Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 Ecuador, the "free" trade development model, & repression The government of Ecuador is on its way to the April 2001 meeting in Quebec City, about "free" trade and the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas). The government of Ecuador - in defense and promotion of the IMF's "free" trade economic measures -- is widely violating the rights of its own people. Will the on-going situation in Ecuador --systemic impoverishment of a majority of the population; environmental degradation; discrimination against the indigenous population-- be discussed in Quebec city? Will officials and delegates in Quebec City say that endemic poverty, discrimination, repression and environmental destruction have nothing to do with the "free" development economic model? ******* Below, you will find a series of articles and information concerning a most recent wave of serious upheaval in Ecuador. Please consider signing on to the letter, referred to below, or sending you own letters, as discussed below. Reproduce and distribute this information to your own networks. For information about education and activism work related to the Quebec "Summit" meeting and the FTAA ["Free" Trade Area of the Americas], see below. ******* WHAT IS THIS E-MAIL ABOUT? That imposed poverty in Ecuador, is linked directly to repression in Ecuador. That violations of economic, social and cultural rights in Ecuador, are linked directly to violations of political and civil rights. Concern for human rights should include attention to all rights. That the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an inter-governmental agency, is contributing directly and indirectly to violations of political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights in Ecuador; and is doing so with impunity. Concern for human rights should include attention to all actors (national or international; governmental, inter-governmental, or private) that contribute directly or indirectly to the violations. ******* ECUADOR WAKES UP UNDER A STATE OF EMERGENCY -- by Accion Ecologia This morning, February 3, 2001, Ecuador woke up under a State of Emergency. Freedom of association has been suspended, private homes can be invaded, and citizens can be detained without warning. In short, the Ecuadorian people have lost their constitutional rights. The State of Emergency, under the Law of National Security, declared Friday night by the government of Gustavo Noboa, is the latest step in a series of acts of violence and repression undertaken over the past week. This step by the government is aimed at punishing the indigenous people who have demanded an end to the violence and a repeal of economic policies which have brought the country to the brink of destruction. The economic policies include, among other things, the construction of a new oil pipeline, the spurring along of the mining industry, privatization of the water supply, an increase in taxes, the return of kerosene as a fuel for home use, and an increase in the bus fares. This most recent indigenous uprising, which began last week, has included the blockading of the nation's highways and a march of 10,000 indigenous people from the countryside in the Capital of Quito. Currently, 6,000 indigenous activists are concentrated inside the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana, surrounded and constantly attacked by the police every time they try to march from the university campus. In the face of this situation, and the refusal of the government to enter into a dialogue, 50 activists from the indigenous and peasant communities, who grow and provide the country's food, have decided to launch a hunger strike, as a way of being heard. Every hour, 50 more indigenous people will join the hunger strike. The business sector of the country, such as the flower cultivators, have supported the violence and "hard repression" out of fear that they will lose export business for the 14th of February - Valentine's Day. Paradoxically, a new delegation of the International Monetary Fund is in the country to evaluate another failure of their economic policies. In Ecuador, we need your help - letters, telephone calls, public declarations, and any other type of actions which let the government know that the world is watching. These acts of international solidarity are a way of preventing even worse abuses and violations of the fundamental rights of the Ecuadorian people, and a protest against institutionalized racism against indigenous people. ******* WRITE A LETTER TO the GOVERNMENT OF ECUADOR and to the I.M.F. Project Underground's letter to President Noboa is below. Please feel free to write to President Noboa and the IMF, using this text, or to write your own thoughts to all decision makers involved. February 2, 2001 President Gustavo Noboa Presidencia de la República Dear President Noboa, We are writing to you to express our solidarity with the members of social movements who took part in a nonviolent protest action yesterday at Ecuador's Consejo Nacional de Modernizacion. Hopefully, this assemblage of environmentalists, human rights activists, women's liberationists, and unionists coming together in direct challenge to your government's policies, has sent a powerful and clear message to you. It is our hope that you can hear the message of the thousands of indigenous peoples engaging in peaceful action across your country. These people have organized themselves in movements, each representing fundamental aspects of humanity: labor, freedom, survival of body and culture in the face of genocidal violence, harmony with the larger environment, and the majority of people who are women and girls. That people who have organized their lives around these human capacities, which we all share, are now united in opposition to your policies should be a reminder of the harsh consequences of your government's policies upon the human lives that make up your nation. The organizations occupying CONAM address themselves to the International Monetary Fund and its current delegation to Ecuador. They write: "Your efficient policies, which have been applied by successive governments in turn, have resulted in the destruction of Ecuador's natural resources, have dedicated more than 50% of the national budget to paying an illegitimate foreign debt, have burdened the country with the highest rates of inflation on the continent, the highest levels of