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Viewing cable 08GUAYAQUIL77, GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK DIRECTOR FIRING MAY

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08GUAYAQUIL77 2008-03-28 12:56 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Consulate Guayaquil
VZCZCXYZ0001
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGL #0077/01 0881256
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 281256Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9403
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 3268
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0460
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAR LIMA 3690
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 0504
RUEHSJ/AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE 0148
C O N F I D E N T I A L GUAYAQUIL 000077 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2018 
TAGS: PGOV SENV EIND EC
SUBJECT: GALAPAGOS NATIONAL PARK DIRECTOR FIRING MAY 
THREATEN CONSERVATION EFFORTS 
 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL DOUGLAS GRIFFITHS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND 
 (D) 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY: Minister of the Environment Marcela Aguinaga 
fired Galapagos National Park (GNP) Director Raquel Molina in 
early March, alleging in the press that Molina was not 
adequately protecting the park.  In reality, the committed 
but abrasive park director's repeated clashes with Aguinaga 
and Galapagos Governor Eliecer Cruz over balancing economic 
activities in the islands with environmental protection 
sealed her fate.  Molina brought a tough and legalistic 
approach to protecting this unique ecosystem, fearlessly 
taking on powerful and entrenched fishing and tourism 
operators.  Ironically, although Molina has brought much 
needed stability to the park and significantly increased 
patrolling and enforcement activities, the minister may be 
setting her up as the scapegoat if Ecuador fails to get the 
Galapagos off of UNESCO's Threatened World Heritage list in 
July.  Her as yet unknown replacement in the GNP is likely to 
be much less of an obstacle to economic interests in the 
islands, signaling a tough road ahead for those trying to 
protect the Galapagos.  END SUMMARY. 
 
ENVIRONMENT MINISTER SACKS GALAPAGOS PARK DIRECTOR 
---------- 
 
2.  (U) In the first week of March, Minister of the 
Environment Marcela Aguinaga flew to the Galapagos and 
announced to Galapagos National Park (GNP) officials that she 
was removing Park Director Raquel Molina from her post after 
nearly two years in the job.  She cited Molina's supposed 
inability to "adapt to the daily routines of the job and the 
ministry's priorities".  Aguinaga also specifically accused 
Molina of failing to implement adequate controls over the 
Galapagos Marine Reserve.  The minister subsequently 
appointed Sixto Naranjo, a park official, as acting director. 
 Under park norms, the next director should be chosen in 
accordance with strict technical criteria ) the same method 
used to select Molina. 
 
3.  (C) Former Park Director Molina fired back at Aguinaga in 
the local press a week later, noting that the minister had 
not expressed any displeasure with her performance a month 
earlier, when Molina presented her annual report to the 
Galapagos Cooperators Table.  "But now I am the worst to 
her?" Molina wondered.  She also defended her record in 
protecting the marine reserve, pointing to statistics showing 
increased patrols and more administrative actions taken 
against illegal tourism and fishing activities under her 
watch.  Molina was the first GNP director in the past five 
years to make it through a full calendar year without being 
replaced.  She later told Consul General Griffiths that she 
was holding back "explosive information" about the minister's 
conduct, in anticipation of future attacks by Aguinaga. 
 
REAL ISSUE MOLINA'S REFUSAL TO GO ALONG WITH IMPROPER ACTS 
---------- 
 
4.  (C) According to insiders and Molina herself, Molina's 
true crime was not incompetence; instead, it was her 
unwillingness to turn a blind eye to corruption and unlawful 
activities in the park.  Deborah Chiriboga, a well known 
local environmental activist, told Poloff that Aguinaga 
removed Molina after the former GNP director openly 
questioned her decision to allow a 48-passenger tourist ship 
to operate using two 16-passenger permits assigned to other 
boats.  According to park documents, a national tourism 
company, Metropolitan Touring, owned by Roque Sevilla, 
entered into an agreement with two local operators allowing 
Sevilla's company to use their permits.  The three parties 
asked the GNP to bless the arrangement in late November 2007. 
 The GNP refused, citing park regulations prohibiting single 
ships from bundling together multiple permits. 
 
