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RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS QUITO 001549 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SMIG PHUM PREL EC
SUBJECT: MIGRATION: ECUADORIANS STILL LOOKING NORTH 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  At least since the severe economic crisis 
in 1999, the two certainties in Ecuador have been death and 
emigration.  A steady stream of 30,000 to 40,000 undocumented 
migrants takes to the sea and skies annually from Ecuador in 
pursuit of their own American dreams.  Periodic reports of 
migrant deaths, including a boat sinking that claimed 94 
lives in August 2005, do not appear to deter outward-bound 
Ecuadorians or the smugglers who profit from moving them. 
Immediately following the August tragedy, the number of boats 
bound for Mexico and Guatemala from Ecuador dropped.  But 
now, less than a year after the accident, the number of 
embarkations is back up, the covert fleet having only 
temporarily moved south to Northern Peru.  The latest 
drowning deaths put increased pressure on authorities to 
crack down on alien smuggling -- Congress raised penalties 
for convicted smugglers, but the northward flow continues, 
fueled by limited economic opportunity at home.  End Summary 
 
Another Day, Another Death 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Carmen Chuni, Carlos Arevalo and Jose Gomez shared 
the dream of thousands of Ecuadorians hungering for a better 
life in the United States.  They paid thousands of dollars to 
a smuggling ring and embarked on the dangerous journey by 
boat to Central America.  Unlike some of their compatriots 
who meet tragedy before even touching Guatemalan soil, the 
three men landed there and passed into Mexico.  There Chuni 
and Arevalo and other migrants died in a bus accident as they 
were shuttled northward.  Gomez, injured in the crash, fled 
the scene and spent four days in the mountains without food 
before he turned himself in to police.  He did so when he 
read in a newspaper that his relatives' unidentified bodies 
were going to be buried in unmarked graves.  Gomez later died 
from injuries sustained in the crash.  The Public Ombudsman's 
Office in Azuay Province paid $2,500 for the bodies of the 
three to be returned to Ecuador.  Chuni's corpse was returned 
to his 22-year-old wife and daughters, ages 3 and 9 months. 
 
¶3.  (U) Sad stories of migrant tragedies appear regularly 
here in newspaper, radio and TV reports.  Also common are 
reports of U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities rescuing hundreds 
of hopeful immigrants from decrepit boats discovered on the 
edge of disaster.  The Ecuadorian Navy and National Institute 
for Child and Family (INNFA) launched an awareness campaign 
in January to dissuade potential migrants from risking their 
lives and being deceived by smugglers.  One anti-smuggling TV 
spot even features the personal testimony of one of nine 
people who survived the August boat sinking.  Wilma Castro 
spent three days clinging to a fuel tank before rescuers 
found her.  Sun and chemical burns left her face and those of 
fellow survivors almost unrecognizable.  Their images and 
news of the 94 drowning deaths incensed many here who blame 
corrupt politicians for failing to create economic 
opportunities at home and for failing to jail smugglers.  For 
weeks, the media kept up the coverage of the tragedy.  The 
common refrain from journalists and public was "How can this 
happen?" Congress scrambled to introduce bills increasing 
punishments for convicted smugglers, called "coyoteros" in 
Spanish. 
 
¶4.  (U) As a result of the clamor, smuggling boats 
temporarily moved south along the Pacific Coast.   Like the 
returning tide, however, the irregular departures have now 
returned to Ecuador.  Willing customers picked up where they 
left off, seemingly unfazed by the warnings of danger.  As 
often is the case, migrants rescued from sinking boats climb 
aboard others.  Congress, meanwhile, allowed the 
anti-coyotero bills to languish. 
 
Pieces of Coyote Pie 
-------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Migrant smuggling is big business in Ecuador, and 
involves an extensive network of smugglers that includes 
recruiters, coyoteros, boat owners and crewmembers, providers 
of ground transportation (in Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico) 
and loan sharks.  According to reports from smuggled 
migrants, police and military also facilitate the illegal 
migration. 
 
¶6.  (U) Ecuador's smuggling network is extensive and not 
limited to the coast.  Starting with the intending 
immigrant's first contact with a recruiter -- through a 
business card, a newspaper ad or word-of-mouth referral, he 
or she is run through a relay of smuggling accomplices.  Loan 
sharks move in to help the migrant get the required cash for 
the trip.  Persons smuggled through Bolivia by air pay 
$10,000 to $15,000.  Oceangoing customers pay a similar 
amount; usually only a portion is required up front with the 
rest payable in installments along the route.  Generally 
coyoteros' customers aren't the poorest of poor, but rather 
members of the lower middle class who are enticed by 
materialism touted by the entertainment media, Congressman 
Freddy Ehlers told PolOff.  Ecuadorian National Human Rights 
Ombudsman Claudio Mueckay agrees and blames the coyoteros 
too.  He shared the account of a driver, soundly middle 
class, who was tricked into traveling by smugglers who 
described a Utopian United States.  Gina Benavides of INREDH, 
a regional human rights foundation,  points to the smugglers 
as well, calling the business of alien smuggling "as ugly as 
drug trafficking." 
 
