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Issue 9: The Colombia Connection

On the Record - The Fight for the Amazon
Vol. 16, Iss. 9
March 25, 2002
The Colombia Connection
 
Contents:

• In the News: Ecuador on Edge as Bush Administration Seeks $114 Million for Colombia's War on Terrorism
• Colombia's War Spills into Ecuador
• The Lawsuit Against DynCorp
  • Too Close for Comfort
  • Misusing Dangerous Chemicals
  • Breaking Laws
  • 'Outsourcing' the War
  • The Spraying Resumes in Colombia
  
  
• References and Resources
• Glossary

From  the Editors:
 
Compounded to the destruction wrought by oil development over the past 30 years, Ecuador now has to contend with the destabilizing effects of the war in Colombia, Ecuador's neighbor to the north. The war has now lasted almost 38 years. It has intensified as the government of Colombia tries to eradicate drug trafficking and put an end to the conflict.
 
Colombia's war is now set to escalate dramatically following a breakdown of the three-year peace process. Government forces have re-entered a large 'safe haven' that was occupied by rebel forces, and hostilities between the two armies have intensified.
 
Adding to the uncertainty, the United States appears set to step into the Colombian quagmire. The Bush administration is seeking a large sum of money that would dramatically expand its involvement in Colombia from drug eradication to a broad program of support for the Colombian military.
 
This is the context for Peter Lippman's ninth report in his series from Ecuador. Even before the recent escalation of fighting, the war in Colombia has proved profoundly destabilizing for Ecuador. Most obviously, and violently, Ecuadorians have been driven from their villages or killed by paramilitaries and guerrillas from Colombia. Thousands of refugees have fled from Colombia into Ecuador.
 
Less overt, but arguably more insidious, is the effect of Colombia's efforts to eradicate coca crops by fumigation. Herbicides have been sprayed over large areas of southwest Colombia and some of the poison has crossed the border into Ecuador.
 
Some see this as a necessary step in the war against drugs, but others will view it as yet another assault on Ecuador's long-suffering environment. Either way, the United States is very much involved. DynCorp, a US company under contract to the US government, does most of the spraying.
 
No one has consulted those Ecuadorians on whose land the poison falls, and in September last year a group from northeast Ecuador decided that enough was enough. They decided to sue DynCorp. The case is waiting scheduling of a hearing date in US District Court for the District of Columbia.
 
DynCorp's operations in Colombia go wider that mere spraying. As Peter Lippman reports, DynCorp is also implicated in the Colombian government's counter-insurgency operations.
 
In other words, the line between eradicating drugs and helping the Colombian government fight its war was already blurred long before September 11. If the Bush administration 's new proposal is accepted by Congress, the distinction will disappear altogether and the United States may find itself drawn into yet another proxy war in Latin America, with disastrous consequences for human rights.
 
In the News: Ecuador on Edge as Bush Administration Seeks $114 Million for Colombia's War on Terrorism
 
Ecuadorians are worried that their country is about to get sucked deeper into Colombia's bloody civil war, following a proposal by the Bush administration to provide $114 of military support for the Colombian government and a sudden upsurge of fighting in Colombia itself.
 
The request by the Bush administration is part of a $27.1 billion package of anti-terrorist measures presented to the US Congress on March 21. It is presented as consistent with the administration's tough new policy on international terrorism and follows a dramatic escalation of the war in Colombia itself.
 
The Colombian government recently terminated three years of peace negotiations with the rebel groups and entered a 16,000-square-mile territory that had unofficially been ceded to FARC (Armed Forces of Colombia), the largest rebel group. In the past month, fighting between the Colombian army and FARC has escalated dramatically.
 
This has worried Colombia's southern neighbor, Ecuador. There are presently around 5,000 Colombian refugees living in northern Ecuador, and it is feared that many more could arrive in the coming months. The trafficking of arms from Ecuador to Colombia has increased, as has drug trafficking in the reverse direction. In the last three years, over 10,000 kilos of cocaine from Colombia were confiscated in Ecuador, and thousands of smugglers were arrested.
 
Around 10,000 Ecuadorian troops are stationed along the border with Colombia. Violence along the border has increased in recent years, with kidnappings and drug-related murders becoming more common.   One month ago, Ecuador's Foreign Secretary Heinz Moeller declared that airbase at Manta on the coast may only be used for anti-drug operations. The airbase has been leased by the United States for the last two years. Mr. Moeller said, 'We won't allow the base to be used for the anti-terrorism purpose.'
 
