Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2004 - Ecuador

Persecution of the CONAIE and its president¹⁵⁶

On 1 February 2004, Mr. Leonidas Iza, then president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de Ecuador – CONAIE), was the victim of an assassination attempt in Quito. He was outside the CONAIE offices with several family members when an unidentified group of men attacked and opened fire on them. Three of his family members were wounded.

This attack appears to be related to Mr. Leonidas Iza's work to protect indigenous populations and his public statements criticising the North American Free Trade Treaty, the Free Trade Area of the Americas Agreement and the current government's policies. In March 2004, following a request from the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales – CDES), the IACHR asked for preventive measures to protect him. They were still in force in late 2004. However, the police escort that authorities provided CONAIE members was unable to prevent further acts of harassment.

On 13 October 2004, Mr. Iza received a death threat on his cell phone against him and his family. In addition, at daybreak on 14 October 2004, CONAIE headquarters in Quito were robbed. Several computers containing information critical to the indigenous movement were stolen. It should be noted that, unlike previous days, on the evening prior to the robbery, police officers responsible for protecting CONAIE headquarters were not present.

The theft and the threats against Mr. Iza were reported to the Prosecutor's office (Ministerio Fiscal), but as of the end of 2004, no investigation had been conducted into the matter and the complaints had not been pursued. The threats against Mr. Iza appeared to decline as the end of his term as CONAIE president approached.

However, when the organisation's convention opened on 21 December 2004, one of the candidates for CONAIE's presidency, Mr. Marlon Monti, director of Sarayaku's Kichwa community, received a threatening telephone call. He received another call from the same number the next morning, threatening him with death if he did not withdraw his candidacy. Mr. Monti and the members of the community he represents were granted protective measures by the Inter-American Court and Commission for Human Rights but authorities were unable to implement those measures.

Death threats and arbitrary imprisonment against Mr. Floresmilo Villalta¹⁵⁷

Mr. Floresmilo Villalta, president of the peasant organisation, "Free Ecuador" (Ecuador Libre), and 14 peasants from the Las Golondrinas region were arrested on 9 March 2004. Mr. Pedro José Arteta, a lawyer for the BOTROSA sawmill, accused Mr. Villalta of fomenting terrorist acts against the company. Mr. Villalta was later released and charges against him were dropped. Mr. Villalta had been subjected to numerous acts of harassment and persecution by this forest products company. He has received death threats since 1997 as a result of his activities.

Since 1998, the Las Golondrinas peasants have been involved in a conflict with the sawmill, which was awarded 3,123 hectares from the National Agricultural Institute (Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Agropecuario – INDA) in the El Pambilar sector. This action was taken despite preliminary reports acknowledging peasant ownership of the lands. The adjudication was the basis for subsequent logging operations, which had adverse impacts on the forest heritage, and resulted in violations of the rights of the peasants in the area, who were subjected to imprisonment, persecution, violence, threats and legal action by the logging company.

Ecological and humanitarian organisations filed a complaint with the Esmeralda Defender of the People (Defensoría del Pueblo) alleging mistreatment and objecting to the illegal action of handing over land to the logging company. After several years of struggle, the region's peasants, working together through the Free Ecuador organisation, obtained protection from the Second Chamber of the Constitutional Court, which decided "to suspend the aforementioned adjudication."

Death threats against and harassment of Mr. José Serrano Salado¹⁵⁸

On 23 April 2004, Mr. José Serrano Salado, a lawyer and member of the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales – CDES), was attacked and threatened with death as he was preparing to meet with the indigenous members of the Amazon community of Sarayaku, Pastaza province. On his way to Quito, three individuals, one armed, intercepted his vehicle and forced him to stop. They then forced him into their own vehicle, where they beat, insulted and threatened him, ordering him to stop defending the Indians of Sarayaku. They then released him, with a warning that next time they would kill him.

On 24 April 2004, Mr. Serrano Salado and other CDES members filed a complaint with the Pichincha Prosecutor's office.

Mr. Serrano Salado had previously received telephone threats. They were very probably related to the organisation's support of the indigenous community of Sarayaku, which opposed the plans of the General Fuel Company (Compañía General de Combustibles – CGC), an Argentine petroleum company supported by the government, to develop its activities on their lands. By late 2004, no investigation had been launched regarding the complaint and those responsible for the attack against Mr. Serrana Salado had still not been identified.

The CDES also appeared before the IACHR, which extended protective measures on behalf of the Sarayaku community, Mr. Serrana Salado and other CDES members. The leaders of the Sarayaku people had received death threats in February 2003 for refusing to cede their lands in exchange for financial and material compensation offered by the CGC.¹⁵⁹

On 6 July 2004, at the Commission's request, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights also ordered provisional measures on behalf of the Sarayaku community and CDES members. However, the government and the courts had not yet taken any concrete action to implement that decision.

Following the Court's order, Ecuador's President Mr. Lucio Gutiérrez invited journalists from the Amazon region to meet with him in late August 2004. During that interview, he stated that NGOs with certain political views had turned the Sarayaku community's case into a political matter when it was merely a problem between two families. He also stated that the petroleum project and development on Sarayaku land would proceed.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

156. See Urgent Appeals ECU 001/0204/OBS 008 and 008.1.

157. See Urgent Appeal ECU 002/0404/OBS 020.

158. See Urgent Appeal ECU 003/0404/OBS 031.