“We have lived days of deep sadness, of harassment, of physical mistreatment,” said Dr. Nirza García Valdés, a General Surgery specialist, who worked in the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz, referring to the period immediately following the coup against President Evo Morales Ayma.

“But even in the moments of greatest danger, we did not weaken. We stayed in our positions until the last moment, supporting the health of the sister Bolivian people until it was no longer possible to continue,” said García, a native of Bayamo, in the province of Granma.

“We return victorious. We do not feel defeated. We come with our heads held high, with our mission accomplished, because no coup, nor any regime that may take charge of Bolivia’s fate, can erase our impact.

“The lives saved are there, the grateful patients are there, and the results achieved by Cuba and its international collaboration will always be there.”

Alfredo Escobar Bernal, gastroenterologist, thanked the Cuban government for not abandoning brigade members to suffer the consequences of the coup in Bolivia on their own.

When the coup was consummated, he explained, he was in Santa Cruz and lived moments of uncertainty, along with other colleagues, given the tension that eventually triggered very serious confrontations among Bolivians.

“There were situations in which we felt the support of people who recognize the value of Cuban collaboration, but at other times, supporters of the coup took advantage of our presence to defame Evo Morales and his government.

“I had no doubt that, at all times, we were protected by our country’s authorities through diplomatic channels, and by personnel responsible for the medical mission. They were always aware of our safety.”

As of November 18, 431 health professionals had returned to the country from Bolivia, with the arrival of another group expected shortly. Also returning are members of the Cuban medical brigade in Ecuador, where the government cancelled the bilateral agreement in this sector.

Earlier this month, before the UN General Assembly, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla clarified that our country’s health collaboration programs, which are facing attacks by the current United States administration, are serving “the neediest communities, based on the solidarity and completely voluntary disposition of hundreds of thousands of Cuban professionals; conducted as established in cooperation agreements signed with the governments of these countries; and have enjoyed, for many years, the recognition of the international community, of this organization itself and the World Health Organization, as an outstanding example of South-South Cooperation.”

(Granma)

On June 11 of the same year, the Inter-institutional Cooperation Agreement was signed by then Ecuadorian Vice President Lenín Moreno Garcés and the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba, for the realization of a psycho-social, pedagogical, and clinical genetic study of people with disabilities, known as the Manuela Espejo Solidarity Mission. Through this program, 825,576 persons were assisted, of whom 35,257 were provided neurophysiology or otolaryngology consultations. Some 21,062 patients underwent clinical genetics studies.

In 2013, a contract was signed with the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute (IESS) through which 293 Cuban doctors of different specialties provided medical assistance in 52 of this Institute’s units.

Cuba has provided assistance in emergencies and disasters in Ecuador: in 1986 due to heavy rains, in 2001 due to a dengue epidemic, and to assist victims of the earthquake that occurred on April 16, 2016.

Since the beginning of Cuba’s medical collaboration in this country to date, a total of 3,565 health professionals have provided their services in Ecuador. Some 6,749,666 medical consultations have been provided, 212,360 surgical interventions, 3,548 births assisted, and 100,084 vaccinations administered.

At all times, Cuban health professionals have faithfully performed the role entrusted to them by Ecuador’s health system, in strict compliance with the signed agreements stipulations.

Recent campaigns by the U.S. government to discredit and sabotage the international cooperation that Cuba provides in the field of health in dozens of countries, cannot obscure this data, that demonstrate the altruistic spirit, effort, and solidarity of Cuban collaborators.

Currently, the medical brigade in Ecuador includes 382 professionals, present in 23 of the country’s 24 provinces.

Cuban collaborators will return to the homeland, having made a meritorious contribution to the noble effort to ensure medical attention to the Ecuadorian people, in accordance with the principle of universal health coverage promoted by the World Health Organization. Cuban professionals provided access to specialties which were previously of limited availability within the Ecuadorian health system, as more than 400,000 professionals in this sector have voluntarily done in 164 countries, since 1963.