The International Affairs Committee of the Ecuadorian Congress has called for a declaration of neutrality with regard to the Colombian conflict 'in order to avoid being attacked' by the belligerents. COICA, the representative organization of indigenous groups in nine nations throughout the Amazon Basin, has also condemned the escalation in Colombia.
 
Many are now concerned that greater US involvement could add fuel to the fire, further escalate the conflict, and destabilize Colombia's neighbors, particularly Ecuador.
 
To date, US assistance to Colombia has been restricted to the drug war. US helicopters donated to the Colombian army are required to be used exclusively against narcotics production. US law prohibits the US government from providing military aid to the government because of its human rights record.
 
This now seems about to change. In addition to seeking more money, the Bush administration is also seeking a wider role in Colombia's war. This could include greater sharing of intelligence with Colombia's security forces, increased counter-insurgency training, and an increase in the number of US military personnel stationed in Colombia.
 
Following September 11, few US lawmakers seem inclined to challenge the Bush administration on anything that is aimed at combatting international terrorism. The US State Department has placed two Colombian rebel groups (FARC and the ELN National Liberation Army of Colombia) on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, together with the coalition of paramilitary groups fighting the rebels (AUC -- the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia).
 
But human rights groups have warned that while increased US military aid would encourage the Colombian government to be more aggressive, it would do little to eradicate the fundamental root causes of the violence. Last week, Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, blamed paramilitary groups (which work closely with government forces) for the majority of human rights violations.
 
A statement by the Colombia Support Network, a grassroots coalition in the United States, warns that since 1998 the AUC paramilitaries have nearly quadrupled in size to 14,000 members and are promising to double again over the next year.
 
'Before embarking on what may be a long and painful counter-insurgency commitment, we must realize that Colombia's guerrillas, however barbaric their actions, are ultimately just a symptom of their country's deeper historic social and economic problems. Defeating the FARC without attacking these problems will do nothing to stop a future resurgence of equally brutal violence,' says the Network.
 
Most predict that Congress will accept the Bush request for aid, although some US lawmakers are deeply skeptical. Janice Schakowsky, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, called the drug war a 'miserable failure.'
 
The Bush administration itself recently reported that there has been an increase of over 80,000 acres under cultivation for drugs in the country in the last year (Boston Globe, March 8, 2002).
 
Colombia's War Spills into Ecuador
 
It is too late to say that there is a danger of Colombia's war regionalizing, because it has already spilled over into Ecuador. A visitor to Ecuador cannot help but notice the fact that the war in Colombia is on practically everyone's minds, regardless of political persuasion or station in life.
 
In the first place, guerrillas or paramilitaries are trafficking drugs through Ecuador to get them to market. Drug-processing laboratories have been constructed in several areas of Ecuador near the border with Colombia.
 
Second, arms are being trafficked into Colombia through Ecuador. The United Nations has reported the presence of Colombian guerrilla and paramilitary camps in the northern Ecuadorian forests.  For several years belligerents have regularly crossed the border into Ecuador, supposedly to rest and recuperate. But now they have taken to intimidating and attacking nearby communities, principally indigenous ones.
 
A resident of Lago Agrio told The Advocacy Project, 'They kill whole families and don't care.' In February 2001 paramilitary troops forced 500 Ecuadorian villagers from their land. The reason given was that the troops needed control of this territory to fight guerrillas. By spring 2001 more than 1,500 Ecuadorians were displaced, and the 600-kilometer border with Colombia is becoming increasingly militarized.
 
Colombian civilians who have been caught in the crossfire are taking refuge in Ecuador. In the year 2000, 2,300 Colombian refugees registered in Ecuador, but the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that 12,000 refugees crossed the border that year. The Ecuadorian government was prepared for as many as 20,000 refugees to arrive in 2001.
 
In 2000 the US government approved a $1.3 billion grant to the Colombian government, mostly in military aid. This package is supposed to help Colombia fight drug production and trafficking on its territory. But Colombia is engaged in a war that involves two powerful guerrilla armies and a right-wing paramilitary force, in addition to the government army. Many of these forces are involved in drug production or trafficking and attacks against civilians. It is a particularly vicious and complicated war that has already left around two million Colombians displaced. Plan Colombia is an escalation of the conflict.
 
