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Now
Trumped Up Charges and Collusion Between
a Mining Company and the Government of Ecuador
The
Police Raid on My House
By CARLOS ZORRILLA
When I received the very early phone
call around 6:15 on the morning of the 17th of October informing
me that there were "very many policemen" headed my
way, I did not hesitate. I closed down my computer, said goodbye
to my son, and left my home. I didn't even have to say goodbye
to my wife. Since I had been connected to the Internet, and thus
kept my line busy, I didn't know for how long the person calling
had been trying to reach me. The nearest place cars can drive
to is a 15 minute easy walk from our home. Five to seven if you
run. As it turned out, I had about 10 minutes to spare before
the first group of police arrived looking for me. The nightmare
had begun.
As I hid in the nearby forest
more police arrived, some bearing automatic weapons, others wearing
ski-masks and all in bullet-proof vests. They pointed their guns
at my wife and son ordering them not to move and informed them
that they were looking for me and that they had a search warrant
to go into our home. They then burst into our home without the
warrant looking for me. She insisted on seeing the warrant, and
20 minutes later a District Attorney from the city of Cayambe
showed up supposedly bearing the warrants. When my wife asked
the DA to show her the search warrant, he briefly showed it to
her, but was not allowed to hold it and read it, but merely read
it to her from several yards away. As she recalls, the warrant
said that I had stolen some goods, but didn't specify what. By
then there were a total of 17 police around our home, and some
entered our home (in all, 19 persons participated in the raid).
Some of police wearing uniforms did not have name tags to identify
them, and when asked to identify themselves, they refused. Some
were very aggressive and violent, yelling and insulting my teenage
son and wife, and at one point, pushing them aside for no reason.
Around this time, several police
showed up with one of our workers, who had been violently roused
out of bed by one of the agents. The police had broken into his
home, without a search warrant and violently pushed Roberto down
on the bed because he dared asked for his identity and called
him all kinds of names, forcing him to hurry up and get dressed
and accompany the agent down to our home.
Six police then went into our
home and went through everything, but specially my room, which
they tore apart. They threw the hundreds of books on my bookshelves
on the ground, searched in every drawer and closet space, and
forced open a locked wooden box where we kept cash. Outside,
the police had taken Roberto to every farm building and cabin
to search them. When my wife Sandy asked what they were looking
for, they said it was anything that might be damaging to the
State!
After about an hour or so,
and after Roberto had returned to our home, the police said something
to the effect that "we found nothing and that they should
leave as they had other things to do". My wife was at that
moment outside the house comforting our son, who was extremely
upset and angered by the police action, and especially the abusive
way they had been treated. It was then that one of the police
took Roberto away from the house under the pretense that he wanted
to talk to him in private. From a distance of about a dozen meters
he saw another police walk into the house. Minutes later this
same police walks out of the house and talks to one of the officials,
who then goes back into the house, and comes back with the hand
gun and a plastic bag containing what they say was drugs that
they had planted in our home. Recall that there was approximately
10 minutes time lapse between the time I received the warning
and the time the police started arriving. Who, in their right
mind and if impartial, will ever believe that if I had guns and
drugs in my home that disposing them would not be the first thing
I would have done before the police showed up? But then again,
impartiality is not even a question here (the police, by the
way, said they found the gun under a magazine in my son's bookshelves,
out in the open, and the so-called drugs were found right in
the living room behind some books. BOTH ITEMS WERE "FOUND"
AFTER MORE THAN ONE HOUR OF INTENSE SEARCHING.
To date, I've been able to
certify that they took personal videocassettes, hundreds of CD-ROMs
with personal information and photographs, DVDs, several thousand
dollars in cash, and a debit card from a US bank. I am sure if
I could return and go carefully through my house I will discover
other missing things. It is not the missing stuff that is so
upsetting, but the outright violation of our privacy, and our
basic fundamental rights that are so deeply disturbing, and the
ease how a transnational mining company can buy such gross violations.
It is also worth pointing out
that according to several eye-witnesses, the police were transported
in five unmarked cars, without license plates. Apparently, at
least one car is said to belong to the mining company. In addition,
eye-witnesses told me that they saw at least one person known
to work for the mining company hanging around Santa Rosa, the
village closest to my home, the night before the raid. The same
person, accompanied by others known to support the mining company
and perhaps also being employed by them, were also waiting for
the police the day of the raid. No doubt hoping to see the police
take me in handcuffs.
Some of you are no doubt wondering
why I would leave my wife and son to confront such a situation
on their own. We, in fact, had discussed this probable scenario
before, concluding that if it ever came to pass, that I would
leave because it was clear that it was not them, but me the company
was after.
For nearly three years I, along with other leaders of the resistance
to Ascendant Copper Corporation's mining project, have been subjected
to countless instances of intimidation, including death threats,
criminal lawsuits, and very dirty defamation campaigns against
DECOIN and me personally. I knew I was one of the main leaders
they were after, and that they wanted me out of action really
badly. All along, the company's CEO has been badly mislead into
thinking that the opposition is based on the leadership of a
few people. They could hardly be more wrong. The resistance to
their mining project is deeply entrenched in Intag's population.
The Made-up
Accusation.
But to understand what a bunch
of police and a crooked DA were doing in my home at 6:15 in the
morning with 17 heavily armed thugs and bearing a search and
a arrest warrant against me, we have to go back to the events
of July 13th 2006 outside the doors of the Ministry of Energy
and Mines in Quito.