The Ministry of Public Health of the Republic of Cuba reaffirms the desire to continue providing collaboration for this sister people, which ceases at this time as a result of a decision by the Ecuadorian government.

The peoples of Our America and the rest of the world know they can always count on the humanist and solidarity vocation of Cuban professionals.

(Ministry of Public Health)

The commitment by both countries was announced as part of a summary of Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno’s visit to Chile to attend the inauguration ceremony of Chilean president-elect Sebastian Piñera, together with a delegation that included Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa and other officials.

The Foreign Relations and Human Mobility Ministry considered the talks between the two Heads of State as useful.

Espinosa emphasized that in the first conversation he described as ‘extensive and very productive’, the two leaders reviewed the bilateral agenda and they specified commitments to consolidate the links in diverse matters.

The same way, the two sides recognized there’s been progress in exchanges of positive experiences in topics such as maternal-infantile health and education, among others, and also they spoke about electrical interconnection, as well as about harmony and energy sovereignty in the region.

During the visit to Santiago de Chile Moreno held bilateral meetings with other dignitaries and foreign ministers of Latin-American and Caribbean states, aimed at strengthening integration mechanism and the nations’ commitment to them.

Among other meetings, Espinosa talked to Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

(Prensa Latina)

Moreno, candidate of the Alianza País coalition, won the Presidency with 51.16% of the votes cast this past April 2, defeating Guillermo Lasso, from the conservative grouping CREO-SUMA.

The country’s 44th head of state received the Presidential sash from former President Rafael Correa, after being sworn-in by National Assembly leader José Serrano.

Moreno thanked those who had elected him, saying that the day was one which united the past, present, and future of the country “we have been constructing for the past 10 years.”

He emphasized that it had been a decade of establishing the foundation to live with the country’s own, clean energy, a decade “in which we recovered our self-respect and sense of belonging as Ecuadorans.”

In his opening remarks, José Serrano noted that, ten years ago, the Citizens Revolution was only a utopia, but was now a dream coming true, with real dividends for the people.

He continued saying that Ecuadoran democracy was renewed with the popular vote, emphasizing that, despite pressure and manipulation, the opposition could not detain the Ecuadoran people, who with a young leader on the frontline, has achieved a much more dignified and independent nation.

The event included an official farewell for President Rafael Correa, who departed the National Assembly hall amidst cheers and congratulations from deputies, friends, and guests.

Attending the inauguration ceremony were a number of heads of state and important officials from other countries, including Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Mauricio Macri (Argentina), Horacio Cartes (Paraguay), Willy Flores (Guatemala), and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (Cuba), among others.

(Granma)

Also patriocipating in the delegation are Deputy Foreign Minister Ana Teresita and Rafael Dausá Céspedes, Cuban ambassador in Ecuador.

Díaz-Canel will subsequently travel to the Plurinational state of Bolivia for an official visit.

(Granma)

With more than 72% of the votes counted, Moreno had garnered 38.66% – very close to winning in the first round. In accordance with the country’s electoral law, to avoid a second round, a candidate must win over 50% of the vote or 40%, with a margin of 10% of the next closest candidate.

Lasso, with 28.9%, was close enough to Moreno to deny him a 10% advantage, indicating that apparently a second round will be required.

More than 300 accredited international observers were stationed at polling stations to verify that no anomalies existed.

(Granma)

First, with an earthquake that killed at least 673 people. Second, when the government moved to investigate and potentially dissolve a nonprofit called Accion Ecologica in connection with deadly violence between members of an Amazonian tribe and police sent to protect a Chinese-operated mining project.

Ecologists and prominent activists friendly to the group, including heavy-weights such as Naomi Klein, called out what they characterized as a callous repression and criminalization of Indigenous people protecting the unparalleled richness of the Amazon and alleged state prejudice against an underdog non-profit organization that was only there to save the rainforest and its inhabitants.

Ecuador’s socialist government, on the other hand, sees the “underdog” label as misplaced.