¶7. (U) Most people mortgage their homes and property in 
exchange for the money and pay at least $500 monthly interest 
for the loans.  Next coyoteros and their accomplices set up 
the route, often starting from Azuay province in the south or 
Carchi in the north, sources of the heaviest outward 
migration.  Along the route the migrants relay from bus to 
truck, hotel to hotel, until they arrive at a secluded beach, 
where they shuttled out to a waiting converted fishing 
vessel.  Once aboard, it takes an average of eight to 10 days 
to reach a patch of deserted Guatemala coastline.  Overloaded 
with migrants, otherwise seaworthy vessels become accidents 
waiting to happen. 
 
GOE Enforcement Diverting Flow 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8.  (U) Immediately following the August drownings, President 
Palacio charged Vice Adm. Hector Holguin, commander of the 
Ecuadorian Navy, with developing a plan to save migrants' 
lives.  In early May, the GOE launched its "Anti-Coyotero 
Plan," which dedicates 1,500 sailors, three planes, 16 Coast 
Guard boats and two ships equipped with helicopters to 
patrolling Ecuador's 1,400 miles of coastline.  Merchant 
marine authorities were ordered to seize unregistered fishing 
boats to prevent their being employed by smugglers. 
 
¶9.  (U) The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that 30,000 to 40,000 
migrants left Ecuador in 2005 and 95 percent reached their 
intermediate destinations in Mexico or Central America. 
National Immigration Director Gen. Edmund Ruiz told PolOff 
that his police officers had frustrated 700 intending 
immigrants in the first five months of 2006, compared with 
500 in all of 2005.  Ruiz, whose jurisdiction stops at the 
water's edge, speculates that more people are using air 
routes because of the increased maritime surveillance under 
the Anti-Coyotero Plan.  Police have noted a rise in the 
number of intending immigrants flying to Venezuela and the 
Dominican Republic, countries that do not require visas and 
can be used as launch pads to the United States. 
 
¶10. (U) An integrated database introduced at Ecuadorian 
airports in July 2005 has enabled immigration police at the 
airports to check criminal records and deportations.  Police 
also patrol pre-embarkation halls for suspicious-looking 
travelers who may have passed by immigration checkpoints 
without proper processing.  However, Ruiz acknowledged 
police do make mistakes.  An immigration officer earns about 
$250 a month, Ruiz said.  When offered a bribe of $500, the 
temptation is great.  But with pre-boarding checks and closed 
circuit cameras at immigration desks, Ruiz claimed he could 
detect and punish corruption among his immigration officers. 
 
Corruption Creeps In 
-------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) One prosecutor from the coastal province of Guayas 
told DHS that the Ecuadorian sailors assigned to the 
Anti-Coyotero Plan travel from boat to boat collecting bribes 
from complicit fishermen.  We don't believe such activity to 
could be occuring widely given the pressure under which 
Holguin operates.  We are aware of corrupt port captains who 
take bribes from coyoteros and look the other way when boats 
set sail.  Politicians also succumb to temptation; a vice 
mayor in Manta routinely releases detained smugglers. 
 
¶12.  (U) To address corruption in the police, the USG in 2002 
supported the formation of a special vetted GOE police unit 
to fight alien smuggling.  The unit, called the Anti-Coyotero 
Operations Center (COAC), consists of 12 police officers who 
undergo regular polygraph tests and work under the 
supervision of DHS/ICE.  NAS provides the Quito-based unit 
with logistical support including travel funds, vehicles and 
sophisticated equipment to conduct investigations.  Since its 
inception, the work of the COAC has led to the arrests of 325 
accused smugglers. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Unfortunately, the vetted police team doesn't have 
a vetted prosecutor and vetted judge to whom it can hand over 
suspected criminals and criminal evidence.  The number of 
convictions to date has been disappointing.  The COAC had 
been working exclusively with one prosecutor, whom we had 
deemed reliable, but evidence has recently surfaced linking 
that prosecutor with the disappearance of criminal evidence 
and the failure of witnesses to appear in court to testify. 
The prosecutor is being transferred after having handled 
preliminary procedures on several high-profile cases 
including the case against Milton Bautista Guzman, charged 
with the August drowning deaths, and the case of accused 
alien smuggler Vinicio Luna, coordinator of the national 
soccer team.  DHS has asked the attorney general's office for 
a complete accounting of the judicial status of all of the 
alien smuggling cases the COAC unit has investigated. 
 
