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A Letter from the Author, Peter Lippman
Dear Readers,
Thank you for staying with us through this series about Ecuador.
As you have seen, Ecuador may be considered an 'oasis of peace' between its neighbors Colombia and Peru, but it is nevertheless a very unstable country. Its citizens do not enjoy security in any sense of the word. To a large extent, this is a result of the assault of the international oil industry on Ecuador's resources. This assault takes place with the full knowledge and collusion of the Ecuadorian government.
We have tried in this series to describe the response of the human rights activists, environmentalists, and indigenous communities of Ecuador to this assault. They are acting bravely, and we can take encouragement from their resistance. But what they are doing is only natural: trying to save the land that is their only sustenance.
The forms of resistance are many and unpredictable. They ebb and flow. The only thing that can be predicted with confidence is that the corporations will continue to refine their invasion of the Amazon forest, and that resistance will continue. Today there may be a lull in the activity, but tomorrow, the entire country could explode.
In 2002 the resistance will focus on the massive increase of oil exploration and extraction that is planned for the Oriente. Following the recent arrest of protesters (which is reported in this issue), construction of the pipeline (OCP) is now under way. The government has also repeated its intention to auction off more blocks of oil concession territory to foreign oil corporations. According to published reports, at least two more blocks in the Oriente are due to be leased 'sometime after April,' together with several more on the coast.
The privatization of electric companies, also resisted by Ecuadorians, is not finished either. Sale of shares in seven companies on the coast is planned for late April. If this happens, Leonidas Iza, president of the national indigenous organization CONAIE, has predicted a national protest like the ones that shut down the country in 2000 and 2001. He was quoted by Reuters as saying: 'If the government continues with the auction on April 26, the Noboa brothers will go home and we will lead an uprising.' (President Gustavo Noboa's brother Ricardo is the head of the state 'Modernization Council,' which coordinates the privatization.)
Meanwhile, Ecuador's economic sickness continues to illustrate the false allure of oil development. Oil output declined seven percent in the first two months of this year as compared to the same period in 2001 (Dow Jones Newswires, March 26). Inflation, earlier projected at 10 percent, is expected to remain above 15 percent for the year.
The gloomy picture of Ecuador that we have painted in this series is an apt illustration of globalization. In this context, an event will take place this coming fall that may put Quito on the world map: a Conference of Hemispheric Trade Ministers is convening at that time to negotiate on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). Activists are planning a World Social Forum for the Latin American region, and there is talk of an indigenous effort to surround and block the site of the Ministerial Conference.
In other words, Ecuador will remain at the center of the debate over globalization throughout 2002. For continued updates on Ecuadorian developments, watch the following websites:
From the Editors: The Power of Communications
'Access to the Internet is a human right,' says Roberto Roggiero, former Executive Secretary of the progressive communications organization Intercom-Ecuanex.
To North Americans and Europeans who take the Internet for granted, this may seem overblown. But throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon, communities live in isolation from each other and from the urban centers of Ecuador. Establishing an Internet access in the Oriente could reduce the need to introduce other and more invasive forms of intervention in this sensitive environment.
This is the subject of Peter Lippman's final issue on the indigenous in Ecuador. Lippman has seen the benefits from information technology in other places where he has worked for The Advocacy Project. In Bosnia, he found that the Internet provided the only lifeline to the outside world for some of the beleaguered communities cut off by the war.
During his mission to Ecuador last year he found that the Internet provides activists with a vital organizing tool because of where they live. For example, villagers who live several days' walk or canoe ride away from Lago Agrio, who have no telephone or electricity, have no efficient way of notifying the Amazon Defense Front if they see that an oil company is dumping hazardous wastes. Even the telephone links between Lago Agrio and Quito are unreliable at times.
Over the past ten years Intercom-Ecuanex has tried to address this sort of problem. Once remote communities have access to electronic communication, not only will they be at less risk from health emergencies, but they will also be able to tap into an almost unlimited flow of information. Increasing access to communication throughout the region will empower activists to organize and to fight for their rights. They have already made enormous strides in forcing the government and oil companies to listen to them. How much more effective they could be with access to the World Wide Web and the contacts that come with it!
To restate the crucial point: the Internet could bring the Amazon into the twenty-first century without destroying the environment. As we have seen in this series, roads and telephone lines are a first step in the destruction of the Amazon because they encourage colonization and deforestation. According to Roberto Roggiero, information technology could help to bypass this destructive kind of development without denying remote communities the modern health and educational services they need to survive.
In other words, the broad ambition of Intercom amounts to nothing less than democratizing communications for the disadvantaged people of Ecuador. In this sense Intercom's goals dovetail with those of The Advocacy Project, as well as the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES). CDES calls attention to the area of human rights not guaranteed by political arrangements: health, education, the right to work, food, shelter, and a clean environment. The Internet can provide remote or underserved communities with a short cut to better education and health care -- as basic human rights as any other.
In the News: Three Woodsmen Speared to Death by Tagaeri after Poaching on Protected Land
In an incident that illustrates the critical importance of respecting indigenous rights, members of the Tagaeri clan of the Huaorani indigenous nation have killed three men who were cutting wood without permission on their traditional territory.
The attack came on March 17 after the intruders, who are thought to be Colombians, had been using chain saws in the forest continuously for several days. They were killed in a remote area of the Amazon rain forest near the Tiguino River in Pastaza province.
The Tagaeri are one of only two 'uncontacted' groups of indigenous people in Ecuador. They have shunned all dealings with settlers and developers. They live a mobile life of hunting and fishing, and inhabit an area overlapping with Yasuni National Park. This area has been declared 'protected' by the Ecuadorian government, but the Colombian poachers were attracted by valuable wood in their forest.
