-Caveat Lector- how do you say "Vietnam" in Spanish? -- -- -- -- -- -- - -- - -- -- - - - ----- -- --- -- - - - ---- - -- - - - -- ---- -- - -- - We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.
Edward R. Murrow NEURONAUTIC INSTITUTE on-line: http://home.earthlink.net/~thew > From: Kris Millegan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: Conspiracy Theory Research List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 10:35:20 EST > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [CTRL] Fwd: [CIA-DRUGS] equador set to explode > > > > From: "preston peet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 9:39 AM > To: "cia-drugs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > CC: "spynews" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [CIA-DRUGS] equador set to explode > > US CA: OPED: Developments In Ecuador Are Alarming > URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1937/a01.html > Newshawk: Sledhead > Pubdate: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 > Source: Record, The (CA) > Copyright: 2001 The Record > Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Website: http://www.recordnet.com/ > Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428 > Author: Lawrence Reichard > Note: Reichard is coordinator of the Rural Economic Alternatives Program of > the American Friends Service Committee in Stockton. > > > DEVELOPMENTS IN ECUADOR ARE ALARMING > > Stocktonian Troubled During Fact-Finding Trip > > While the world is focused on events halfway around the world in > Afghanistan, a brutal war is raging a scant two hours by plane from Miami in > the mountains and jungles of Colombia. Unfortunately, the war is not going > to take a vacation during the Afghan conflict. Instead, the war in Colombia > continues to grow and intensify, oblivious to events elsewhere. It is > spilling over Colombia's borders and threatening to envelop the entire > northern Andean region of South America. And Ecuador is becoming more and > more enmeshed in the conflict. > > I returned last month from a two-week American Friends Service Committee > fact-finding trip to Ecuador and Colombia that looked at this war, Ecuador's > increasing involvement in it and U.S. policy toward the region. > > What I found was disturbing. I found U.S.-sponsored programs riddled with > questionable practices, if not outright corruption. I found widespread > misrepresentations, if not outright lies and deceit. I found expensive, > pie-in-the-sky U.S.-sponsored programs that are not grounded in the everyday > realities of Colombia or Ecuador. > > In Ecuador, I visited the coastal city of Manta, where the U.S. is building > a base to house 400 military personnel. They are supposed to limit their > activities to anti-drug efforts, but even policy makers in Washington have > conceded it's impossible to separate the drug war in Colombia from the > Colombian military's war against that country's guerrilla armies. > > The reaction of the Ecuadorians to the presence of U.S. military personnel > in their land varied from alarm to approval, but even base supporters > questioned the supposed underlying mission of the base. They conceded that > ultimately, any war on drugs can only be won on the consumer end of the > problem -- inside the United States and Europe -- and that previous efforts > to stamp out drug production in Peru and elsewhere has simply resulted in a > shift to production locations. > > Base supporters admitted they had no background on how the military presence > in similar small, neutral countries adjacent to conflicts in Central America > and Southeast Asia had pulled those countries into their neighbors' wars > with disastrous results. Faced with the possibility the U.S. presence > would invite cross-border attacks by Colombian guerrillas, base supporters > offered nothing more than hope that this wouldn't happen. Such hope is > doing little to control violence on the Colombia/Ecuador border, which is > claiming an average of one life per day. > > My group met with Miguel Moran, a professor at the university in Manta, > coordinator of The Tohalli Movement, an organization opposed to the U.S. > base and author of a book on the base. Moran painted a vivid picture of a > military base built on lies, misrepresentations and deceit. > > The U.S. base actually represents an expansion of an existing Ecuadorian > air base. According to supporters, no locals were displaced to make room > for the original base. But according to Moran and peasant leaders with whom > we met, as many as 2,000 poor families were uprooted. None of them was > compensated. The evidence we saw firsthand supported that assertion. The > area surrounding the base is currently inhabited, indicating a likelihood of > previous habitation in the base area. A security perimeter around the base > is also forcing local fisherman farther out to sea in small boats that are > ill-equipped for fishing in deeper waters. Locals told us several fishermen > have been lost as a result. > > Plans to house U.S. military personnel in Ecuador created considerable > controversy, but the plan was foisted on weak and unpopular former President > Nahuat. Debate on the matter was stifled by the creation of a presidential > commission that rubber-stamped the deal. The Ecuadorian Constitution > clearly requires congressional approval before any foreign troops are > invited onto national soil, but the presidential commission effectively > blocked such action. The Ecuadorian Supreme Court, stacked with partisan > members of the Christian Democratic Party, gave its blessing to the > circumvention. This maneuver continues to enrage base opponents and > constitutionalists. Ecuador is not immune to military coups, and does not > need its constitution weakened by chicanery. > > According to the base plan, no more than 17 U.S. personnel were to be > stationed at the base prior to its official opening in mid-October. But > several sources told us the American military had taken over Manta's Hotel > Oro Verde and occupied all of its 160 rooms. Several sources also said the > number of U.S. personnel seen on Manta's streets suggested numbers > considerably beyond the prescribed limit of 17. This bodes ill for > adherence to the current limit of 400 U.S. personnel. > > Misrepresentation of such numbers is a serious problem that has plagued past > U.S. interventions in Central America, Southeast Asia and elsewhere. > > Supporters of the base continually evoked the base's benefits to the local > economy. But according to Moran, 800 jobs were promised for the base's > construction; only 200 jobs materialized. Our observation supported the > lower figure. According to Moran, locals were told they would receive > U.S.-scale wages but instead were being paid the local minimum wage of $120 > per month, a far cry from livable. > > Both sides spoke in terms of the eventual creation of a comprehensive base > that would take in the expanded air base, nearby port and Ecuadorian navy > facilities. Plans are already under way to construct a road that would > directly link the three facilities. > > There's only one problem: Thousands of people live inside the triangle > formed by the three facilities. Should the idea of a comprehensive base > materialize, then these people are going to have to go. If history repeats > itself, they will be forcibly removed without compensation. > > Many Ecuadorians are convinced the United States intends to establish a > permanent colonial presence in Manta to take the place of what the United > States gave up in Panama. It is feared that Manta will be used to train > anti-democratic elements of Latin America's armies and will be a staging > ground for U.S. intervention in the region. > > These are precisely the kinds of things that gave rise to deadly riots > during the U.S. occupation of the Panama Canal Zone and could incite > guerrilla activity in Ecuador. > > Only time will tell whether these fears will become reality. But some > things are already clear. The United States is spending more than $650 > million per year for a program that is unlikely to have any effect on U.S. > drug consumption. > > The Bush administration and its supporters in Congress are being > disingenuous in asserting that the administration's Andean Initiative has > nothing to do with fighting Colombia's guerrillas. The United States is > getting more and more involved in Colombia's overall war. And, for the > largely impoverished people of Ecuador who have a long history and tradition > of peace and neutrality, U.S. foreign policy is pushing their small country > into a potentially devastating war from which there may be no easy exit. > -------------- > posted by Preston Peet > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > <FONT COLOR="#000099">Universal Inkjet Refill Kit $29.95 > Refill any ink cartridge for less! > Includes black and color ink. > </FONT><A > HREF="http://us.click.yahoo.com/ltH6zA/MkNDAA/ySSFAA/xYTolB/TM";><B>Click > Here!</B></A> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > Please let us stay on topic and be civil. > To unsubscribe please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs > -Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org > OM > > Your use of Yahoo! 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