(ECU) UPDATE Ecuador: Nation Under State of Emergency (Fwd)

["glr" <glr_y@iol.it>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Organization:   	Project Underground
To:             	a16-international-planning@yahoogroups.com
From:           	Carwil James <fishe@igc.org>
Date sent:      	Sun, 04 Feb 2001 16:27:50 -0800
Send reply to:  	
Subject:        	UPDATE Ecuador: Nation Under State of  Emergency, Indigenous Activists  Begin Hunger Strike


ECUADOR WAKES UP UNDER A STATE OF EMERGENCY

This morning, February 3, 2001, Ecuador woke up under a State of
Emergency. Under this arrangement, 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. The State of Emergency in Ecuador
is reminiscent of the methods implemented by various dictatorships
during tragic moments in the history of Latin America.

This latest step by the government is clearly 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. The new 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.

Ironically, 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 are in the country – how shameful! –
having 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.

Please distribute this appeal widely.

ACCION ECOLOGICA - ECUADOR

Letters should be sent to:

Doctor Gustavo Noboa
PRESIDENTE DEL ECUADOR
Fax No.: (593 2) 580 735

Senor Jorge Manrique
MINISTERIO DE GOBIERNO
Fax No. (593 2) 580 067

Senores
EMBASSY OF ECUADOR IN YOUR COUNTRY

[Ambassador Ivonne A-BAKI
2535 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202) 234-7200
FAX: [1] (202) 667-3482]

Please send us a copy at: (593 2) 529287 / 527583

Or to 


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From: <SOncu@aol.com>
Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 6:34 PM
Subject:  Fwd: PROTESTERS OCCUPY IMF OFFICES IN QUITO,
ECUADOR

Forwarded mail is below. Original is at:

http://csf.colorado.edu/mail/wsn/2001/msg00318.html


PRESS RELEASE
February 1, 2001
Accion Ecologica

Contacts:
Ivonne Yanez, 011-593-2-568091 (in IMF offices) Quito, Ecuador
Esperanza Martinez, 011-593-2-529287

PROTESTERS OCCUPY IMF OFFICES IN QUITO, ECUADOR

As part of a protest movement that has brought Ecuador to a
virtual standstill, a growing number of activists from
environmental and human rights organizations have occupied the
offices of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Quito to
protest the IMF's role in Ecuador's current social crisis.

"We want to expose the real culprits," says Ivonne Yanez, one of
the women occupying the IMF offices. "The IMF-imposed policies,
carried out by the Ecuadorian government in exchange for more
loans, have resulted in more than 50% of Ecuador's national budget
going to pay off the foreign debt, have burdened the country with
the highest rate of inflation in Latin America, the highest levels
of corruption, the most advanced rates of deforestation and
environmental degradation, and the worst example of
maldistribution of wealth on the continent."

The IMF sit-in is occuring at the same time that the country's
indigenous population, who make up more than 40% of the Ecuadorian
people, have blockaded the nation's major highways. The blockades,
which are entering their fourth day, are in protest against the
government's economic policies, which have impoverished millions
of Ecuadorians. The blockades have prevented the delivery of food
and supplies to large portions of the country, resulting in
shortages and skyrocketing prices.

The government's response to the protests have been harsh. In
Quito alone, there have been 24 wounded from confrontations
between the police and protesters. There are currently between
5,000 and 8,000 indigenous activists camped out at the catholic
Salesian Politecnic University, which is hosting them, and more
people are arriving from the countryside daily. The police have
prevented the indigenous activists from marching through the City
of Quito, bombarding them with tear gas every time they try to
march from the University.

On Tuesday, January 30, the government arrested the leader of the
indigenous movement, Antonio Vargas, on charges of subversion and
attempting to overthrow the government.

The protesters occupying the IMF offices in Quito are in support
of the indigenous movement.


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Organization:   	Project Underground
To:             	a16-international-planning@yahoogroups.com
From:           	Carwil James <fishe@igc.org>
Date sent:      	Fri, 02 Feb 2001 18:57:33 -0800
Send reply to:  	
Subject:        	ACTION ALERT Ecuador: Activists Occupy Government Offices, Demand Arrest  of IMF Delegation


Yesterday, February 1, women from a variety of social movements
occupied Ecuador's Consejo Nacional de Modernizacion (CONAM--the
"National Council of Modernization") in opposition to the
government's structural adjustment policies and in solidarity with
the national uprising led by The Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). They rejected the policies of
the IMF citing a string of dire consequences: inflation,
corruption, deforestation, pollution, and economic inequality, and
demanded that the delegates from the IMF as the real cause of the
country's problems.