NGOs may be seen as do-gooders, but that’s not always the case. As a country historically vulnerable to the whims of powers in the North, Ecuador has, under the administration of the outgoing President Rafael Correa, put up a guard against a new kind of public diplomacy from abroad that focuses on gaining the favor of civil society to indirectly execute their political priorities.

NGOs are flagged when they operate outside the bounds of the law and their stated objectives, indicators of potential pressure from outside funders to protect their interests rather than those of nationals.

“We’re an Ecuadorean NGO, born here in Ecuador and working for 30 years in the defense of the rights of the environment and of communities across the country, and for that work we are very well known, even at an international level,” Alexandra Almeida, president of Accion Ecologica, told teleSUR.

“But that doesn’t mean that a foreign organization could manipulate us with anything — with funds, with nothing — that’s how we operate.”

NGOs have rarely had to justify their work to anyone, let alone prove that they act for the good of the people only. But Ecuador is not an ordinary country. Rich in resources but export dependent, authorities are attempting to manage the many foreign hands trying to pull the country’s development in their favor.

This government is the first to scrutinize NGOs, but their scrutiny has not been limited to Accion Ecologica.

In 2012, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa boldly declared that NGOs have been entering the country like never before during the previous decade. Many, backed by foreign states and foreign money, are out to destabilize the state, Ecuadorean leaders stated.

“Their interest is not the country, impoverished sectors, natural resources or strengthening democracies,” said Paola Pabon, director of the National Ministry of Political Management, which is responsible for tracking NGOs, in an interview with teleSUR last year. “What interests them is having control over governments, having influence over civil society to create elements of destabilization.”

Executive Decree 16, which went into effect in 2013, created a system to catalogue the financing, decision-making and activities of every registered social organization — a total of over 46,000 in the country, including non-profits, unions and community organizations, among others.

The resulting action saw 26 foreign NGOs expelled from the country for a lack of transparency and compliance with national law; in brief, for declaring themselves “non-governmental organizations” while acting on behalf of foreign governments. Among the more high-profile cases was Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical missionary relief organization that received funding and support from USAID. Fifteen others were given two weeks to get their activities in order.

A handful of Indigenous organizations, which had previously mobilized against Correa’s government, attacked the decree via the Constitutional Court. Two years later, Ecuador reformed the regulations with Executive Decree 739, which fine-tuned the reasons for closing an NGO — the main one, “diverting from stated objectives” — and, caving to demand, eliminated the requirement for organizations to register projects financed from abroad.

The trend that prompted Ecuador’s law was not without precedent.

Through the U.S. Agency for International Development, known as USAID, and the linked but publicly independent National Endowment for Democracy, known as NED, the United States pumped over US$100 million into Venezuela to create 300 new organizations credited with contributing to the coup d’etat against Hugo Chavez in 2002. In a similar move, USAID admitted that it tried to provoke a “Cuban Spring” by setting up Zunzuneo, a kind of Cuban Twitter, to circulate calls to protest.

The most common nonprofits close to foreign governments and private interests are those that stand tallest against their states. In Ecuador, that tends to be groups that work closely with Indigenous communities, with those protecting their right to their land and with those defending women and the environment. Funding by private foundations and corporations, while more widespread, is far less transparent and tougher to quantify. Big names like the Ford Foundation and Open Society, however, are well known for injecting funds into NGOs in the global south to advance specific political visions.

But the United States isn’t the only country to have funneled funds to Ecuador through NGOs.

Official numbers from Ecuador’s Chief Administrative Office of International Cooperation, or SETECI, show that since Correa assumed office in 2007 until 2015, foreign NGOs have managed over US$800 million from abroad. Top givers include the U.K. and Spain, followed by several European states.

No one, however, beats the United States. In that same period, the U.S. sent over twice the amount of money of the next-highest donor, with a total of over US$282 million and 780 projects, or 35 percent of all funding.