This is not the first time that the Tagaeri have dealt ruthlessly with intruders. They are thought to have killed two missionaries who approached them in 1984. More recently, they killed a member of the Quichua community, whom they accused of employing shamanistic practices against the Tagaeri.
The recent confrontation at Tiguino began when the Tagaeri approached the woodcutters, who continued with their work. The woodcutters defended themselves with firearms and killed one of the Tagaeri. On March 17, the Tagaeri returned and killed three woodcutters with spears. The woodcutters' chain saws and canoes have been found, as well as other belongings. The three bodies are presumed to have been thrown into the river.
Luis Awa, spokesman for the Huaorani organization ONHAE, said that the continuous sound of the chainsaws disturbed the Tagaeri, and that the woodcutters invited their fate by showing a 'lack of respect' toward the indigenous people.
Mr. Awa emphasized that the Tagaeri tolerate no intrusion onto their land, neither for oil exploration nor other development. According to the daily newspaper Hoy, he said that if such incursions continue, 'no one can be sure what the reaction of the Tagaeri will be' (March 22). Mr. Awa called for establishment of a military patrol around the area to prevent invasions.
Pedro Enqueri, Vice President of ONHAE, said that the killings by the Tagaeri were a 'natural reaction' to the contraband cutting of wood (El Comercio March 27). He added that the land inhabited by the Tagaeri is even off limits to other Huaorani. Recent tensions have caused ONHAE to cancel construction of an eco-tourism lodge in the area.
Police Arrests in Mindo Reserve Open the Way to Resumed Construction of the OCP Pipeline
The Ecuadorian police have put an end to the much-publicized protest in the Mindo-Nambillo Protected Cloud Forest, thus opening the way for the resumed construction of the new oil pipeline (OCP).
Seventeen protesters were taken away by 100 members of the National Police on March 25 and bussed to Quito. They included activists from Colombia, several European countries, and the United States, and by the end of last week half of them had already been deported. The Ecuadorian protesters -- three local environmentalists -- will be tried in local courts.
Construction of the 300-mile OCP pipeline began last summer. The Mindo Reserve, which lies directly in its path, is situated in the Andean mountains not far from Quito. It is the home of rare orchids, butterflies, and over 450 species of birds, many of which are in danger of extinction.
Local and international activists began obstructing work of the OCP consortium on January 2 of this year. The construction was then halted pending the arrival of better weather in April. Recently preparations began on a resumption of the project, and then the police moved in to arrest the protestors.
Authorities accused the activists of 'failure to respect property rights.' However, a spokesperson for Accion Ecologica, one of the environmentalist organizations involved, said that the charges were not true. The tree-sit and encampment were located on the private land of Marcelo Franco, who had given permission for the presence of the protestors.
In early March, Ecuador's Environmental Ministry had temporarily revoked the OCP's construction license at Mindo, accusing the consortium of damaging the water drainage system and causing sediment to pollute the only water source available to local residents.
The arrests have not stopped the protests. The day after they occurred, over 60 protestors blocked the main highway between Quito and Mindo. They blockaded two large trucks carrying pipes destined for the new pipeline and demanded that the activists be freed in exchange for the trucks. However, police seized the trucks and arrested several more protestors the next day. They found the slogan 'OCP Out of Our Town' painted on one of the pipes.
Democratizing Communications for Ecuador: Intercom-Ecuanex: Ecuador's First Internet Provider
Intercom-Ecuanex was formed in 1990, when a group of 20 NGOs decided to work together to create an Internet node that would provide connectivity to progressive organizations. At the time, there was no Internet connection in Ecuador.
In the beginning, Intercom only provided email, using a now-outmoded type of connectivity protocol. In those pioneer days, email transfers took place via telephone with San Francisco. Because it was cheaper to call from the United States to Ecuador than the reverse, the phone call was always initiated in San Francisco. During this phone connection, which took place once or twice a day, packets of e-mail were exchanged. In time, the exchanges were increased to five or six times a day.
This continued to be the extent of Intercom's services until 1995, when satellite connections became available. By 1996 Intercom was able to increase its services, and it began providing web access. This early work by Intercom served to popularize the use of the Internet among the progressive NGOs of Ecuador. Later, however, other Internet providers were established, and Intercom's attention shifted to training and providing other services.
Intercom's three main areas of work today are training and capacity building, information services, and communications support for community organizations. The first area comprises basic services such as hosting listservs, organizing mailing lists and databases, training for Linux management, and designing web pages. Intercom provides collaborative tools for NGOs such as internal networks, web-based calendars, and directories.
Intercom also trains organizations in the use of a type of 'virtual space' called Action Applications. This is an on-line collaborative program that makes it possible to publish on the Internet without proficiency in programming, to share files, save versions of a document, and generally communicate via documents that colleagues access at their own convenience. Action Applications was developed by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).
An important example of Intercom's capacity building is its project with CONAIE, the umbrella group for indigenous organizations throughout Ecuador. Intercom's goal for CONAIE is for all of its member organizations to have email access as a minimum. Intercom is presently working with CONAIE to find funding for the project.
Another example is a telecenter project with the Federación de Barrios del Noroccidente de Quito (Federation of the Northwest Barrios of Quito), a large organization that advocates for assistance to marginalized urban neighborhoods. The goal of this project is to train young people from the 'Barrios' in the use of computer under the Linux platform, and in the use of the Internet tools. This project has received start-up funding for one year from a local agency called 'Comité Ecuménico de Proyectos.'
Beyond Capacity Building: Intercom's Services to Activists
Intercom provides several valuable services to community organizations in Ecuador and the surrounding region. One of the most important of these is Infodesarrollo, its Internet portal to organizations concerned with sustainable development. This portal was opened in June 2001.
Roberto Roggiero from Intercom calls the Infodesarrollo portal an 'electronic library.' It contains region wide links, a newsletter, analysis, opinion, and archives of resources for development. Main themes include human rights and environmental issues, both in Ecuador and throughout Latin America. Presently a staff of over ten people located in Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, and further afield contribute material.