Currently the government of Ecuador is threatening arrest not for
the IMF but for leaders of social movements. The leader of CONAIE
was arrested on January 31, but released today under a writ of
habeus corpus. The government has threatened a crackdown on "all
subversive agents who are responsible for fomenting
destabilization." In their letter to the IMF, activists demand to
know if "this threat [is] also a condition imposed by you."

Activists are urgently requesting messages of support. Two good
targets are the President of Ecuador Gustavo Noboa (whose brother
Ricardo heads CONAM) and the Internatonal Monetary Fund.

President Gustavo Noboa
Presidencia de la República

or care of:
Ambassador Ivonne A-BAKI
2535 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
telephone: [1] (202) 234-7200
FAX: [1] (202) 667-3482

Horst Köhler
Managing Director, IMF
International Monetary Fund
700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20431
Telephone Operator: (202) 623-7000
Fax: (202) 623-4661

Project Underground's letter to President Noboa is below. Please
feel free to write to President Noboa using this text, or to write
your own thoughts to all decision makers involved.

The indigenous uprising throughout Ecuador continues. For news in
Spanish, see the website of the Council of Indigenous Nations of
Ecuador (CONAIE)'s website at
.
See also the Ecuador electronic news source Pulsar (quoted below) at
.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador is
requesting international solidarity:

"We appeal once again to the high spirit of solidarity, to support
us with letters to the National Government, and with food or
money, which will allow us to continue feeding the 13,000 of our
compañeros who are in Quito."

Monetary support to CONAIE can be wired to their account at
PRODUBANCO #0100700288-0 in the name of CONAIE.
Communications in solidarity should be sent to 
or to: Av.  Los Granados 2553 y 6 de Diciembre - QUITO -
Telephone: (593-2) 442 271 fax: (593-2) 248 930

Please send letters and solidarity aid directly, and not via
Project Underground.

Carwil James

_______________________________________________________

TRANSLATED NEWS BULLETIN FROM PULSAR
()

1.- Ecuador: Manifestantes piden detención de delegados del FMI.
Desde Quito, Amanda Pinto

1.- Ecuador: Demonstrators seek detention of IMF Delegates
From Quito, Amanda Pinto
_______________________________________________________

Esta información la encuentra en audio, en:

  (92 kb)

  (421 kb)

   (493 kb)

NARRATOR [from the newsdesk]
This Thursday, a group of women from diverse social organizations
of the country took over, through peaceful means, the premises of
the National Council of Modernization, an agency directed by
Ricardo Noboa, the brother of the President of the Republic. The
women sought an audience with Noboa and delegates in Ecuador from
the International Monetary Fund.

NARRATOR [probably Amanda Pinto on the scene] Bit by bit, other
organizations have been adding to the action, forming a group of
100 people. The objective was to deliver a letter in which the
social organizations accuse the International Monetary Fund of
causing social chaos and instability in the country.

NARRATOR  As Ivonne Yánez, President of Acción Ecológica explained
to Pulsar, this was a symbolic act in which they sough the
detention of the IMF representatives.

[Yanez is quoted in the audio segment, but not in the transcript]

NARRATOR [Pinto]  Ivonne Yánez said the this action also had the
objective of demonstrating that womens organizations, human rights
organizations, and labor unions support the uprising of Indian
peoples.

NARRATOR [newsdesk]  Meanwhile, at noon Estuardo Remache,
President of the principal indigeonus organization of the Sierra
and three other indigenous people who had been detained this
morning, were released.

_______________________________________________________

LETTER FROM OCCUPYING ORGANIZATIONS

Quito, Ecuador, February 1, 2001

JOHN THORNTON
HAROLD HIRSCHOFER
Delegation from the International Monetary Fund

CC: CONSEJO NACIONAL DE MODERNIZACION

Dear Sirs,

You have arrived at an opportune moment: the Ecuadorian Government
and its Military High Command have warned that "all subversive
agents who are responsible for fomenting destabilization in such a
stable democracy will be arrested for disturbing the peace."

You have arrived at the right moment, therefore, so that these
threats can be carried out, without delay, by the real and most
important agents of national destablization, the destruction of
the country, and social chaos and violence: YOU.

You, and the institution that you represent, are the ones who are
primarily responsible for  the social upheaval in Ecuador today.
You are the ones who are destroying a beautiful and diverse
country. You are the extremists who have polarized the country to
the point of splitting it in two - between rich and poor.

Your efficient policies, which have been applied by successive
governments in turn, have resulted in the destruction of Ecuador's
natural resources, have decidated 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
maldistribution 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."