Of those funds, which only count NGOs based abroad that invested in local or regional projects, 13 went to projects in the Amazon led by non-profits like Care International, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the World Wildlife Fund, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas. Projects based in Morona Santiago, the province where the anti-mining protests that led to the death of police office broke out, brought in over US$1 million from the U.S. since 2007.

The flow of funds is indicative of a broader attitude between receiver and giver, who “take advantage of the assumption that they have a perfect democracy, which is completely false – there’s a paternalistic attitude that must be regulated,” said Fernando Casado, research fellow at the National Institute for Higher Studies on public administration in Ecuador and Venezuela. Conversely, a flow in the opposite direction would immediately raise suspicion from developed countries, he added.

Yet money itself doesn’t tell the full tale: the funds are tied directly to foreign policy objectives, Casado told teleSUR. “The powers of the North have changed strategy.”

Each state has its own way. Germany, which has had 151 NGO projects in Ecuador since 2007, is known for meddling in affairs of developing countries through its Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, or BMZ. When SETECI found that three-quarters of its funds went toward stopping another mining project in the Amazon’s Yasuni region last March, it kicked the German agency out of Ecuador.

The United States has several agencies do its work, the most prominent being USAID, NED — funded through money allocated to USAID by Congress — and the Broadcast Board of Governors. The stated missions: to promote development, democracy creation and a free press, respectively, while strictly adhering to U.S. foreign policy priorities.

“We should not have to do this kind of work covertly,” said former head of NED Carl Gershman on CIA missions to the New York Times in 1986. “It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the 60s, and that’s why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that’s why the endowment was created.”

What Givers Want

The “work” the United States has set out for Ecuador — according to a 2016 Office of Inspector General report on the U.S. embassy leaked by WikiLeaks — is “to mitigate the effects of the contentious political environment created by the Ecuadorean Government” with the help of other government agencies, which play a “critical role.”

The report, intended for the eyes of the BBG and Congress, said the embassy was “actively engaged with civil society leaders and nongovernmental organizations to increase Ecuadorean awareness of and support for U.S. policies and values, promote Ecuadorean civil society and government accountability, and strengthen environmental initiatives.”

To set up a climate conducive to U.S. meddling, the U.S. Government Accountability Office included Ecuador on a shortlist with Colombia, Egypt and the West Bank/Gaza the year Correa was elected to closely study public opinion in “specific, targeted public awareness campaigns.”

It also either commissioned or was the beneficiary of a study from Stratfor, a secretive intelligence company contracted by the State Department and the U.S.’s multinational titans, which evaluated the extent to which Ecuador is manipulable by NGOs. The 2013 report, leaked by WikiLeaks, focused especially on how NGOs can influence trade policy and corporate regulation. Its conclusion: based on a scale likely defined in relation to other developing nations, Ecuador is fairly resilient to NGO pressure but has submitted in certain instances.

USAID sends hundreds of millions to local projects in Ecuador, some less explicitly political, but some indirectly benefiting opposition groups, according to U.S. Ambassador in Ecuador Adam Namm. BBG affiliate, TeleAmazonas, has been accused of fomenting strong opposition rhetoric against Correa. And the NED spends over US$1 million annually on dozens of local programs with broad objectives like “promoting citizen oversight of elected officials,” “monitoring due process and the independence of the judicial system,” “monitoring the use of public resources in government advertising” and “facilitating dialogue and consensus on democracy.”

Both Germany’s BMZ and USAID are back in Ecuador following a deluge of NGO activity after the April earthquake. The workload of the National Ministry of Political Management has peaked ever since, said Pabon.

One pet project of USAID was the Conservation in Managed Indigenous Areas, or Caiman, which ended before Correa took office but was among several USAID programs to conserve the country’s biodiversity and promote alliances between Indigenous communities and private businesses.

Caiman worked with various groups working in ecological and Indigenous rights, including Accion Ecologica. For several years, Caiman had Accion Ecologica help them battle against the Ministry of the Environment and train park rangers to oppose contamination from oil and mining.