Intercom organizes online conferences. One such conference coordinated for the Civic Anti-Corruption Network. Corruption hurts all Ecuadorians. The Ecuadorian government funds an anti-corruption agency, the Commission for Civil Control of Corruption. This agency is elected by NGOs and acts independently of the government. The Civic Anti-Corruption Network was formed to ensure the continued independence of this agency.
Intercom, together with several other organizations, coordinated an electronic conference for the Civic Anti-Corruption Network in which network members participated, over a two-month period, by sending postings to a central server. Papers that were contributed provided a definition of corruption, discussed ways of combatting it, what the state should do about corruption, and what the private sector should do. There were 130 subscribers, with about 30 active contributors.
Intercom is participating in a new project created by APC, the Latin America Internet Policy Monitoring Project. This region wide project, coordinated by Intercom, keeps an eye on new laws regarding the Internet.
Spurred by legislation that threatens free use of the Internet in Great Britain and Japan, Intercom and collaborating organizations throughout Latin America monitor new laws that may affect the right to Internet access. The objective of the monitoring project is to ensure that governments will not legalize censorship or governmental surveillance over the Internet, so that people can express themselves over the Internet and use its tools to organize in their communities without fear of prosecution.
The guiding concept for this project is that people have the same right to freedom of expression over the Internet that they do in other media. Because of the relatively recent advent of the Internet as a medium, and especially because of its inherently democratic nature, the danger for repression of free speech over the Internet is very real in unstable countries with repressive governments.
Intercom's interest in safeguarding free expression on the Internet is a natural result of its position on the right to unrestricted use of the Internet. Mr. Roggiero says, 'Our approach to the monitoring program begins with the concept that access to the Internet is a human right. This is defined as human rights applied to communication via the Internet. These are not new rights, but an emphasis on how rights are applied on the Internet.' Read more information about this project.
Branching Out into Radio
A final informational project under development by Intercom works to facilitate the combination of Internet and radio media. In developed countries, most radio stations now depend on the Internet for a large part of their information. Ecuador has numerous local radio stations in remote areas where the population could benefit in many ways from enhanced information capabilities.
CORAPE, the Community Radio Project of Ecuador, is a network of community radios throughout Ecuador, some located in remote areas of the highlands and the Amazon. CORAPE produces radio content and sends it to stations via regular mail on cassette tapes, or simply plays a program over the telephone. A few stations with more resources receive transmissions via Aler, a satellite-based down-link system.
Intercom is working with CORAPE to develop a program that will link community radio stations. In this project, any radio station that has Internet access and an MP3 audio-download program will be able to download radio programs digitally. Other stations that only have e-mail will at least be able to receive written programs such as news releases. Intercom will set up a central electronic network in which stations share news and exchange other material through e-mail.
This project could also include local Internet centers that are not only used by the radio stations, but by the community. In this way a local radio station would be in a position to offer services such as fax and email to the community.
Mr. Roggiero explained that today, a listener in a remote community will write a request to a radio station asking about information, for example, on how to deal with malaria. Then the radio does the research, and broadcasts the answer in the form of an informational program. This process would be greatly facilitated if the station had Internet access.
Intercom Connects Communities
It is in its relationship with the Amazon Defense Front (FDA) that Intercom gives the most concrete assistance to protecting the Oriente. In the Lago Agrio area, where the FDA's headquarters is located, Intercom has been working for several years to establish 'telecenters' -- remote Internet centers that are available to community organizations and the general public -- designed to connect communities and promote grassroots communication.
Given the difficulties in communication between Lago Agrio and Quito, Lago Agrio could almost qualify as a 'remote' area itself, even though it is a small city with electricity, radio, and telephone service. But the communities where the constituency of the Amazon Defense Front lives are truly isolated. Information from these locations reaches Lago Agrio slowly and in an incomplete form, and there is little or no communication among such communities. They are thus left out of the process of decision-making that affects them so strongly.
In the past few years, Intercom made a valiant attempt at establishing a telecenter in Lago Agrio with one technology, with disappointing results. Now new technology is available that has proved successful in other places. With the necessary funding, Intercom looks to be on the verge of making Lago Agrio and its surrounding communities remote no more.
Today a visitor to Quito can hardly walk down the street in the tourist neighborhood without stumbling over an Internet café. But in Lago Agrio, even more than most other towns in the Oriente, Internet service is hard to come by. A few indigenous and human rights organizations have email addresses in Lago Agrio, and Intercom has helped the Amazon Defense Front set up a connection at its headquarters, but it is very difficult to surf the Internet.
Mr. Roggiero explained that if one is lucky, the Internet connection in Lago Agrio is made at 2400 bps, and if one is very lucky, at 9600 bps, which allows for some browsing. The Amazon Defense Front has a computer with a fax modem, and during working hours, it is only possible to use email. The overburdened telephone lines of Lago Agrio are too congested then to support web surfing, although this is easier at nights and on weekends. The FDA uses its email service primarily to correspond with financial supporters in the United States. Contact with Intercom, CDES, and other colleagues in Quito usually takes place by telephone.
In 1997, with support from the Canadian-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Intercom launched a program to establish several telecenters in and around Lago Agrio. There was to be one center in Lago Agrio and several others in surrounding indigenous communities. This was to be the beginning of an alternative communication system for the constituents of the Amazon Defense Front, both indigenous and 'colonos' (settlers) who live in remote communities, connecting the region to the rest of Ecuador and the world.
The Intercom/IDRC project attempted to make communications links by using high-frequency radio (HF) to transmit computer data. The ambition of this project was to set up a reliable communications system and train residents in the communities of the Oriente to use it.
