each locality; promote eco-development programs with marginalized people; - Collaborate with private or public institutions, domestic or international, in the defense and protection of the environment. Acción Ecológica has complied with all of legal and fiscal requirements, as well as with our own statutes. As a result, we are perplexed by the decision. This action is blatantly unconstitutional. What is important to us is to “defend natural resources, preserve a clean environment, defend the rights of nature” precisely as ordered by the new Constitution (article 83). Alejandro de Valdez N24 33 y La Gasca. Acción Ecológica ** Estimado Presidente Correa: Por la presente deseo expresarle mi consternación ante la decisión adoptada por su administración de cerrar a Acción Ecológica mediante el retiro de su personería jurídica. Se podría haber esperado una decisión de este tipo de parte de anterior gobiernos caracterizados por ser anti pueblo y anti naturaleza, pero no por parte del suyo. Yo me cuento entre las muchas personas que han aplaudido el reconocimiento de los derechos de la naturaleza y el derecho al buen vivir en la nueva Constitución del Ecuador, promovida y aprobada durante su mandato como Presidente. A nivel de Ecuador, no existe duda alguna de que Acción Ecológica es una de las pocas organizaciones que a lo largo del tiempo ha defendido los derechos de la naturaleza y de la gente al buen vivir. En el mundo entero es bien conocido el trabajo de esta organización en la defensa de la Amazonía y de sus pueblos contra empresas petroleras tales como Texaco. Todos quienes han estado en contacto con ellos saben de su coraje, inteligencia y dedicación para la protección de la riqueza social y ecológica del país contra los intereses económicos de empresas nacional y transnacionales ansiosas de explotarla de una manera socialmente injusta y ambientalmente insustentable. Todos quienes han tenido el privilegio de trabajar con ellos solo pueden expresar su admiración. La protección de los recursos naturales y de las personas contra el madereo industrial, la producción camaronera industrial, la exploración y explotación petrolera, las plantaciones de monocultivos de árboles, la biopiratería, la privatización del agua, etc. –tal como lo ha hecho Acción Ecológica a los largo de muchos años- es claramente un mandato de la nueva Constitución del Ecuador. Más aún: es una obligación para cualquier persona, organización e institución en Ecuador. Por consiguiente encuentro que esta decisión tomada por su administración está en total contradicción con los objetivos establecidos en la nueva Constitución y solo puedo pensar que se trata de un error cometido por alguna persona mal informada dentro de su administración. Su gobierno es percibido por muchos como uno de los más progresistas dentro de la región y como un ejemplo para muchos otros gobiernos que no respetan ni la naturaleza ni el derecho de las personas al buen vivir. Su gobierno es también un símbolo de esperanza para muchos de nosotros que luchamos por un mundo socialmente justo y ambientalmente sustentable. Sin embargo, la credibilidad de su gobierno está ahora en cuestión a raíz de este ataque contra una de las más respetadas organizaciones de la sociedad civil de su país: Acción Ecológica. Confío entonces que usted intervendrá en este tema y que asegurará que se le restituya inmediatamente la personería jurídica a Acción Ecológica, a fin de que puedan continuar haciendo lo que mejor hacen: la protección de los derechos de la gente y de la naturaleza. Le saluda muy atentamente, FIRMA --------------- POR FAVOR AYUDAR A DIFUNDIR ESTA NOTICIA EMERGENTE GRACIAS POR SU SOLIDARIDAD!! El Gobierno Nacional, a través de la Ministerio Salud, ordenó el cierre de Acción Ecológica. Acción Ecológica estaba registrada en el Ministerio de Salud, puesto que hace 20 años no había Ministerio del Ambiente. El argumento es que hemos incumplido los fines para los que fue creada nuestra agrupación. Solo para recuerdo de quienes nos conocen nuestros objetivos, de acuerdo a los estatutos son: -Promover la defensa de la naturaleza con el fin de asegurar la preservación del un medio ambiente sano; - Difundir la problemática que tenga que ver con el uso, y especialmente, con la contaminación de los ríos, mares, aire y tierra, etc -Impulsar programas de capacitación y educación en los sectores rurales y urbano marginales del país, en las áreas de educación ambiental y preservación del medio ambiente. - Impulsar investigaciones y de difusión de tecnologías apropiadas a la realidad ambiental, social y económica de cada localidad; e impulsar programas de ecodesarrollo con sectores marginales y; -colaborar con las instituciones públicas o privadas, nacionales o extranjeras en la defensa y protección del medio ambiente. Acción Ecológica ha cumplido todos los procedimientos legales, fiscales, así como nuestros estatutos. Por lo cual nos encontramos perplejos. Esta medida es abiertamente inconstitucional. Lo importante, para nosotros y nosotras es: “defender los recursos naturales, preservar un ambiente sano, defender los derechos de la naturaleza” tal y como lo ordena la Constitución (art. 83) Alejandro de Valdez N24 33 y La Gasca. Acción Ecológica