Whether or not USAID or foreign foundations have funded Accion Ecologica directly is unclear. Unlike many others in the industry, the non-profit does not publish its financial information on its website, and refused multiple requests from teleSUR for copies of audits. When asked, the organization’s president said she does not know specifics on foreign funders and could not answer.

Almeida did say that Accion Ecologica receives funds from Europe — from individuals, “small organizations, alliances, groups that form” around fundraising events on ecological issues. She did not say how much or cite specific names but mentioned Italy and Belgium.

Accion Ecologica refused multiple requests for copies of audits

A 2012 investigation from Andes, an Ecuadorean state publication, found that both Accion Ecologica and the Regional Foundation of Human Rights Advising, another powerful nonprofit, are financed by the European Commission, Oilwatch, the Netherlands embassy and a few international ecological networks. Almeida said the accusations were false.

While Europe may be the principal interested party in the success of Accion Ecologica, the U.S. is also well known to have played an active role in similar battles.

In 2013, the year after Correa took the lead against foreign NGOs and a year before he expelled USAID, Bolivia accused USAID of spending US$22 million to divide Indigenous groups on the exploitation and nationalization of oil in their lands.

“Since the right can’t find arguments to oppose the process of change, it now turns to campesino, Indigenous and native leaders who are paid by several NGOs and foundations with perks to foment a climate of conflict with the national government to deteriorate the process of unification that the country is experiencing,” said Morales as he gave USAID the boot.

“Theoretically speaking, NGOs shouldn’t exist,” said Casado. NGOs operate within a logic of narrowing, minimizing and weakening the role of the state so they can keep filling holes in public services and keep their jobs, which are at risk of disappearing if the state works as it should, added Casado.

“They elect themselves representatives of civil society in general,” and yet their role is limited and entirely reliant on and responsive to funding, which at the end of the day remains in their pockets. Other social organizations and popular movements, said Casado, operate only on conviction.

If an NGO is completely free to operate without regulations, a country would open itself to any corporate and foreign interest that found an open hand, he argued. Latin America is intimately familiar with that process — of consolidating power in the monied class — and NGOs back similar corporate interests, only with a more benevolent face.

It’s near-impossible to identify the perfect case of foreign intrusion — and, as in Accion Ecologica’s case, near-impossible to prove. Multiple factors are always at play, from the ideology of individual members to the decision-making process to however events play out on the ground. Casado said that the first step to uncovering hidden interests is financial transparency — a move that faces stiff opposition precisely for the interests that it could reveal.

Ecuador’s answer is to carefully collect records and draw a clear line between what is acceptable and what is not. Foreign NGOs, state the decree, cannot participate “in any form of party politics, any form of interference or proselytism, any threat to national security or public peace or any other activity not permitted under their migratory status.”

Case Closed?

When Accion Ecologica testified before the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of the Environment, it argued that it had been doing the same work — protecting the rainforest — for decades, always in a peaceful manner. The evidence presented showing they provoked violence through a series of tweets in and around the time of violent clashes was “a bit absurd, very absurd,” said Almeida.

In the end, the government’s case did not hold, and the Environment Ministry concluded there was not enough credible evidence to shut down the group. Accion Ecologica credited “pressure” from its supporters, as its representatives continue to urge for a deregulation of NGOs.

“It’s not only NGOs, but also any organization that will be at risk, especially their right to free expression and the right to free association” if the decree regulating NGOs remains intact, said Almeida.

Her position echoes those taken up by opposition politicians, whose one commonality is their depiction of Correa’s government as one systematically trouncing on citizens’ rights and freedoms.

In an election year, rhetoric makes the difference.

(TeleSur)

Upon their arrival to José Martí International Airport, pertinent Cuban authorities proceeded to conduct the established international sanitary review, and immediately thereafter the transfer of these persons to their provinces of origin in Cuba was completed.

The deportation of these Cuban citizens was conducted with complete adherence to what has been established in the two countries’ legislation and international norms governing this type of situation, with the fundamental objective of guaranteeing ordered, regular, and safe migration, while fulfilling the commitment to preventing defenseless human beings from being victimized by traffickers in persons.