Employing a Cuban technician, Intercom tried for over a year to make the technology work. However, the project was beset by many problems. The Ecuadorian government delayed granting Intercom a radio frequency until the project was almost ended. The fatal obstacle, however, was that the combination of HF radio and computer was not able to deliver a strong signal between Lago Agrio and Quito.
An HF/computer system had been used with success in Cuba as a communications link between cities. Intercom's Cuban technician demonstrated the system in Quito, over a distance of seven kilometers, and it worked. However, when it was set up in Lago Agrio, the signal was corrupted and failed to reach Quito. It could only even reach Lago Agrio from the villages sporadically.
Attempts at getting the HF system to work continued for more than a year. When this proved fruitless, Intercom tried with BellSouth telephone company to make computer postings via cellular telephone, but that attempt was also disappointing. On one side of the river in Lago Agrio, this worked, but there was no reception on the other side of the river. So in the long run neither radio nor telephone worked.
Intercom finally gave up. Too many resources were being wasted, and it had to be discontinued.
Trying Again
Now Intercom and the Amazon Defense Front have developed what they consider to be a more realistic, workable plan for wiring up the Oriente. The objective of the plan is the same as before: to make it possible for FDA's grassroots member communities to use Internet technology to strengthen their organizations and defend the environment.
The new plan has two phases; first, telecenters will be established in Lago Agrio and in several surrounding communities that have telephone access. In the first six months of this project, Intercom plans to train 16 people -- two people from each of eight FDA member-organizations -- in the use of basic Internet tools.
Workshops preparing FDA trainees to be self-reliant in use of the Internet will cover graphic design, design of bulletins and web publications, the use of Internet technology in strengthening organizations, and the use of the Internet in increasing civic participation in activism. Strategy sessions will be held to coordinate the construction of a community electronic communications network. At the end of the six-month training period, trainees will implement a pilot campaign to practice their skills. They are also expected to pass their knowledge on to other members of their communities.
In the second phase of the project, the electronic communications network will be expanded to serve FDA member-communities that do not have telephone service. Recently, a new technology has been developed that will bypass the obstacles that confronted Intercom in its earlier attempts. The Washington-based organization Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), in existence since 1959, has long focused on problems of communication with remote communities for the purpose of development.
In recent years VITA has perfected a computer-to-satellite technology, VitaSat, that makes it possible for communities without electricity or telephones to exchange packets of text-based information between a computer in a local community and a satellite passing overhead. This technology is currently operational in several African countries, and the cost to outfit a community is not prohibitive. All that is required is an electricity source (usually a solar panel), a computer, an antenna, and a VitaSat 'wireless router.'
The resulting communications capability is reminiscent of what Intercom achieved between Quito and San Francisco in 1990. That is, it is not advanced considering what is available in the comfort of the city, but for remote communities, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Intercom has created a proposal and budget for the first phase of this plan. The budget total comes to $71,650, of which local support, primarily from Intercom and the Amazon Defense Front, will cover 60 percent. Fundraising is under way for the remaining costs.
When the first phase of the project is completed, Intercom will propose that VITA provide the technology needed to set up VitaSat installations, assuming funding becomes available. The planned schedule for this phase involves a six-month period of training and installation. Intercom intends to train not only activists in FDA-affiliated organizations, but also other members of the communities. Then, if there is turnover in an organization, others who are already trained can take over.
A community would receive one VitaSat, to be set up in a central lab or office. It could be hooked up to several computers so that more than one person could use email at a time. In some cases the project would be located in a school, so that students can use it too.
The budget for this project will be around $100,000. One half of this budget will take care of setup costs, and the other half will cover maintenance and training for two years. Equipment for each community costs around $2,000, and maintenance about $500 a year.
The establishment of an electronic communications network in the Oriente will greatly facilitate a special communications project, related to Plan Colombia. The Lago Agrio area is suffering from the impact of the war in Colombia, and the Amazon Defense Front is participating in a network to monitor problems stemming from the war. The new communications network will make it easier for the FDA's local partners to do this work.
Electronic communication can also help remote communities in marketing, as described by the IDRC: '...the ability to find markets and trade channels is very important. Because these communities are isolated, communication tools are critical. The electronic communication system can help to support...revenue-generating projects of the population. A reliable and 'universal' communication system would help in marketing, locating clients, getting information, contacting tourist operators, etc....With proper training and communications support, it is achievable'(from a description of the 1997 project).
Resources
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES)
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)
Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (FDA)
Infodesarrollo
Intercom-Ecuanex
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
Glossary
CDES -- The Center for Economic and Social Rights
Colonos -- Settlers in territory belonging to indigenous communities in the Oriente
CONAIE -- Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Amazon, led by Antonio Vargas
CORAPE -- Community Radio Project of Ecuador, a network of community radios
FDA -- Amazon Defense Front (Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia)
HF -- High Frequency radio
IDRC -- Canadian-based International Development Research Centre
Lago Agrio -- Capital of Sucumbios Province, northernmost province in the Oriente and headquarters of the FDA
Oriente -- The Ecuadorian Amazon; eastern half of Ecuador
Plan Colombia -- An economic and military plan to eradicate drug activity in Colombia and strengthen Colombia the state. The United States has contributed $1.3 billion to this plan since 2000. Spillover effects are being felt in Ecuador.
VITA -- Washington-based organization Volunteers in Technical Assistance
VitaSat -- Computer-to-satellite technology developed by VITA
Issue 11: Democratizing Communications for Ecuador
On the Record - The Fight for the Amazon
Vol. 16, Iss. 11
April 4, 2001
Democratizing Communications for Ecuador
Series Conclusion
Contents:
- A Letter from the Author, Peter Lippman
- From the Editors: The Power of Communications
- In the News:
- Three Woodsmen Speared to Death by Tagaeri after Poaching on Protected Land
- Police Arrests in Mindo Reserve Open the Way to Resumed Construction of the OCP Pipeline
- Democratizing Communications for Ecuador: Intercom-Ecuanex: Ecuador's First Internet Provider
- Beyond Capacity Building: Intercom's Services to Activists
- Branching out into Radio
- Intercom Connects Communities
- Trying Again
- Resources
- Glossary
A Letter from the Author, Peter Lippman
Dear Readers,
Thank you for staying with us through this series about Ecuador.