Ecuador to Create Committee of Inquiry

Quito, Mar 7(Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian Government Minister Gustavo Jalkh announced on Friday the creation of an independent fact-finding committee to investigate what happened in the Colombian bombing of northern Angostura.

The "Accountability Committee" will be made up of five members of different sectors, with no political affiliation, said Jalkh in a press conference.

He explained that these people must be appointed by universities, the Episcopal Conference, Protestant churches, the media, indigenous peoples, social movements and non-active duty members of the Armed Forces.

They will have all support needed to carry out their work, have access to information and economic resources, he added.

We want this Committee to probe into all aspects related to the Colombian attack of March 1st 2008 in Angostura, where a clandestine camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was located.

At least 25 people were killed in the attack, including FARC guerrilla Raul Reyes, four Mexicans and one Ecuadorian.

Ecuador Discusses Social Security Bill

Quito, Mar 6 (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian Congress' labor sub-commission delivers Friday the report for the second debate of the Social Security Law reform project, which has generated controversy among Ecuadorians.

That sub-commission's president, assembly member Betty Amores, highlighted the importance of making viable in social security the application of solidarity and universality principles, which are included in the Constitution.

Amores pointed out that this proposal will achieve more equity among people and a better distribution of resources, as well as universalize benefits for pensioners.

The Congress Commission's president Fernando Cordero stated that this reform does not try to affect retirees, as workers' unions state.

Cordero termed as infamy and perverse the statements against this proposal, which provoked great debate during the first discussion of the Congress' plenary session.

Nearly 253,890 pensioners have been registered in the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute, 13 percent of them earn less than $100, while 80 percent, between $100 and $500, so that reforms won't affect this group, he stressed.

It is expected that with the delivery of the report on the social security project, the Congress Commission executive call its second and last debate for next week.