Plan Colombia includes a program to fumigate coca crops with herbicides. A large proportion of the coca farming in Colombia takes place in the southwestern part of the country, not far from Ecuador. The fumigation causes the displacement of farmers in the area -- regardless of whether or not they were growing coca, since the herbicides kill all crops on which they land.
 
Mayors in this region of Colombia have called for an end to the fumigation because of the generalized damage it is causing. Many displaced Colombians are fleeing to other parts of Colombia, but others have added to the numbers of refugees in Ecuador. The swelling numbers of refugees and displaced persons in Ecuador have also prompted mayors of several northern towns to declare their opposition to Plan Colombia.
 
Colombia is known as the 'kidnap capital of the world,' and violence is reaching into Ecuador. While the Advocacy Project was visiting Ecuador in March 2001, seven oil workers who had been kidnapped in Sucumbios province several months before were released. One hostage had been killed to reinforce the kidnappers' ransom demands. The Ecuadorian media could only speculate as to whether they were Colombian belligerents or Ecuadorian 'copycat bandits.' But the incident is an example of violence on the rise in relatively peaceful Ecuador.
 
One tactic of Colombia's guerrillas is to bomb oil pipelines, as they have done several hundred times a year in their country. In late 2000, Ecuador was affected by the bombing of a spur line running from Lago Agrio into Colombia, temporarily interrupting Ecuador's ability to export oil.
 
The average Ecuadorian is saying 'the United States has given us a war we didn't need.' That the United States has involved Ecuador in this conflict is underscored by the fact that the main US airbase in the region is at Manta on the coast of Ecuador. Ecuadorian opinion columnists regularly complain that Ecuador has been implicated in the Colombian war, and Colombian guerrillas and drug traffickers alike are threateningly making the same point.
 
Human rights, oil, and security are all linked in Ecuador. It is no coincidence that a demonstration in February 2001 was partially in protest against the unsafe conditions near the border with Colombia. The demonstration temporarily closed Ecuador's pipeline. The Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Amazon Defense Front, and other organizations are paying close attention to a conflict that is already adding fuel to the fire in Ecuador. We have not heard the last of the Colombia connection. It will complicate the struggle of Ecuadorian communities for their rights.
 
The Lawsuit Against DynCorp
 
In September 2001, lawyers representing residents of northwestern Ecuador filed a lawsuit against the American company DynCorp for recklessly spraying herbicides across the border, causing great damage to the health and livelihood of the residents.
 
The spray campaign is another example of environmental assault by a foreign corporation, supported by a foreign government, without regard for the health and livelihood of the local residents.
 
In a class action suit representing approximately 10,000 people, attorney Cristobal Bonifaz, together with the Terry Collingsworth of the International Labor Rights Fund, filed a multi-billion dollar suit seeking reparations and an immediate halt to DynCorp's anti-drug fumigation.
 
Filed in Washington, DC, the suit names DynCorp and several of its subsidiaries as the private contractors that have implemented the fumigation element of Plan Colombia for the US State Department. Tying this new environmental assault to the long-term oil contamination taking place in the same region, the lawsuit describes the damages suffered by Ecuadorian residents near the border with Colombia and explains the ways that DynCorp broke many international laws in causing serious harm to the Ecuadorians and their environment.
 
Too Close for Comfort
 
In January and February 2001, airplanes operated by DynCorp employees began to appear repeatedly along Colombia's border with Ecuador, spraying poisonous herbicides over farms and houses alike. At times, the planes came within a half-mile of Ecuadorian houses. The fumigation took place between six in the morning and four in the afternoon and continued for day after day with occasional pauses, causing great clouds of liquid spray to fall on the homes of the plaintiffs.
 
In the ensuing weeks and months, it became clear that another environmental disaster had befallen the indigenous and settler population of the northern Oriente -- the same population that had for over 30 years been subjected to the poisonous effects of the work of Texaco and other oil companies. Only now, the new pollution was the result of a US attempt to stem drug cultivation in neighboring Colombia.
 
According to the legal complaint, the spraying affected 100 percent of the residents within five kilometers of the border, and almost 90 percent of those living within ten kilometers. From the description of the effects, it appears that the harm was even more atrocious, immediate, and complete than that caused by the long-term carelessness of the oil companies.
 