As you have seen, Ecuador may be considered an 'oasis of peace' between its neighbors Colombia and Peru, but it is nevertheless a very unstable country. Its citizens do not enjoy security in any sense of the word. To a large extent, this is a result of the assault of the international oil industry on Ecuador's resources. This assault takes place with the full knowledge and collusion of the Ecuadorian government.
We have tried in this series to describe the response of the human rights activists, environmentalists, and indigenous communities of Ecuador to this assault. They are acting bravely, and we can take encouragement from their resistance. But what they are doing is only natural: trying to save the land that is their only sustenance.
The forms of resistance are many and unpredictable. They ebb and flow. The only thing that can be predicted with confidence is that the corporations will continue to refine their invasion of the Amazon forest, and that resistance will continue. Today there may be a lull in the activity, but tomorrow, the entire country could explode.
In 2002 the resistance will focus on the massive increase of oil exploration and extraction that is planned for the Oriente. Following the recent arrest of protesters (which is reported in this issue), construction of the pipeline (OCP) is now under way. The government has also repeated its intention to auction off more blocks of oil concession territory to foreign oil corporations. According to published reports, at least two more blocks in the Oriente are due to be leased 'sometime after April,' together with several more on the coast.
The privatization of electric companies, also resisted by Ecuadorians, is not finished either. Sale of shares in seven companies on the coast is planned for late April. If this happens, Leonidas Iza, president of the national indigenous organization CONAIE, has predicted a national protest like the ones that shut down the country in 2000 and 2001. He was quoted by Reuters as saying: 'If the government continues with the auction on April 26, the Noboa brothers will go home and we will lead an uprising.' (President Gustavo Noboa's brother Ricardo is the head of the state 'Modernization Council,' which coordinates the privatization.)
Meanwhile, Ecuador's economic sickness continues to illustrate the false allure of oil development. Oil output declined seven percent in the first two months of this year as compared to the same period in 2001 (Dow Jones Newswires, March 26). Inflation, earlier projected at 10 percent, is expected to remain above 15 percent for the year.
The gloomy picture of Ecuador that we have painted in this series is an apt illustration of globalization. In this context, an event will take place this coming fall that may put Quito on the world map: a Conference of Hemispheric Trade Ministers is convening at that time to negotiate on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). Activists are planning a World Social Forum for the Latin American region, and there is talk of an indigenous effort to surround and block the site of the Ministerial Conference.
In other words, Ecuador will remain at the center of the debate over globalization throughout 2002. For continued updates on Ecuadorian developments, watch the following websites:
- Quito website.
- Amazon Watch
- El Comercio (Spanish)
- Hoy Online (Spanish)
From the Editors: The Power of Communications
'Access to the Internet is a human right,' says Roberto Roggiero, former Executive Secretary of the progressive communications organization Intercom-Ecuanex.
To North Americans and Europeans who take the Internet for granted, this may seem overblown. But throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon, communities live in isolation from each other and from the urban centers of Ecuador. Establishing an Internet access in the Oriente could reduce the need to introduce other and more invasive forms of intervention in this sensitive environment.
This is the subject of Peter Lippman's final issue on the indigenous in Ecuador. Lippman has seen the benefits from information technology in other places where he has worked for The Advocacy Project. In Bosnia, he found that the Internet provided the only lifeline to the outside world for some of the beleaguered communities cut off by the war.
During his mission to Ecuador last year he found that the Internet provides activists with a vital organizing tool because of where they live. For example, villagers who live several days' walk or canoe ride away from Lago Agrio, who have no telephone or electricity, have no efficient way of notifying the Amazon Defense Front if they see that an oil company is dumping hazardous wastes. Even the telephone links between Lago Agrio and Quito are unreliable at times.
Over the past ten years Intercom-Ecuanex has tried to address this sort of problem. Once remote communities have access to electronic communication, not only will they be at less risk from health emergencies, but they will also be able to tap into an almost unlimited flow of information. Increasing access to communication throughout the region will empower activists to organize and to fight for their rights. They have already made enormous strides in forcing the government and oil companies to listen to them. How much more effective they could be with access to the World Wide Web and the contacts that come with it!
To restate the crucial point: the Internet could bring the Amazon into the twenty-first century without destroying the environment. As we have seen in this series, roads and telephone lines are a first step in the destruction of the Amazon because they encourage colonization and deforestation. According to Roberto Roggiero, information technology could help to bypass this destructive kind of development without denying remote communities the modern health and educational services they need to survive.
In other words, the broad ambition of Intercom amounts to nothing less than democratizing communications for the disadvantaged people of Ecuador. In this sense Intercom's goals dovetail with those of The Advocacy Project, as well as the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES). CDES calls attention to the area of human rights not guaranteed by political arrangements: health, education, the right to work, food, shelter, and a clean environment. The Internet can provide remote or underserved communities with a short cut to better education and health care -- as basic human rights as any other.
In the News: Three Woodsmen Speared to Death by Tagaeri after Poaching on Protected Land
In an incident that illustrates the critical importance of respecting indigenous rights, members of the Tagaeri clan of the Huaorani indigenous nation have killed three men who were cutting wood without permission on their traditional territory.
The attack came on March 17 after the intruders, who are thought to be Colombians, had been using chain saws in the forest continuously for several days. They were killed in a remote area of the Amazon rain forest near the Tiguino River in Pastaza province.
