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UNCLAS QUITO 001091 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL OVIP PHUM SNAR PTER MOPS MCAP ENRG EPET EC CO
SUBJECT: CONGRESSMAN MCGOVERN VISITS ECUADOR 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Congressman James McGovern traveled in Ecuador 
from November 13 to 18, to visit sites at issue in the 
Chevron-Texaco oil pollution case, and Ecuadorian border communities 
affected by refugees and other aspects of the violence in Colombia. 
Congressman McGovern met with Government of Ecuador (GOE) Ministers 
and President Correa, and while taking no position on the unresolved 
Chevron-Texaco suit, expressed concern about the humanitarian, 
health and environmental impacts of oil contamination on local 
affected communities and the humanitarian situation on the border, 
and pledged to draw greater attention to the plight of refugees. 
Foreign Minister Salvador and Vice Defense Minister Miguel Carvajal 
asked McGovern for the U.S. Congress to investigate the March 1 
Colombian attack against a FARC camp in Angostura, along the 
northern border of Ecuador, which McGovern did not agree to. (END 
SUMMARY) 
 
 
COLOMBIAN REFUGEE ISSUES 
 
¶2. (SBU) Congressman McGovern met with Ecuadorian and Colombian 
residents of the border communities of Baranca Bermeja and Puerto 
Mestanza, and with Colombian refugees in Lago Agrio, in Sucumbios 
province. The delegation heard repeated tales of displacement and 
abuse in Colombia and discrimination in Ecuador. Border residents 
criticized Plan Colombia, particularly U.S. military support to 
Colombia and aerial spraying. These same border residents also 
frequently condemned the U.S. military presence in the Forward 
Operating Location (FOL) in Manta, Ecuador. NGO briefings mixed 
comments on the humanitarian situation with issues such as aerial 
spraying with glyphosate, alleged participation of aircraft from the 
FOL in military actions on the Colombian border (especially the 
March 1 attack), and alleged infiltration of the Ecuadorian security 
services by the USG. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The leader of a Jesuit refugee association condemned USG 
infrastructure assistance as "part of the problem," because 
assistance is channeled through local governments that the refugees 
say actively discriminate against them. Representatives from the UN 
High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), International Organization for 
Migration (IOM), and the World Food Program (WFP) briefed the 
delegation on their analysis of the refugee situation, their efforts 
to register and provide protections for refugees, and work to 
construct municipal infrastructure. (Embassy Note: UNHCR estimates 
that of 250,000 Colombians in Ecuador, 130,000 are in need of 
international protection, but only 20,000 are registered. The USG 
provides significant funding for refugee programs and assistance in 
border towns. USAID committed to convene a meeting of local and 
national aid agencies in Lago Agrio in December to better understand 
refugees' needs and to discuss what assistance is available in the 
area. End Note) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Representative McGovern responded by stating his respect 
and sympathy for the speakers, his long-standing opposition to Plan 
Colombia, and his intention to expand understanding of the refugee 
issue in the USG and international NGO community through U.S. 
Congressional hearings and other measures. 
 
 
CHEVRON-TEXACO SITE VISITS 
 
¶5. (SBU) Sites visited in relation to the Chevron case included six 
oil well sites, the re-located Cofan indigenous community of Dureno, 
Sucumbios province, and a number of communities in the Sucumbios and 
Orellana provinces claiming to have suffered from contamination. 
Congressman McGovern expressed concern for the cancer, skin disease, 
crop failures, and animal deaths attributed to oil pollution. While 
not commenting on the merits of the court case, he later stated in 
several ministerial meetings in Quito and to the press that there 
was a moral issue as well as a legal issue at stake, and that 
because Chevron was a U.S. company, its behavior reflected badly on 
the U.S. He expressed his view that any court resolution was many 
years away, and said he hoped to facilitate a settlement, possibly 
based on a clean-up model agreed to by the USG and GOE, or other 
third parties. 
 
¶6. Solicitor General Diego Garcia Carrion initially rejected 
entering into negotiations that could lead to the state oil company, 
PetroEcuador, being held "responsible" for damages or clean-up 
costs. Toward the end of a half-hour meeting, Garcia allowed that 
the GOE could enter negotiations with no preconditions. Likewise, 
the Chevron-Texaco representative in Ecuador, Jaime Varela-Walker, 
did not acknowledge that the company had any motive to settle, but 
agreed to share the idea with his superiors. 
 