Immediately after the spraying, inhabitants of the affected area complained of headaches, skin infections, and respiratory problems. The medical clinic at Parroquia Farfan, for example, reported a 40 to 50 percent increase in these ailments. Fevers, intestinal bleeding, eye problems, and digestive problems with vomiting and diarrhea were also widespread. So many school children were poisoned that in Nuevo Mundo and San Francisco municipalities, 75 schools were closed.
 
Parents tried to treat their children and themselves with traditional healing methods. Local shamans reported that they were unable to use their herbal medicines. When these means failed, patients went to the hospital in Lago Agrio, where doctors appraised the diseases as having been caused by the fumigation. By the end of January, four children had died of poisoning. In the next months, at least two women gave birth to deformed babies.
 
The medical fall-out continues to this day. Besides the immediate health problems, residents of the border area have seen their crops wither and die. Subsistence farms of yucca, coffee, rice, and pineapples have all been destroyed. Cows, horses, chickens, pigs, cats, and dogs were killed, as were wild animals in the nearby rain forest. Many residents have fled the afflicted area.
 
In an open letter written August 2001, a group of scientists and health professionals wrote to the U.S. Senate expressing their concern about the spraying of herbicides in drug-producing areas of Colombia. In dispassionate language, they urged a suspension of the spraying, noting that 'spray campaigns have been associated with adverse health effects.' [1] In the same spirit, but using contrasting language, Cristobal Bonifaz called the poisoning 'a tragedy of major proportions,' and Mr. Collingsworth termed the spraying 'a stupid and reckless action.' [2]
 
Misusing Dangerous Chemicals
 
According to the legal complaint against DynCorp, one senior US government official (U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers) observed that the fumigant DynCorp used was no more poisonous than table salt. [3] But as the complaint points out, this statement was based on incomplete tests of ingestion by laboratory animals, rather than inhalation. Furthermore, the fumigators used the poison in ways not approved by the manufacturer.
 
The poison that DynCorp used, manufactured by Monsanto Company, is a variant of the common garden weed-killer, Roundup Ultra. DynCorp uses a concoction of Roundup (generically known as glyphosate) together with other chemicals that make it more lethal. It is worth noting that the British chemicals company ICI, manufacturer of some of these additives, pulled out of the spraying program in summer 2001 when it became aware of the dangerous effects of the spraying.
 
The EPA recommends a one-in-twelve proportion of Roundup to water. The proportion used in the Colombia spraying program, however, is five parts Roundup to four parts water, making the poison much more dangerous.
 
To make this worse, to avoid being shot down by coca and opium growers, the airplanes that spray the fumigant usually operate at much higher altitudes than the ten meters necessary to ensure hitting the targeted crops. This results in the poisoning of all farms and people near the drug plantations.
 
Colombian legislators, indigenous leaders, and governors from the affected areas have called for a halt to the spraying program, citing the harm it causes to entire communities. Colombian Senator Rafael Orduz called the fumigation program 'crazy,' and 'damaging to the environment and human rights,' and demanded its termination. [4]
 
In the United States, Democratic Representative John Conyers of Michigan said, 'Reducing the consumption of drugs in America does not start with tearing up the environment in Colombia. This spraying is untested. It's dangerous...It's a very terrible thing to be doing to anybody in any country.' [5]
 
Breaking Laws
 
The lawsuit against DynCorp provides an extensive list of 'causes of action,' or grievances, for which the complaint is filed. [6] In committing the careless acts described above, DynCorp violated the Alien Claims Tort Act, the Torture Victim Protection Act, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and many other international covenants regarding human rights.
 
At first glance it may seem something of a stretch to connect the spraying of herbicide with torture. But the complaint explains, 'The DynCorp Defendants' acts and omissions of intentionally and tortuously spraying a toxic herbicide over Plaintiffs and Plaintiff's properties; in damaging the pristine ecosystems where plaintiffs reside; in contaminating the streams, rivers, waterways and aquifers with a toxic herbicide; ...and in threatening the survival of the people of the rainforest, caused such harm and damage to Plaintiffs as to amount to Torture.'
 
The legal complaint adds negligence, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and wrongful death to the list of grievances. All of these acts were committed against Ecuadorians in violation of a contract that expressly barred DynCorp employees from trespassing across international borders.
 
