The people of Ecuador are rising up to refound their country as a pluri-national homeland for all. This inspiring movement, with Ecuador's indigenous peoples at its heart, is part of the revolution spreading across the Americas, laying the groundwork for a new, fairer, world. Ecuador Rising aims to bring news and analysis of events unfolding in Ecuador to english speakers.

Friday, October 08, 2010

The Alleged Coup d’Etat, Democracy, and the Indigenous Organizations

By Marlon Santi

President, CONAIE

We, the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE, in its Spanish initials) and the Pachakutik Bloc, in response to the events of September 30, 2010, and the claims made in recent days about the alleged support by USAID-NED to indigenous organizations, standing firmly on our historic process of bringing about a true Pluri-national State, announce:

The struggle of the peoples and nationalities is not an individual one, rather, it corresponds to the collective dream of constructing a diverse country, inclusive of the diverse popular and social organized sectors that seek a real change to end the old neoliberal, exploitative structures and the decolonization of the institutions of the State. We seek a pluri-national democracy, respectful of the rights of individuals, of collective organizations and of nature.

We energetically announce that there never was any attempted coup d’etat, much less a kidnapping, but an event that responded to the uncertain political management of the government that causes popular discontent through permanent aggression, discrimination and violations of human rights consecrated in the Constitution.

We do not recognize this dictatorial “democracy” because of its lack of freedom of speech, the kidnapping of all the powers of the state by the executive branch in its political system of one government, that does not generate spaces to debate the projects, and laws elaborated from the indigenous movement and other social sectors.

We categorically refute claims that the CONAIE, the Pachakutik Political Movement, the peoples and nationalities have any relationship at all with the organism known as USAID, previously NED, not today nor ever. To the contrary, we know that this organization finances the “social programs” of this government like the forest partnership and that, yes, is condemnable.

We demand the constitutional suspension of the National Congress for its failure to comply with the constitutional mandate that it legislate much less audit as it is well known that all laws are approved by the president’s legal minister.

We condemn the usurpation of press freedom when on September 30 all media not allied with the government was forced to broadcast government news in “cadena nacional,” a means by which all access to information is controlled and manipulated with a version of the facts that does not inform about the real dimensions of the situation on that day in the country.

Quito, Ecuador, October 6, 2010

Government of the Peoples and Nationalities,

Marlon Santi

President, CONAIE

1 comment:

  1. can CONAIE explain this:
    http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=84531

    'Here is an excerpt: “Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of
    Ecuador … In order for our voice to be heard at the national
    level, we formed the organization that now represents us, CONAIE,
    in 1986. CONAIE represents all of the indigenous nationalities of
    the country, some organized into provincial organizations, and
    others not. The National Organization is the result of a long
    process which is worth reviewing from a distance in order to
    better understand where we have come from and where we are going.
    CONAIE was formed out of the union of two already existing
    organizations, ECUARUNARI and CONFENIAIE. ECUARUNARI, the
    regional organization of the Sierra that has been functioning for
    over 20 years, and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities
    of the Ecuadorian Amazon(CONFENIAE), formed in 1980, created that
    same year the National Coordinating Council of the Indigenous
    Nationalities of Ecuador, CONACNIE.”

    Now, since I highly suspect that CONAIE is financed, influenced,
    controlled or infiltrated in some fashion by the US government, I
    decided to go through the NED’s website. I found the following
    (and more):

    Grantor: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED)
    Grantee: Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador
    (Indigenous Enterprise Institute of Ecuador) (IEIE)
    Country(ies): Ecuador
    Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
    Subject(s): Business and Economics
    Grant Awarded: 2006
    Amount: 67,955

    Grantor: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED)
    Grantee: Fundación Q’ellkaj (Q’ellkaj Foundation)
    Country(ies): Ecuador
    Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
    Subject(s): Youth
    Grant Awarded: 2006
    Amount: 91,256


    So what is the, Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del
    Ecuador?

    And what is Fundación Q’ellkaj (Q’ellkaj Foundation)?

    I decided to look into it and found more than I expected. I went
    to the website of Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del
    Ecuador, which is actually Corporación Empresarial Indígena del
    Ecuador … or CEIE … a not-for-profit organization founded in 2005
    by Ángel Medina, Mariano Curicama, Lourdes Tibán, Fernando
    Navarro, and Raúl Gangotena. Their website also states that
    Norman Bailey is one of their honorary members.

    First, who is Norman Bailey?

    ReplyDelete