Will you insist on continuing to give us advice and proposing
policies?

The Ecuadorian government, anxious to comply with the conditions
you have imposed as a condition of your pending loan, is resorting
to violence and attacks on the human rights of the Ecuadorian
people. There exists, in fact, the hidden threat of punishing an
indigenous movement that has won its rights and broken out of the
constraints of racism.

Is this threat also a condition imposed by you?

Your presence is clearly putting our country at RISK, in capital
letters, which clearly justifies putting you under arrest.

We are women from environmental and human rights movements who are
in fundamental disagreement with your economic policies. We
condemn the violence and racism they provoke, and most important,
we condemn you.

On behalf of the organizations which are peacefully occupying the
CONAM,

Ivonne Yanez C.I. 1704240140

ACCION ECOLOGICA
ASSAMBLEA PERMANENTE POR LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS
FRENTE DE MUJERES DE LA COORDINADORA DE MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES

P.S. We also extend this arrest warrant to include Mr. Ricardo
Naboa, representative of the CONAM, who is complicit with the
implementation of your policies.

_______________________________________________________

SOLIDARITY LETTER FROM PROJECT UNDERGROUND
(write your own or follow our wording)


February 2, 2001

President Gustavo Noboa
Presidencia de la República
Fax: +593 2 580774


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
maldistribution 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."

Will you insist on continuing to give us advice and proposing
policies?

As Americans, as citizens of a country that has been enriched at
the expense of the global South, we are prepared to stand in
solidarity with you, should you demand justice from the IMF and
other institutions of globalization.

Unfortunately, another possibility looms. It looms in your threat
that “all subversive agents who are responsible for fomenting
destabilization in such a stable democracy will be arrested for
disturbing the peace.” And it looms in the fact that, as the
occupying organizations write:

The Ecuadorian government, anxious to comply with the conditions
you have imposed as a condition of your pending loan, is
resorting to violence and attacks on the human rights of the
Ecuadorian people. There exists, in fact, the hidden threat of
punishing an indigenous movement that has won its rights and
broken out of the constraints of racism.

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


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To:             	stop-ftaa@globalexchange.org
From:           	Jeffrey Juris <jeffjuris@earthlink.net>
Date sent:      	Fri, 02 Feb 2001 18:37:49 -0800
Subject:        	Bay Area Anti-FTAA Mobilization


All Bay Area activists are invited to attend our ongoing bi- weekly anti-FTAA organizing meetings to stop the spread of corporate globalization throughout the hemisphere!

A large and diverse coalition of organizations and activists has been meeting for nearly two months to organize, educate and build a broad-based resistance to the FTAA in the Bay Area.
We are preparing for two upcoming teach-ins and continuing to plan for direct actions to coincide with the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Quebec.

When: Every Other Tuesday (February 6, February 20, etc.) at 7pm.



Where: Centro del Pueblo Building, upstairs in the conference room - 120 Valencia Street, Suite 120 (The February 6 meeting may be moved to a nearby space, but signs will be posted outside the regular meeting room).

Why: Next April 2001 Quebec City will play host to the Summit of the Americas, where political, economic and financial elites will try to put the final touches on an agreement to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).


Their goal is to remove all social and environmental impediments to trade in the hemishphere, a scheme which promises to benefit multinational corporations, while destroying good jobs, weakening unions, devastating national economies, sending people into deeper poverty and destroying the environment.

While activists in Quebec are planning to shut the meeting down, local communities throughout South, Central and North America are organizing over the next several months to build diverse and broad-based local/global coalitions in support of a people's alternative to corporate-driven
globalization in the Americas.

The FTAA represents a dramatic expansion of the devastating impacts of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) to the entire hemisphere. The FTAA intends to bind 34 countries in the Americas in order to further remove restrictions on the free movement of capital, goods, and services. If the FTAA continues in the direction of NAFTA and the defeated MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment) the affected nations will be prohibited from distinguishing between domestic and foreign investment. Latin American countries will thus be forced to allow foreign companies to take advantage of and extend low environmental and labor standards, while providing little benefit to their local economies. As for direct effects to North America, jobs will disappear as companies continue to move south. The recent moves to liberalize trade have created worldwide social, economic and environmental disaster.

The FTAA is yet another engine for the expansion of the neoliberal free trade agenda, but as the successful protests in Seattle, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Phildadelphia, Prague, Seoul, Melbourne, Buenos Aires and many places around the world have shown, we do have the power to stop the corporate agenda!

Come help build a strong Bay Area anti-FTAA coalition!!

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