The government of the United States and its migratory policy constructed over decades is responsible for the creation of the situation of irregular Cuban migrants in the region, who initially traveled abroad in a legal fashion, meeting all requirements established in our migratory regulations, to then later initiate an irregular journey encouraged by the “wet foot-dry foot” policy, the Parole Program for Cuban Medical Professionals, and the Cuban Adjustment Act, which grant our citizens selective treatment, unique in the world, and at the same time violate migratory agreements signed by the two countries.

This policy is not congruent with the current bilateral context. It obstructs the normalization of migratory relations between Cuba and the United States, and creates problems in other countries, while at the same time discriminating against other migrants, including minors, who face mistreatment and repression at the U.S. border before being massively deported.

The Directorate for Consular Affairs and Cubans Resident Abroad reaffirms that Cuban citizens who have legally left the country and comply with current migratory legislation have the right to return to Cuba, and reiterates the government’s commitment to legal, safe and ordered emigration.

Havana, July 11, 2016

“We are calling on the government and Congress of the United States to put an end to this policy,” he said, during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry.

Long referred to the issue after being asked about a group of Cubans who, for several weeks now, are camping in a city park, demanding support to reach U.S. territory via Mexico.

According to the minister, this request is difficult to fulfill, since the Ecuadorian government cannot participate in this sort of illegal migration.

He indicated that the fundamental problem is the existence of U.S. policies – the so-called “wet foot-dry foot” policy and the Cuban Adjustment Act – which guarantee immediate asylum to all Cuban immigrants who reach U.S. soil, regardless of the means they use to arrive.

Herein lies the first injustice, he said, since this does not occur in the case of other Latin American immigrants.

He added that behind this double standard is a political goal: the weakening of Cuba, the provocation of an exodus, and an attempt to portray the country’s political system as dysfunctional.

According to Long, the current process of normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba must include the dismantling of these laws.

He said that he had discussed the issue with the U.S. ambassador in Quito, Todd Chapman, reiterating that changing these policies is an urgent need, which should be accelerated, to put an end to situations like that which has developed with Cuban emigrants stranded in Ecuador.

The Cuban embassy in Quito previously released a statement emphasizing that none of the Cubans camped out in city parks have been persecuted politically in their country, as some have alleged, and offered them support to return to the island, if they so desire. The embassy also clarified that the majority of these citizens left Cuba in a legal fashion.

(Prensa Latina)

The group composed of 29 rescue workers traveled to Ecuador where they helped with recovery efforts over 10 days, together with health professionals from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations and Large-Scale Epidemics.

Upon receiving the delegation, Cobas highlighted the importance of the mission which saw collaboration between “health personnel and Minint officials,” for the first time.

Cobas noted that the brigade’s work in Ecuador was short but intense; highlighting the team’s rigorous and disciplined efforts, all the while supported by experienced health professionals.

On behalf of the Minint leadership, Colonel Luis Carlos Guzmán Matos, chief of the Cuban Fire Department, congratulated the team on their work and stated that “once more Cuba’s name was held high with displays of solidarity and altruism.”

Colonel Lázaro Herrera Hernández, head of the search and rescue team expressed his pride at returning home in the knowledge that they had fulfilled their duty.
The brigade members spoke briefly about the moving scenes they witnessed and experienced in Ecuador, something they will surely never forget.

“I was in Manabí and Porto Viejo. The gratitude shown by people who had lost everything, by children who came up to us and called us heroes, by people who brought us food at our camp, was immense,” said Rafael Velázquez Lalana.
Edel Llópiz Sáchez noted that the greatest reward for his work was seeing the expressions of appreciation on people’s faces.

Each brigade member received a letter of recognition from the Ministry of Public Health and reproduction of a painting of the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, by Ernesto Rancaño.
Also in attendance at the welcome home ceremony was Regla Angulo, director of the Central Unit of Medical Cooperation, in addition to other Minint officials.

(Granma)