corruption, the most advanced rate of deforestation and contamination, the worst example of mal-distribution of wealth ... and this disaster, the result of your policies, is repeating itself throughout the Third World in which you have intervened to "help us rise out of poverty." President Noboa, you stand at a point of choice between challenging and reinforcing violence and racism; between demanding justice from the world system or imposing injustice on your fellow Ecuadorians; between embracing their cries for humanity and snuffing out your own humanity. We urge you, do not seek to silence the growing calls for justice from Ecuadorians. We urge you to respect the human rights of all people. We urge you to order your government, armed forces and police to refrain >from the use of violence in response to protests. Finally, we urge you to join your words and your actions to their struggle for a just, human, and living world. Sincerely, M.E. Dueker Acting Director Carwil James Oil Campaign Coordinator Project Underground cc: Ministry of Defense of Ecuador, Quito Ambassador Ivonne A-Baki, Embassy of Ecuador, Washington Accion Ecologica Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador CONTACT INFORMATION Doctor Gustavo Noboa PRESIDENTE DEL ECUADOR F: (593 2) 580-735 E: despresi@presidencia.ec-gov.net Ambassador Ivonne A-BAKI 2535 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 t: (202) 234-7200 F: (202) 667-3482 Horst Köhler Managing Director, IMF International Monetary Fund 700 19th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20431 T: (202) 623-7000 F: (202) 623-4661 ******* A SIGN ON LETTER Please reply to Karen Hansen-Kuhn KHK@DEVELOPMENTGAP.ORG, of The Development Gap, with sign-ons. Dear Friends, Please consider signing the letter below in order to support the civil-society efforts in Ecuador and to pressure the government to end the repressive measures and open a dialogue. Given the urgency of the situation, please send sign-ons (name, title, organization) to me (khk@developmentgap.org) as soon as possible. We are preparing a fact sheet with more information on the situation in Ecuador that we will distribute shortly. Dear President Noboa: We write to you as representatives of U.S. civil-society organizations concerned about the impact of IMF- and World Bank-imposed structural adjustment programs around the world. We are alarmed by reports of violent suppression by your government of the legitimate public protests against the most recently implemented adjustment program in Ecuador. We urge you to cease this repression and to launch a national dialogue to find lasting solutions to the pressing economic and social problems confronting your country. We understand that over the past 20 years, the IMF and World Bank have made the implementation of adjustment programs a condition of financial support to the government of Ecuador. Our colleagues in Ecuador inform us that these programs and the specific economic policies they embrace have placed the major burden of adjustment on the nation's poor and working people, its small farmers and businesses. The IMF's and the World Bank's insistence on the application of a new round of economic measures has put dignified living conditions even further beyond the reach of large segments of the Ecuadoran population. Many of us are also in contact with representatives of those international institutions regarding their role in this crisis. We have also been informed that attempts at peaceful dialogue on this issue, including the SAPRI process in which the Bank, your government and civil society have been engaged, have not led to any meaningful change in the policy positions of the government or the international financial institutions. This is particularly troubling given the findings emanating from SAPRI that document the negative effects of many adjustment measures. It is therefore understandable that, when the IMF-supported economic measures were announced in December, affected citizens and civil-society groups would organize themselves to find and use other means to express their dissent regarding the continuation of these policies. What is not acceptable, by any international norm, is that these peaceful protests have now been met with state violence and repression in order to fend off public opposition to these policies. It has been reported that several indigenous people have been killed and some seriously wounded by public security forces, while others have begun a hunger strike to demand a repeal of the recent economic adjustment measures. The way forward to resolving the economic problems in Ecuador, or in any other country, will be found neither through military force and the restriction of rights nor through the imposition of adjustment measures that lead to further social exclusion. We urge you to immediately cease the violent repression of public protest against the adjustment policies and to seek real and lasting solutions through an expanded national dialogue involving a broad range of social actors representative of the diversity of Ecuadoran society in order to create a just and inclusive economic program. Sincerely, . . . The names of all organizations Karen Hansen-Kuhn The Development GAP 927 Fifteenth Street, NW - 4th Floor Washintgon, DC 20005 - USA Tel 202-898-1566 Fax 202-898-1612 E: Karen Hansen-Kuhn www.developmentgap.org ******* THE "FREE" TRADE SUMMIT in QUEBEC CITY, APRIL 2001 To find out more about educational and activism / advocacy work related to the "Summit" meeting in Quebec City, SPEAKING TOUR: Rights Action has invited development and human rights experts/activists >from Chiapas (Mexico) and Honduras to participate in speaking tours leading up to the Quebec City Summit meeting on "Free" Trade. One will go through the north eastern USA; the other from Windsor (southern Ontario) through to Quebec City. If you are interested in hosting and event(s) for these speakers, contact Rights Action: 416-654-2074. info@rightsaction.org. www.rightsaction.org. CLAC: Leading up to and during the Summit meeting in Quebec City, a "Carnival" (including teach-ins, conferences, workshops, concerts, cabarets, street theatre, direct actions, protests and more) is being organized by CLAC (la CONVERGENCE DES LUTTES ANTI-CAPITALISTES), focusing critical attention on the unjust global economic order. Contact the CLAC EXTERNAL LIAISON: Marie (m147200@er.uqam.ca, 514-529-7724) or Jaggi (jaggi@tao.ca, 514-526-8946).