The Tagaeri are one of only two 'uncontacted' groups of indigenous people in Ecuador. They have shunned all dealings with settlers and developers. They live a mobile life of hunting and fishing, and inhabit an area overlapping with Yasuni National Park. This area has been declared 'protected' by the Ecuadorian government, but the Colombian poachers were attracted by valuable wood in their forest.
This is not the first time that the Tagaeri have dealt ruthlessly with intruders. They are thought to have killed two missionaries who approached them in 1984. More recently, they killed a member of the Quichua community, whom they accused of employing shamanistic practices against the Tagaeri.
The recent confrontation at Tiguino began when the Tagaeri approached the woodcutters, who continued with their work. The woodcutters defended themselves with firearms and killed one of the Tagaeri. On March 17, the Tagaeri returned and killed three woodcutters with spears. The woodcutters' chain saws and canoes have been found, as well as other belongings. The three bodies are presumed to have been thrown into the river.
Luis Awa, spokesman for the Huaorani organization ONHAE, said that the continuous sound of the chainsaws disturbed the Tagaeri, and that the woodcutters invited their fate by showing a 'lack of respect' toward the indigenous people.
Mr. Awa emphasized that the Tagaeri tolerate no intrusion onto their land, neither for oil exploration nor other development. According to the daily newspaper Hoy, he said that if such incursions continue, 'no one can be sure what the reaction of the Tagaeri will be' (March 22). Mr. Awa called for establishment of a military patrol around the area to prevent invasions.
Pedro Enqueri, Vice President of ONHAE, said that the killings by the Tagaeri were a 'natural reaction' to the contraband cutting of wood (El Comercio March 27). He added that the land inhabited by the Tagaeri is even off limits to other Huaorani. Recent tensions have caused ONHAE to cancel construction of an eco-tourism lodge in the area.
Police Arrests in Mindo Reserve Open the Way to Resumed Construction of the OCP Pipeline
The Ecuadorian police have put an end to the much-publicized protest in the Mindo-Nambillo Protected Cloud Forest, thus opening the way for the resumed construction of the new oil pipeline (OCP).
Seventeen protesters were taken away by 100 members of the National Police on March 25 and bussed to Quito. They included activists from Colombia, several European countries, and the United States, and by the end of last week half of them had already been deported. The Ecuadorian protesters -- three local environmentalists -- will be tried in local courts.
Construction of the 300-mile OCP pipeline began last summer. The Mindo Reserve, which lies directly in its path, is situated in the Andean mountains not far from Quito. It is the home of rare orchids, butterflies, and over 450 species of birds, many of which are in danger of extinction.
Local and international activists began obstructing work of the OCP consortium on January 2 of this year. The construction was then halted pending the arrival of better weather in April. Recently preparations began on a resumption of the project, and then the police moved in to arrest the protestors.
Authorities accused the activists of 'failure to respect property rights.' However, a spokesperson for Accion Ecologica, one of the environmentalist organizations involved, said that the charges were not true. The tree-sit and encampment were located on the private land of Marcelo Franco, who had given permission for the presence of the protestors.
In early March, Ecuador's Environmental Ministry had temporarily revoked the OCP's construction license at Mindo, accusing the consortium of damaging the water drainage system and causing sediment to pollute the only water source available to local residents.
The arrests have not stopped the protests. The day after they occurred, over 60 protestors blocked the main highway between Quito and Mindo. They blockaded two large trucks carrying pipes destined for the new pipeline and demanded that the activists be freed in exchange for the trucks. However, police seized the trucks and arrested several more protestors the next day. They found the slogan 'OCP Out of Our Town' painted on one of the pipes.
Democratizing Communications for Ecuador: Intercom-Ecuanex: Ecuador's First Internet Provider
Intercom-Ecuanex was formed in 1990, when a group of 20 NGOs decided to work together to create an Internet node that would provide connectivity to progressive organizations. At the time, there was no Internet connection in Ecuador.
In the beginning, Intercom only provided email, using a now-outmoded type of connectivity protocol. In those pioneer days, email transfers took place via telephone with San Francisco. Because it was cheaper to call from the United States to Ecuador than the reverse, the phone call was always initiated in San Francisco. During this phone connection, which took place once or twice a day, packets of e-mail were exchanged. In time, the exchanges were increased to five or six times a day.
This continued to be the extent of Intercom's services until 1995, when satellite connections became available. By 1996 Intercom was able to increase its services, and it began providing web access. This early work by Intercom served to popularize the use of the Internet among the progressive NGOs of Ecuador. Later, however, other Internet providers were established, and Intercom's attention shifted to training and providing other services.
Intercom's three main areas of work today are training and capacity building, information services, and communications support for community organizations. The first area comprises basic services such as hosting listservs, organizing mailing lists and databases, training for Linux management, and designing web pages. Intercom provides collaborative tools for NGOs such as internal networks, web-based calendars, and directories.
Intercom also trains organizations in the use of a type of 'virtual space' called Action Applications. This is an on-line collaborative program that makes it possible to publish on the Internet without proficiency in programming, to share files, save versions of a document, and generally communicate via documents that colleagues access at their own convenience. Action Applications was developed by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).
An important example of Intercom's capacity building is its project with CONAIE, the umbrella group for indigenous organizations throughout Ecuador. Intercom's goal for CONAIE is for all of its member organizations to have email access as a minimum. Intercom is presently working with CONAIE to find funding for the project.
Another example is a telecenter project with the Federación de Barrios del Noroccidente de Quito (Federation of the Northwest Barrios of Quito), a large organization that advocates for assistance to marginalized urban neighborhoods. The goal of this project is to train young people from the 'Barrios' in the use of computer under the Linux platform, and in the use of the Internet tools. This project has received start-up funding for one year from a local agency called 'Comité Ecuménico de Proyectos.'