The reasons for filing this suit in the United States are similar to those of the Texaco lawsuit. Not only are class action suits non-existent in Ecuador, but there is fear for the safety of the plaintiffs if they were to file a complaint pertaining to Plan Colombia. In recent months there has been death squad activity in Ecuador, committed by people who object to the political work of activists who oppose Plan Colombia. A shadowy organization called the 'White Legion' has made death threats against journalists, environmentalists, and 'defenders of human rights,' as well as anyone else who opposes the 'blessed and humanistic Plan Colombia.' [7]
 
Even without the fear of reprisals, the general level of violence in the part of Ecuador where the lawsuit would have to take place could seriously hinder the work of legal counsel for the case. Furthermore, as with the Texaco lawsuit, the defendants are based in the United States and not Ecuador. Documents pertinent to the case are not to be found in Ecuador. A hearing in that venue would not be feasible.
 
'Outsourcing' the War
 
The involvement of DynCorp, a private company, in the implementation of a U.S. government-supported program that is financed by American taxpayers brings up many questions. If the company is violating international laws, does its employer, the US government, know about this? Is DynCorp subject to the sort of accountability to which governments are held? Is the company actually helping to fight the drug war in Colombia?
 
In its recruiting advertisements, DynCorp claims to provide 'information technology solutions to government and industry.' An industry case study on DynCorp lists its theme is 'Technology with a Touch of Humanity.' [8] But it appears that there is less than a touch of humanity to DynCorp's operations, and something more sinister than information technology.
 
Based near the Pentagon in Reston, Virginia, DynCorp employs around 22,000 workers in over 550 locations. Founded in 1946 as an aircraft maintenance company, it added defense engineering, commercial electronics, and data management to its services, and grew to become one of the largest defense contractors in the United States. Today DynCorp is the largest private US contractor in Latin America. On occasion it also manages projects as far afield as Bosnia and Qatar.
 
Government contracts account for almost all of DynCorp's business. According to a report published by CorpWatch [9], the company contracts with several dozen government agencies, including the Department of Defense, State Department, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Prisons, and the Office of National Drug Policy. DynCorp's declared income in 1999 was $1.4 billion, and projected income for 2001 was $2 billion. Around half of DynCorp's revenue comes from contracts with the Pentagon.
 
DynCorp's largest contract is with the State Department, for $600 million. It operates State Department airplanes and helicopters, providing the pilots and technicians. The term most often used for the kind of work DynCorp does is 'outsourcing,' primarily of military tasks. In Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, DynCorp participates in drug eradication and interdiction. It also undertakes reconnaissance, search and rescue, and air transport missions.
 
Some of DynCorp's employees are Colombians, but most are Americans. Many of them are former military personnel. In essence, the DynCorp operations in the Andes are an extension of the US-sponsored drug war. Whether DynCorp's operatives are mercenaries or not is a matter of spin, but the company's work in Latin America undeniably represents a privatization of the war.
 
According to some reports, DynCorp even coordinates its spraying schedule with paramilitaries who arrive before DynCorp in an area to be sprayed. The paramilitaries, blamed for the majority of atrocities in the Colombian civil war, 'neutralize' the area to be sprayed, so that DynCorp can fumigate without fear of attack.[10]
 
Not only does privatization of the war result in less public anguish over North American casualties, but it hides some of the operations from Congressional and public oversight. All North American DynCorp personnel possess secret security clearances. According to the Nation magazine, the State Department's contract with DynCorp forbids the company from mentioning the contract in any advertising or news media. The current US aid packages allow for 500 U.S. military personnel in Colombia, together with 300 private employees. But Human Rights Watch estimates that there are around 1,000 professionals on the ground, linked with DynCorp and similar companies. [11]
 
US human rights activists and members of Congress have tried to learn more about the role of DynCorp. An aide to Representative Janice Schakowsky told the Nation magazine that the State Department has stonewalled attempts to obtain more details about DynCorp's work for the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau. [12] Concerned that US citizens may be funding a private war in Colombia, the Democratic representative from Illinois recently introduced the Andean Region Contractor Accountability Act (H.R. 1591). This bill would prohibit use of private military contractors like DynCorp in the Andean region. In early March 2002, it was still waiting for discussion by the House International Relations Committee.
 
Because of the secrecy surrounding DynCorp's operations, it is difficult to determine where its drug eradication programs stop and possible counter-insurgency activities begin. In any case, there is no hard division between the two functions in Colombia. It is not reassuring that DynCorp subcontracts with the same private air company, Eagle Aviation Services and Technology Inc., that Oliver North used in the 1980s to supply weapons illegally to the Nicaraguan Contras. And DynCorp, by the admission of former CIA director James Woolsey, has had contracts with the CIA in Colombia and Peru. In the early 1990s, Woolsey owned a share in the company.
 