5.  (C) The three operators subsequently complained to the 
Ministry of the Environment.  They returned to Molina on 
February 25 with another letter asking for GNP approval.  One 
day later, Molina received a Ministry of the Environment 
resolution ordering her to approve the request.  Parts of 
this document were identical to passages in the companies' 
February 25 letter.  Molina responded to Aguinaga the 
following week, refusing to comply with the order and noting 
that the tourism operators appeared to "already know the 
contents of the resolution, which causes the GNP directorate 
to worry about how some issues are handled in the Ministry." 
Coincidentally, the tourism company's general manager told 
 
the Consul General on February 26 that the company was 
introducing a large new vessel into the Galapagos.  When the 
Consul General expressed surprise, the manager replied that 
"everything's been arranged in Quito". 
 
6.  (C) Minister Aguinaga confirmed to USAID staff that she 
and Molina disputed the permit, but firmly denied that this 
was the ultimate cause of the dismissal, further asserting 
that the permit is legal.  She indicated that a letter to her 
from Molina "that could be the basis of a libel suit" was 
really the last straw. 
 
7.  (U) President Rafael Correa has ordered the GNP to 
replace commercial tour operating permits with a concession 
system for visitor services.  Aguinaga and Correa have 
reportedly imposed a May 1 deadline for a draft concession 
plan. 
 
LAST OF MANY CLASHES BETWEEN GNP DIRECTOR AND AUTHORITIES 
---------- 
 
8.  (C) While the fight over the boating permits ultimately 
got her fired, it was not the first time that committed 
conservationist Molina butted heads with economic interests 
in the Galapagos.  Since being named GNP director in May 
2006, Molina repeatedly clashed with tourism companies, 
Galapagos fishing communities, local authorities, the 
Ecuadorian navy, and at times, the central government over 
illegal fishing and tourism in the islands.  As a result of 
her unwillingness to compromise her principles, she had many 
enemies amongst those looking to exploit the economic 
opportunities the islands offer.  Minister Aguinaga 
complained of Molina's failure to constructively engage local 
governments and the private sector.  Molina herself 
recognized that her days were numbered when Correa appointed 
Minister Aguinaga, with whom Molina had frequently clashed 
when Aguinaga had a private legal practice representing 
Galapagos tour operators, including Metropolitan Touring. 
 
9.  (C) Chiriboga believes that Molina's fate was sealed in 
late February when GNP officials stopped a 21-person 
Panamanian boat that was illegally fishing in the islands.  A 
fish processor owned by the president of Guayaquil's Chamber 
of Fisheries had contracted the boat.  According to 
Chiriboga, Aguinaga was outraged by the action but unable to 
do anything about it once the press caught wind of it.  "She 
came to the GNP to yell at Raquel," Chiriboga explained. 
"During the meeting, Aguinaga received a call and told the 
caller, 'I cannot do anything about this anymore because the 
GNP already has the boat's exact coordinates.'"  Molina was 
also physically assaulted last year when she and other park 
officials tried to prevent navy personnel from allowing 
illegal activities in the park. 
 
ANOTHER VICTORY FOR ECONOMIC INTERESTS IN THE GALAPAGOS 
---------- 
 
10.  (C) COMMENT:  Without a strong replacement ) an 
unlikely outcome at this point ) Molina's firing will be a 
blow to efforts to preserve the Galapagos's special ecology 
and a victory for those who push for more economic 
development in the islands.  For years, Ecuador has struggled 
to balance economic and environmental concerns in the 
Galapagos.  Despite clear legal limits on the number of 
fishing licenses, boat permits and resident visas issued in 
the Galapagos, corruption has allowed many to skirt the 
regulations, and resulting environmental consequences have 
been terrible.  Although not always an experienced 
administrator, Molina had a rare reputation for honesty and 
cared passionately about protecting the environment in the 
Galapagos.  Her willingness to take on anyone and her refusal 
to compromise her principles made her an important 
counterweight to those representing the islands' economic 
interests.  But it was this same inflexibility and 
hard-headedness that led to her downfall.  With local 
interests largely dominated by short-term economic 
development, the GNP director is one of the few people on the 
islands focused on defending the Galapagos ecosystem.  If the 
new director is not as committed to environmental protection 
as Molina, the islands' future may indeed be in danger. 
GRIFFITHS