Beyond Capacity Building: Intercom's Services to Activists
Intercom provides several valuable services to community organizations in Ecuador and the surrounding region. One of the most important of these is Infodesarrollo, its Internet portal to organizations concerned with sustainable development. This portal was opened in June 2001.
Roberto Roggiero from Intercom calls the Infodesarrollo portal an 'electronic library.' It contains region wide links, a newsletter, analysis, opinion, and archives of resources for development. Main themes include human rights and environmental issues, both in Ecuador and throughout Latin America. Presently a staff of over ten people located in Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, and further afield contribute material.
Intercom organizes online conferences. One such conference coordinated for the Civic Anti-Corruption Network. Corruption hurts all Ecuadorians. The Ecuadorian government funds an anti-corruption agency, the Commission for Civil Control of Corruption. This agency is elected by NGOs and acts independently of the government. The Civic Anti-Corruption Network was formed to ensure the continued independence of this agency.
Intercom, together with several other organizations, coordinated an electronic conference for the Civic Anti-Corruption Network in which network members participated, over a two-month period, by sending postings to a central server. Papers that were contributed provided a definition of corruption, discussed ways of combatting it, what the state should do about corruption, and what the private sector should do. There were 130 subscribers, with about 30 active contributors.
Intercom is participating in a new project created by APC, the Latin America Internet Policy Monitoring Project. This region wide project, coordinated by Intercom, keeps an eye on new laws regarding the Internet.
Spurred by legislation that threatens free use of the Internet in Great Britain and Japan, Intercom and collaborating organizations throughout Latin America monitor new laws that may affect the right to Internet access. The objective of the monitoring project is to ensure that governments will not legalize censorship or governmental surveillance over the Internet, so that people can express themselves over the Internet and use its tools to organize in their communities without fear of prosecution.
The guiding concept for this project is that people have the same right to freedom of expression over the Internet that they do in other media. Because of the relatively recent advent of the Internet as a medium, and especially because of its inherently democratic nature, the danger for repression of free speech over the Internet is very real in unstable countries with repressive governments.
Intercom's interest in safeguarding free expression on the Internet is a natural result of its position on the right to unrestricted use of the Internet. Mr. Roggiero says, 'Our approach to the monitoring program begins with the concept that access to the Internet is a human right. This is defined as human rights applied to communication via the Internet. These are not new rights, but an emphasis on how rights are applied on the Internet.' Read more information about this project.
Branching Out into Radio
A final informational project under development by Intercom works to facilitate the combination of Internet and radio media. In developed countries, most radio stations now depend on the Internet for a large part of their information. Ecuador has numerous local radio stations in remote areas where the population could benefit in many ways from enhanced information capabilities.
CORAPE, the Community Radio Project of Ecuador, is a network of community radios throughout Ecuador, some located in remote areas of the highlands and the Amazon. CORAPE produces radio content and sends it to stations via regular mail on cassette tapes, or simply plays a program over the telephone. A few stations with more resources receive transmissions via Aler, a satellite-based down-link system.
Intercom is working with CORAPE to develop a program that will link community radio stations. In this project, any radio station that has Internet access and an MP3 audio-download program will be able to download radio programs digitally. Other stations that only have e-mail will at least be able to receive written programs such as news releases. Intercom will set up a central electronic network in which stations share news and exchange other material through e-mail.
This project could also include local Internet centers that are not only used by the radio stations, but by the community. In this way a local radio station would be in a position to offer services such as fax and email to the community.
Mr. Roggiero explained that today, a listener in a remote community will write a request to a radio station asking about information, for example, on how to deal with malaria. Then the radio does the research, and broadcasts the answer in the form of an informational program. This process would be greatly facilitated if the station had Internet access.
Intercom Connects Communities
It is in its relationship with the Amazon Defense Front (FDA) that Intercom gives the most concrete assistance to protecting the Oriente. In the Lago Agrio area, where the FDA's headquarters is located, Intercom has been working for several years to establish 'telecenters' -- remote Internet centers that are available to community organizations and the general public -- designed to connect communities and promote grassroots communication.
Given the difficulties in communication between Lago Agrio and Quito, Lago Agrio could almost qualify as a 'remote' area itself, even though it is a small city with electricity, radio, and telephone service. But the communities where the constituency of the Amazon Defense Front lives are truly isolated. Information from these locations reaches Lago Agrio slowly and in an incomplete form, and there is little or no communication among such communities. They are thus left out of the process of decision-making that affects them so strongly.
In the past few years, Intercom made a valiant attempt at establishing a telecenter in Lago Agrio with one technology, with disappointing results. Now new technology is available that has proved successful in other places. With the necessary funding, Intercom looks to be on the verge of making Lago Agrio and its surrounding communities remote no more.
Today a visitor to Quito can hardly walk down the street in the tourist neighborhood without stumbling over an Internet café. But in Lago Agrio, even more than most other towns in the Oriente, Internet service is hard to come by. A few indigenous and human rights organizations have email addresses in Lago Agrio, and Intercom has helped the Amazon Defense Front set up a connection at its headquarters, but it is very difficult to surf the Internet.
Mr. Roggiero explained that if one is lucky, the Internet connection in Lago Agrio is made at 2400 bps, and if one is very lucky, at 9600 bps, which allows for some browsing. The Amazon Defense Front has a computer with a fax modem, and during working hours, it is only possible to use email. The overburdened telephone lines of Lago Agrio are too congested then to support web surfing, although this is easier at nights and on weekends. The FDA uses its email service primarily to correspond with financial supporters in the United States. Contact with Intercom, CDES, and other colleagues in Quito usually takes place by telephone.
In 1997, with support from the Canadian-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Intercom launched a program to establish several telecenters in and around Lago Agrio. There was to be one center in Lago Agrio and several others in surrounding indigenous communities. This was to be the beginning of an alternative communication system for the constituents of the Amazon Defense Front, both indigenous and 'colonos' (settlers) who live in remote communities, connecting the region to the rest of Ecuador and the world.