Colombian human rights activists, journalists, and government officials who oppose DynCorp's role in their country have labeled it a 'mercenary organization.' Even Colombian police officials complain bitterly about DynCorp's secrecy and the misbehavior of DynCorp employees on military bases. Repeated accusations of drug use and smuggling, pointing up the unsavory nature of the company's operations, have been leveled against the very people who are supposed to be fighting the drug war. [13]
 
The Department of State and the Defense Department are required by law to comply with human rights guidelines. But human rights laws -- or any laws, for that matter -- become weakened when private corporations are used in belligerent operations. At the very least, DynCorp has violated the human rights of civilian farmers in Colombia and Ecuador.
 
The Spraying Resumes in Colombia
 
The concern that the spraying is more an act of war against innocent civilians than an effective tactic against drug cultivation is supported by the fact that no real headway has been achieved against drug cultivation. As one area is fumigated, peasants move on to another area, clear more forests, and plant more coca or opium. Spraying killed 58,200 hectares of coca in 2000, but 59,000 more were planted. [14]
 
The aim of the lawsuit against DynCorp is to halt the spraying of Ecuadorian lands and homes near the border with Colombia and to pay damages to the families who have suffered as a result of the spraying. DynCorp has stopped the spraying in this area and, with luck and persistence, the Ecuadorian victims will receive reparations. It will not be an easy battle. After the filing of the lawsuit, DynCorp took the offense. Attorney Cristobal Bonifaz told the Advocacy Project that the corporation wrote to board members of the International Labor Rights Fund, insinuating to them that the lawsuit was 'financed by drug traffickers.'
 
Fumigation along the border with Ecuador was discontinued by the time of the filing of the lawsuit against DynCorp. But in Colombia, where the spraying is vastly more widespread than in Ecuador, Witness for Peace reported that fumigation was still taking place regularly in winter 2001-02. [15]
 
Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers called for the case against DynCorp to be dismissed because it would 'compromise national security.' In response, attorneys for the case have subpoenaed Mr. Beers, and the case will go forward when he appears for questioning.

References and Resources
 
[1]. Open Letter to the U.S. Senate protesting fumigation: http://www.usfumigation.org/NGOsign-onletter/open_letter_to_the_u.htm
[2]. 'Ecuadorians File U.S. Suit Over Plan Colombia'
[3]. International Labor Rights Fund Lawsuit against DynCorp
[4]. 'Colombian officials and lawmakers criticize anti-drug policy as 'pro-Mafioso.' ' http://www.prorev.com/colombia.htm
[5]. Ibid.
[6]. See note 3 above.
[7]. Nizkor International. Human Rights Team report: 17 September, 2001.
 [8]. Case study on DynCorp http://www.fed.org/onlinemag/feb99/briefcase.html
See also DynCorp Home Page
[9]. 'DynCorp In Colombia: Outsourcing the Drug War'
[10]. 'DynCorp: Beyond the Rule of Law'
[11]. Ibid.
[12].  'DynCorp's Drug Problem'
[13]. See note 10 above.
[14]. See note 4 above.
[15]. Witness for Peace: 'Deadly Fumigation Returns to Putumayo'

• For a very useful map of Ecuador with provinces, towns, indigenous areas, and the block system, see Petro Ecuador's website. Click on 'mapas,' then on 'Mapa Catastral,' then on 'Provincias,' 'Bloques,' and 'Novena Ronda' (Ninth Round).
• For more sources see our Ecuador resource list

 
Glossary
 
ACTA -- The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, a Federal law that allows crimes that have been committed on foreign soil to be prosecuted in a US court.
 
DynCorp -- A Virginia-based company; the United States' largest private military contractor in Latin America.
 
Hectare -- 2.471 acres.
 
Lago Agrio -- Capital of Sucumbios province, northernmost province in the Oriente and headquarters of the Amazon Defense Front (FDA).
 
Manta -- Port city on the Pacific, location of U.S. air base covering operations for Plan Colombia.
 
Oriente   -- The Ecuadorian Amazon; eastern half of Ecuador.
 
Plan Colombia -- An economic and military plan to eradicate drug activity in Colombia and strengthen the state. The United States has contributed $1.3 billion to this plan since 2000. Spillover effects are being felt in Ecuador.
 
Sucumbios -- Northernmost province of the Oriente.
 
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