support for occupants Vatican embassy Ecuador Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 Organization: Friends of the Earth International =============================== Dear Friends, Last Monday, july 10th a group of campesinos occupied the embassy of the Vatican in quito , Ecuador. With this they protested against the social effects of IMF imposed structural Adjustment measures. The action was supported by Accion Ecologica, (FoE Ecuador). The campesinos have now been removed from the Embassy and three leaders have been detained. Accion Ecologica now requests your support. Please send a letter to the addresses below to protest agasint the detaining of the leaders of the protest action. Keep FoE Ecuador informed about your actions Do not respond to me as I will not read it! greets, Johan =================================== Quito Ecuador 12 July 2000 THREE HELD AFTER CHURCH ORDERS VATICAN EMBASSY PROTESTERS FORCEABLY DISLODGED Three leaders remain under arrest after more the than 50 people from campesino, environmental and human rights organisations who had peacefully occupied the Vatican Embassy in Quito were forcibly dislodged on Monday night. The Embassy was occupied in a peaceful protest over IMF inspired structural adjustment measures, including the privatisation of the state Social Security system, which would leave 1,000,000 campesinos from some of the poorest areas of the country, to their fate. The protesters had asked that the church mediate on their behalf. However rather than helping the poor and downtrodden, after lecturing the campesino leaders on the sanctity of private property, the order was given by the Council of Bishops, headed by Monsignor Antonio Arregui, to forcibly dislodge the protesters. Approximately 100 police broke down the doors of the embassy and entered from all sides. Ten were arrested, while the rest of the protesters who had settled down to sleep in two small rooms were unceremoniously bundled into a police bus and Of the ten, seven have now been released. However, Jorge Loor, the president of the Association of Affiliates of the Campesino Social Security, Jorge Trujillo, the President of the Social Security Workers Union, and Julio Flores, Director of the Popular Coordinator of Quito were all detained and have, as far as can be ascertained, now been charged with invading private property. There is much confusion around the legal validity of the police action and the nature of the charges that may or may not have been laid. While it appears clear that as owner of the Embassy only the Vatican, or its representatives, can legally request police action, exactly who gave the order and is responsible for the charges remains obscure. The Vatican Ambassador denied this morning that he himself had given the order to dislodge. On the other hand the Ecuadorian Attorney General Marianna Yepez, amongst others, has unofficially confirmed that the Council of Bishops was responsible for the actions. While as the embassy falls under the jurisdiction of international law the Ecuadorian state or its representatives can not on the own initiative take action. However, no one in the church, or state, has taken responsibility for dislodging the campesinos or for pressing charges. No written order has appeared. Meanwhile the whereabouts of the three political detainees, who are without legal representation, is unknown and family members have been denied the opportunity to visit or speak with them. please send a copy of the bulletin to any contacts you might have, IN PARTICULAR WE URGENTLY NEED TO REACH MEMBERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL PRESS. We would also ask that you send letters/fax of suport for the detained people to: Gustavo Noboa Bejarano, Presidente de la Republica del Ecuador Palacio del Carondelet Quito Ecuador fax 593-2-580-735 MonsignorAntonio Arregui, Presidente Conferencia Episcopal Ecuatoriana Avenida America y La Gasca Quito Ecuador Fax 593-2-501-429 FOR MORE INFORMATION: Aurora Donoso, President Accion Ecologica Tel/fax 593-2-547-516/527-583 Cesar Cabrrera President, National Campesino Coordinating Committee Tel/fax 593-2-580-169 _______________________________ I am on holiday from July 15 to August 11(!) ______________________________ Johan Frijns, Coordinator International Financial Institutions Programme Friends of the Earth International Amsterdam, Netherlands tel. 31-20-6221369 fax 31-20-6392181 Urgent? Cc also to