On that date, approximately
400 people from Intag had marched down Amazonas Avenue to demand
that the Minister of Energy and Mines meet with Intag officials
and force Ascendant Copper to leave the Intag area. I went mostly
along to photograph the event (later producing a 15 minute photo
video with my older son) All of a sudden I was called to a smaller
crowd that had broken away from the main crowd, and told to translate,
because there were some women distributing anti-Decoin information.
When I arrived, there were approximately 50 people surrounding
the two foreign-looking women, demanding an explanation of why
they were there. My youngest son, Martin was already there and
translating, and I just had time to ask the older women, Leslie
Chaplin and her companion, who it was that had hired them to
do this. All they said was that a friend had hired them. I then
became aware that the crowd had started to block the traffic
on the street, and was worried for their safety. As I left to
try and move the crowd out of the street I do remember distinctly
saying to the crowd "don't do anything to them". I
was concerned that if there was violence on the part of the crowd,
it would be used to smear the opposition even more. That was
the last I saw of the Ms. Chaplin and her companion. But a few
days later, Ms. Chaplin filed robbery and assault charges against
me, saying that I had stolen a $1200 video camera and $500 in
cash. It's worth emphasizing that the whole exchange with Ms.
Chaplin was not only witnessed by several dozen witnesses, but
also was photographs by several photographers, and filmed by
at least one person.
Based on these made-up charges,
likely orchestrated by the company, Ecuador's legal system initiated
a criminal lawsuit against me, but without notifying me. The
court appointed a public defender, who also failed to notify
me I was charged, so that I could present evidence during the
90 day period assigned to prove I was innocent. When the 90 day
period expired, the District Attorney asked the judge to issue
the warrants, and it was then that they mysteriously were able
to find me.
As it stands now, if I am arrested,
I will have to remain jailed until early January, which is the
period assigned to the trial. The lawyer defending me will try
to get the arrest order revoked, but he admits this is will be
very difficult. The more so because of the "new evidence"
against me that the police planted in my home, and which undoubtedly
result in new criminal lawsuits.
Public pressure will play a
very important role in the outcome of this outrageous miscarriage
of justice. This means letters written denouncing all this, contacting
the press, and letters of support. Already, many of you have
done some of this, and I am deeply moved by the amount of support
I've received. Please don't give up. Help make this Ascendant's
last mistake in Ecuador.
Carlos Zorrilla is a environmental organizer in Ecuador.
How You
Can Help
Please write to the Minister
of Government and Police, Antonio Andretta A., with copies to
the other people listed below, expressing your concern that questionable
and unverified accusations are being used to intimidate and defame
a reputable and upstanding community leader, and urging that
the circumstances of both the complaint and the police raid be
fully and expeditiously investigated.
Contact addresses:
Abogado Antonio Andretta Arizaga
Ministro de Gobierno y Policía
Calle Benalcazar y Espejo
Quito - Ecuador informacion@mingobierno.gov.ec
fax +593 258-0067
Dr. Claudio Muecay Arcos
Defensor del Pueblo
Av. de la Prensa N54-97 y Jorge Piedra
Quito - Ecuador
fax +593 2 330-1841
contacto(at)defensordelpueblo.gov.ec
His Excellency Fernando Ribadeneira
Ambassador to Canada
Embassy of the Republic of Ecuador
50 O'Connor Street, Suite 316,
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6L2
Canada
Telephone (613) 563-8206, 4286/1-866-204-1735 (24h)
Fax (613) 235-5776
e-mail: mecuacan(at)sprint.ca
Hna. Elsie Monge
Directora Ejecutiva
Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos CEDHU
Carlos Ibarra 176 y 10 de Agosto
Quito - Ecuador
fax +593 2 258-9272
e-mail: cedhu(at)cedhu.org
Christian Lapointe
Canadian Ambassador to Ecuador
Embajada de Canada
Av. 6 de Diciembre 2816 y Paul Rivet
Quito, Ecuador
P.O. Box 17-11-6512
Tel: (011 593 2) 2232-114/2506-162
Fax: (011 593 2) 2503-108
e-mail: quito@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Gary E. Davis
President and CEO
Ascendant Copper Corporation
10920 West Alameda Avenue, Suite 201
Lakewood, CO 80226
USA
Tel: (303) 824-0271
Fax: (303) 297-0538 www.ascendantcopper.com
e-mail: info(at)ascendantcopper.com
Sasha Angus
Director, Enforcement Division
British Columbia Securities Commission
701 West Georgia Street
P.O. Box 10142, Pacific Centre
Vancouver, B.C. V7Y 1L2
Canada
Telephone: 604-899-6500
Fax: 604-899-6506 www.bcsc.bc.ca
e-mail: inquiries(at)bcsc.bc.ca
Mary Ellen Fieweger
Editor
Periódico Intag/Intag Newspaper
Casilla 211
Otavalo, Imbabura
Ecuador www.intagnewspaper.org
Silvia Quilumbango
President
DECOIN (Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag)
P.O. Box 144
Otavalo, Imbabura
Ecuador
Phone/Fax: (5936 648 593)
e-mail: decoin(at)hoy.net and intagcz(at)uio.satnet.net www.decoin.org
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