Ecuador Denies Opposition Politician Her Freedom;
Government Dealings with FARC Reveal Double Standard

QUITO, Ecuador (March 17, 2008) -- Despite three court rulings ordering the release of Guadalupe Llori, opposition governor of the Ecuadorian province of Orellana, the government of President Rafael Correa continues to deny her freedom, accusing her of “terrorism.” Meanwhile, President Correa’s officials admit to having met with representatives of a terrorist organization.

“Ecuador has become a topsy-turvy land where a state governor is incarcerated on trumped-up charges of terrorism and held without evidence, while the government’s top national security official meets with the deadliest terrorist organization in the hemisphere, purportedly to establish formal relations,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF).

On December 7, 2007, the Ecuadorian army arrested Guadalupe Llori, Prefect of Orellana. She was detained following protests that paralyzed some of Ecuador’s oil production sites in Dayuma, a small village located in Ecuador’s Amazonian region. The protests erupted after the government failed to make payments to contractors building infrastructure in the province. Prefect Llori was accused of organizing the protests and President Correa stated that he considered the protests “terrorism.”

To date, the prosecution has failed to present any credible evidence to support its accusations. More disturbingly, prosecutors presented embezzlement charges against Llori after she was imprisoned, apparently to keep her in prison and thus bring about her immediate impeachment from office. “This case appears to be politically motivated. There is no evidence against Prefect Llori and removing her from office would be very convenient for the Correa government,” said Halvorssen.

On February 20, 2008, HRF sent a letter to President Correa denouncing the denial of habeas corpus and violations to due process in Prefect Llori’s case. HRF’s letter was widely reported in the Ecuadorian media. President Correa’s office has acknowledged receipt of the letter but has yet to issue a response.

President Correa’s administration has also ignored three release orders granted to Prefect Llori by the Supreme Court of Nueva Loja. After Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly offered to set up a commission to investigate the events in Dayuma, President Correa threatened to resign if such a commission were created.

On March 1, 2008, Colombia’s army killed Luis Edgar Devia Silva, otherwise known as Raúl Reyes, in a confrontation in the Sucumbíos jungle (bordering with the Orellana province). Reyes is believed to have been a senior leader of Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), classified as a terrorist organization by 27 member states of the European Union, the United States and Canada. Reyes’ laptop computers apparently contained detailed information about meetings held between Ecuador’s Minister of Security, Gustavo Larrea, and Reyes. Minister Larrea has publicly admitted that the purported intention was to establish, on President Correa’s orders, official relations between the government of Ecuador and the FARC.

“Violations of due process, habeas corpus and false detainment are all clear in this case. HRF considers the Ecuadorean government’s behavior to be wholly unacceptable. President Correa’s government provides no evidence to support his claims that Prefect Llori is a ‘terrorist’ while admitting that it meets with FARC leaders who routinely violate human rights by engaging in kidnapping and recruiting child soldiers, among other terrorist tactics. The double standard is breathtaking,” said Halvorssen.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the American hemisphere. Its work centers on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Armando Valladares, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Thor Halvorssen, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org

Read HRF's most recent letter to President Correa, sent on March 18, 2008, here (Spanish only)
Read HRF's letter to President Correa sent on February 20, 2008, here (Spanish only)