Resource Wars in Ecuador

Written by Daniel Denvir

Thursday, 05 March 2009

Indigenous people accuse President Rafael Correa of selling out to mining interests. Source: In These Times QUITO, Ecuador--In January, this country was shaken by mass protests against large-scale mining. Indigenous people and campesinos--or peasant farmers--in Ecuador have long called for nationalization of natural resources. These days, many are demanding that they not be exploited at all and are blockading highways to make their point. President Rafael Correa responded by calling the protesters "nobodies" and "extremists." The government detained a number of protest leaders, charging some of them with terrorism. One leader in the Amazon was briefly disappeared only to show up in a hospital in the Amazonian city of Macas with a gunshot wound to the head. Police officers were also injured in attempting to clear blockades. In September, Ecuadorian voters approved a new constitution backed by Correa's political movement, Alianza Pa's. Among other gains, the document awards rights to the natural environment and declares access to water to be a human right. But Correa is now pushing for the expansion of large-scale metal mining in Ecuador, winning congressional approval in January for a law that would open the country to mineral exploitation by Canadian companies, including Kinross, Iamgold Inc., and Corriente Resources Inc. Local and regional campesino movements, joined by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), cite the new constitution in arguing that the mining law is illegal. CONAIE, which represents indigenous people in Ecuador's Amazon, highlands and coast, is one of Latin America's most powerful social movements. In an interview before the new law's passage, CONAIE President Marlon Santi accused Correa of being under the influence of foreign mining companies. "We wonder what interests are at work here when there are other important laws to work on. We reject the current mining law," says Santi. Natural resource exploitation has long been a source of conflict in Ecuador, from the oil boom that began in the late 1960s to the proposed mining of copper, gold and silver reserves of today. In the southern Amazonian province of Zamora Chinchipe, the EcuaCorriente mining company--a subsidiary of Corriente Resources Inc.--has allegedly cultivated a pro-mining front group of Shuar indigenous people. Corriente has not responded to the allegations, first reported in Canada's Dominion newspaper. The Amazon Defense Front, which represents indigenous groups and campesinos, is waging a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Texaco, charging that the oil giant's practices caused widespread environmental destruction and illness among local residents. A 2008 report by a court-appointed expert found that crude spills and the abandonment of huge quantities of toxic fluid byproducts in hundreds of unlined pits led to high rates of cancer among residents and the disappearance of an entire indigenous nationality, the Tetete. Oil exploitation's legacy of pollution and disease spurs much of the contemporary opposition to large-scale mining. The experiences of anti-mining activists in other Latin American countries, such as Peru and Guatemala, have further given Ecuadorians the inspiration to resist. Gonzalo Esp'n, an indigenous leader participating in January's highway blockades in the central highlands province of Cotopaxi, says the government should regulate the small-scale mining and invest in sustainable, small-scale agriculture. "Large-scale mining just leads to our natural resources being exported to other countries and then being sent back to us as manufactured goods," Esp'n says. The northern highlands community of Intag and the Amazonian community of Sarayaku have provided models for resistance. Both have kept mining and oil companies, respectively, out of their territories since the early '90s. They have built alliances with urban environmentalists and supporters in Europe and North America to put pressure on foreign companies and the Ecuadorian government. In his Jan. 24 weekly radio address just days after major protests, Correa pledged to press on with large-scale mining. "It is absurd that some want to force us to remain like beggars sitting atop a bag of gold," he said. Indigenous and campesino leaders are discussing an alliance to challenge Correa in April elections. While it is nearly certain that the president will be re-elected, activists say they hope to win a number of seats in the National Assembly, increasing the movement's visibility. "The CONAIE will continue to struggle for territorial rights and against environmental pollution," said a recent statement from the indigenous federation. "We will closely monitor mining concessions and will condemn the lack of prior, free and informed consent by any means, including international mechanisms." In Ecuador, and in countries throughout the Global South, it is often the most oppressed people who are resisting mineral exploitation and articulating a new vision of sustainable development. For Susan, a teenage Kichwa activist, Ecuador's indigenous people are uniting to defend access to clean water, without which their communities would be unable to survive. "We are demonstrating that we are not just nobodies," she says. "We are an entire people in struggle." Daniel Denvir is a freelance journalist who recently moved from Quito to Philadelphia. He is writing a book on poor people's environmentalism in Ecuador.

Two Chinese companies seek to participate in building Ecuador's biggest hydro-power project

QUITO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese companies have presented their bids to the Ecuadoran government on the construction of the biggest hydroelectric project in the South American country, said the Ecuadoran government Wednesday.

The Sino-Ecuador (Gezhouba) and Sinohydro-Andes JV companies have offered to finance some 80 to 85 percent of the total money needed to build the Coca-Codo-Sincalir hydroelectric project, Ecuadorian Strategic Areas Coordination Minister Galo Borja said.

The project, which is expected to cost 2 billion U.S. dollars, can generate 35 percent of the total electric power the country needs when it turns into operation.

Till last week besides the two Chinese companies, one Italian and one Iranian companies had also voiced their interest in investing the project, but only the Chinese companies presented their offers on Tuesday, Borja said.

Borja said that the final winner will be announced on April 20.

Initially the government had decided to self-finance the project, but it was obliged to change its mind and let foreign company's participation due to the international crisis, Borja said.