The Intercom/IDRC project attempted to make communications links by using high-frequency radio (HF) to transmit computer data. The ambition of this project was to set up a reliable communications system and train residents in the communities of the Oriente to use it.
Employing a Cuban technician, Intercom tried for over a year to make the technology work. However, the project was beset by many problems. The Ecuadorian government delayed granting Intercom a radio frequency until the project was almost ended. The fatal obstacle, however, was that the combination of HF radio and computer was not able to deliver a strong signal between Lago Agrio and Quito.
An HF/computer system had been used with success in Cuba as a communications link between cities. Intercom's Cuban technician demonstrated the system in Quito, over a distance of seven kilometers, and it worked. However, when it was set up in Lago Agrio, the signal was corrupted and failed to reach Quito. It could only even reach Lago Agrio from the villages sporadically.
Attempts at getting the HF system to work continued for more than a year. When this proved fruitless, Intercom tried with BellSouth telephone company to make computer postings via cellular telephone, but that attempt was also disappointing. On one side of the river in Lago Agrio, this worked, but there was no reception on the other side of the river. So in the long run neither radio nor telephone worked.
Intercom finally gave up. Too many resources were being wasted, and it had to be discontinued.
Trying Again
Now Intercom and the Amazon Defense Front have developed what they consider to be a more realistic, workable plan for wiring up the Oriente. The objective of the plan is the same as before: to make it possible for FDA's grassroots member communities to use Internet technology to strengthen their organizations and defend the environment.
The new plan has two phases; first, telecenters will be established in Lago Agrio and in several surrounding communities that have telephone access. In the first six months of this project, Intercom plans to train 16 people -- two people from each of eight FDA member-organizations -- in the use of basic Internet tools.
Workshops preparing FDA trainees to be self-reliant in use of the Internet will cover graphic design, design of bulletins and web publications, the use of Internet technology in strengthening organizations, and the use of the Internet in increasing civic participation in activism. Strategy sessions will be held to coordinate the construction of a community electronic communications network. At the end of the six-month training period, trainees will implement a pilot campaign to practice their skills. They are also expected to pass their knowledge on to other members of their communities.
In the second phase of the project, the electronic communications network will be expanded to serve FDA member-communities that do not have telephone service. Recently, a new technology has been developed that will bypass the obstacles that confronted Intercom in its earlier attempts. The Washington-based organization Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), in existence since 1959, has long focused on problems of communication with remote communities for the purpose of development.
In recent years VITA has perfected a computer-to-satellite technology, VitaSat, that makes it possible for communities without electricity or telephones to exchange packets of text-based information between a computer in a local community and a satellite passing overhead. This technology is currently operational in several African countries, and the cost to outfit a community is not prohibitive. All that is required is an electricity source (usually a solar panel), a computer, an antenna, and a VitaSat 'wireless router.'
The resulting communications capability is reminiscent of what Intercom achieved between Quito and San Francisco in 1990. That is, it is not advanced considering what is available in the comfort of the city, but for remote communities, it could mean the difference between life and death.
Intercom has created a proposal and budget for the first phase of this plan. The budget total comes to $71,650, of which local support, primarily from Intercom and the Amazon Defense Front, will cover 60 percent. Fundraising is under way for the remaining costs.
When the first phase of the project is completed, Intercom will propose that VITA provide the technology needed to set up VitaSat installations, assuming funding becomes available. The planned schedule for this phase involves a six-month period of training and installation. Intercom intends to train not only activists in FDA-affiliated organizations, but also other members of the communities. Then, if there is turnover in an organization, others who are already trained can take over.
A community would receive one VitaSat, to be set up in a central lab or office. It could be hooked up to several computers so that more than one person could use email at a time. In some cases the project would be located in a school, so that students can use it too.
The budget for this project will be around $100,000. One half of this budget will take care of setup costs, and the other half will cover maintenance and training for two years. Equipment for each community costs around $2,000, and maintenance about $500 a year.
The establishment of an electronic communications network in the Oriente will greatly facilitate a special communications project, related to Plan Colombia. The Lago Agrio area is suffering from the impact of the war in Colombia, and the Amazon Defense Front is participating in a network to monitor problems stemming from the war. The new communications network will make it easier for the FDA's local partners to do this work.
Electronic communication can also help remote communities in marketing, as described by the IDRC: '...the ability to find markets and trade channels is very important. Because these communities are isolated, communication tools are critical. The electronic communication system can help to support...revenue-generating projects of the population. A reliable and 'universal' communication system would help in marketing, locating clients, getting information, contacting tourist operators, etc....With proper training and communications support, it is achievable'(from a description of the 1997 project).
Resources
Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES)
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE)
Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (FDA)
Infodesarrollo
Intercom-Ecuanex
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA)
Glossary
CDES -- The Center for Economic and Social Rights
Colonos -- Settlers in territory belonging to indigenous communities in the Oriente
CONAIE -- Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Amazon, led by Antonio Vargas
CORAPE -- Community Radio Project of Ecuador, a network of community radios
FDA -- Amazon Defense Front (Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia)
HF -- High Frequency radio
IDRC -- Canadian-based International Development Research Centre
Lago Agrio -- Capital of Sucumbios Province, northernmost province in the Oriente and headquarters of the FDA
Oriente -- The Ecuadorian Amazon; eastern half of Ecuador
Plan Colombia -- An economic and military plan to eradicate drug activity in Colombia and strengthen Colombia the state. The United States has contributed $1.3 billion to this plan since 2000. Spillover effects are being felt in Ecuador.
VITA -- Washington-based organization Volunteers in Technical Assistance
VitaSat -- Computer-to-satellite technology developed by VITA
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