Smugglers Face Greater Penalties 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  (U) After months of inaction, Congress approved penal 
code reforms in April that increased prison sentences for 
coyoteros and their accomplices to up to 25 years. 
Previously, members of smuggling rings could receive a 
maximum of 12 years imprisonment.  The potential sentence 
applies to anyone "who through illegal means, promotes, 
overcrowds, induces, finances, participates in collaborates 
with or helps the emigration of nationals or foreigners from 
Ecuador to another country."  The same penalty will apply to 
anyone who subjects children to the dangers of illegal 
emigration -- this includes parents and other relatives.  If 
a smuggling attempt results in the death of a migrant, the 
convicted smuggler could receive a 16- to 25-year sentence. 
Migrants who accuse their traffickers are protected from 
prosecution. 
 
U.S. Migration Enforcement Limited 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶15. (U) U.S. Navy and Coast Guard involvement in anti-migrant 
interdiction efforts is peripheral to their primary anti-drug 
mission.  U.S. vessels or aircraft intervene only when they 
spot imperiled boats of human cargo.  Since April 2005, U.S. 
Navy and Coast Guard vessels intercepted and boarded boats 
carrying a total of nearly 700 migrants. 
 
¶16. (U)  Ecuadorian officials have expressed their desire to 
require every Ecuadorian registered vessel to be outfitted 
with a computer tracking chip, as Colombia does.  However, 
the GOE lacks resources to fund the chips and the tracking 
equipment.  The GOE also fails to reimburse costs of 
repatriating deported Ecuadorians, a sore spot with the 
governments of Guatemala and Nicaragua.  Instead, DHS often 
pays for the return of many migrants intercepted at sea, at a 
cost of $40,000 to $60,000 per trip.  Alejandro Guidi, head 
of the International Migration Organization (IOM) in Quito, 
told PolOff that a new IOM program paid for the "voluntary 
return" of 176 Ecuadorians from Mexico in the first three 
months of 2006.  Under this program Ecuadorians avoid a 
deportation record. 
 
Demand Growing 
-------------- 
 
¶17.  (U) That Ecuadorians would seek opportunity outside of 
their own country is not surprising, given that 70 percent of 
the population lives below the poverty line.  The country's 
minimum wage of $160 a month is a dream to many. Ruiz 
said he didn't expect the demand for smugglers to subside 
with erection of a wall and U.S. National Guard Troops 
patrolling the U.S. border with Mexico.  "coyoteros are 
specialists in avoiding the law, they'll simply find another 
way in."  Ruminahui Migrant Association President Juan 
Manzanillas agreed that no wall or police force along the 
U.S. border will stanch the migrant flow.  The coyoteros will 
simply charge more to find ways around new obstacles.  The 
only way to end the unnecessary loss of life, according to 
Manzanillas, is for the U.S. to establish a policy of orderly 
immigration that will allow foreigners to enter the country 
as guest workers.  Ecuadorians would wait their turn if they 
knew that they could eventually obtain a work visa, he said. 
 
¶18.  (U) But will they really wait when family reunification 
acts as an electromagnet pulling more and more Ecuadorians 
toward the United States?  Manzanillas and Ruiz both noted 
that more younger travelers are attempting to migrate 
illegally.  Youth whose parents emigrated while they were 
small are now heading north.  The Migration Office reports 
that from January through April of 2006, 874 Ecuadorians have 
been deported--211 from Guatemala, 197 from the United 
States, and 164 from Mexico.  Sixty of the deportees were 
minors. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶19.  (SBU) Despite public attention on Mexico, the 
Ecuador-Central America maritime route sees some of the 
heaviest migrant traffic in the world.  The Government of 
Ecuador's efforts to control this traffic are still 
preliminary.  Increased maritime surveillance appears to have 
caught the attention of smugglers, who are switching to other 
human cargo routes.  Public awareness campaigns have started, 
but the flow of migrants continues.  First Lady of Ecuador 
Maria Beatriz Paret de Palacio crafted and led the GOE's 
anti-alien smuggling campaign that hit the airwaves in 
January 2006.  Ironically, the first lady, an Amcit, plans 
herself retire to Miami when her husband leaves office in 
January 2007. 
 
¶20.   (SBU) While USG efforts to interdict and assist 
migrants on the high seas has saved lives and discouraged 
some migrants, we believe that increased investment in 
land-based efforts to be more cost effective.  To be 
successful, we need to establish a permanent DHS presence in 
Ecuador and increase funding for anti-smuggling vetted units. 
With these tools, we would be more effective targeting alien 
smuggling kingpins and dismantling smuggling rings in Ecuador. 
 
¶21.  (SBU) While the "pull" factor of family and U.S. living 
conditions continues to attract Ecuadorians at all levels, 
the GOE must address the "push" factor by combating poverty 
and providing economic opportunity at home.  We will 
encourage the new administration to continue to address the 
dangers of alien smuggling and hope it will not require 
another human tragedy to spur preventive action. 
JEWELL