 
GOE MEETINGS 
 
¶7. (SBU) Representative McGovern held meetings with President Correa 
and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Justice, and Internal 
and External Security on November 12. In his private meetings and 
during a working lunch, GOE officials expressed appreciation for 
McGovern's praise for Ecuador's "incredible job responding to the 
largest human crisis in the Western Hemisphere," his commitment to 
bring more resources to the refugee problem, and his condemnation of 
Plan Colombia. Both McGovern and GOE officials expressed hope for 
new policies from President-elect Obama. McGovern repeatedly 
praised the Ecuadorian military (who had briefed him in Coca, 
Orellana province), and lamented that the Colombian military was not 
containing the conflict on its side of the border. 
 
¶8. (SBU) McGovern's official calls began with a meeting with Foreign 
Minister Maria Isabel Salvador. FM Salvador expressed her hope that 
the election of Barack Obama would mean better relations between the 
U.S. and Latin America, which was living through a "new era," and 
had "important ideas." McGovern said he looked forward to good 
relations between Ecuador and the U.S., and that he wanted to be a 
friend of Ecuador's in Congress. 
 
¶9. (SBU) McGovern recounted his trip to the Colombian border, where 
he saw the refugee crisis first hand. He said that few in the 
Congress were aware of the problem. Salvador noted that the 
refugees were one of the GOE's most important issues. She said that 
although their efforts were recently recognized by the UN High 
Commissioner in Geneva, more help was needed. 
 
¶10. (SBU) McGovern then turned to the subject of contaminated oil 
sites linked to Chevron-Texaco. Noting the terrible situation of 
the people in affected communities, he said he hoped to work with 
the GOE on the problem. He said that safe potable water had been 
provided for humans, but that animals were still drinking 
contaminated water. He said that in town hall meetings he had asked 
how many people had cancer, or had cancer in their families, and 
that everyone raised their hands. Children had terrible rashes. He 
commented that PetroEcuador was attempting remediation, but was 
using inappropriate techniques. He suggested that EPA or USAID 
could play a role in the remediation, perhaps designing a model 
clean-up. He explained that he feared that even with a decision in 
the lawsuit, the loser would appeal and nothing would be done to 
correct the situation for many years. He added that perhaps the GOE 
could have a role if the parties were willing to come together. 
 
¶11. (SBU) FM Salvador noted that the Correa government was the first 
to have a ministry devoted to human rights (the "Ministry of Justice 
and Human Rights"), and that the new constitution was based strongly 
on people's rights, including the rights of people on the Colombian 
border. McGovern said that everyone he had talked to said that Plan 
Colombia had messed things up. He said that he was a long-time 
opponent of Plan Colombia, and that what was needed was 
community-based development. He said that he opposed fumigation, 
because drugs would always be provided if there was a lucrative 
market. He stressed that more development assistance and less 
military assistance was needed in Colombia, and said that Congress 
had begun to recognize this priority in last year's budget. 
Salvador noted that the border was long and porous, and acknowledged 
that Colombian forces sometimes entered Ecuador, but that before 
March 1, a security agreement allowed Ecuador and Colombia to 
discuss and respond to incidents. Now there was virtually no 
communication after border incidents. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Congressman McGovern asked how the two countries could 
reopen communications, especially on the border. Salvador replied 
that the OAS was attempting to mediate, but that progress is slow. 
She said that statements by the two Presidents were not helping, and 
that Colombia was not providing requested information, including 
videos from the March 1 incursion. She said that Colombia needed to 
recognize the GOE's efforts against terrorism, narcotics, and 
transnational crime. McGovern responded that he was struck by the 
complexity of the situation and impressed by GOE efforts to register 
refugees and integrate them into the local population. The meeting 
concluded with both Congressman McGovern and FM Salvador reiterating 
their hope that change brought on by the U.S. elections would 
contribute to improving many of the issues they had discussed. 
After the meeting, in a pull-aside, FM Salvador asked Congressman 
McGovern to consider holding a hearing on the U.S. role in the March 
1 incursion. Congressman McGovern told her it was a bad idea. 
 
¶13. (SBU) In his meeting with President Correa, Congressman McGovern 
praised Ecuador's military and humanitarian actions on the border, 
condemned Plan Colombia and fumigation, and vowed to try to move to 
"a negotiated solution, not a military solution." McGovern committed 
to holding Congressional hearings on the border issues in February 
¶2009. He expressed sympathy for people living with oil pollution 
and doubt that the lawsuit would solve the problem. He expressed an 
interest in mediating a settlement. He warmly praised Ecuadorian 
Ambassador Gallegos in Washington. 
 
¶14. (SBU) President Correa's remarks focused on political and 
security issues with Colombia, the "total failure" of Plan Colombia, 
and contrasted it to Plan Ecuador, "a plan of peace." The President 
stressed the importance of roads, schools, and government services 
in the border region, such as providing identification cards and 
land tenure registration. He complained that Colombia has only 
three military detachments along the border, compared to Ecuador's 
thirty. He asked his staff to look into McGovern's report that 
PetroEcuador's current clean-up efforts were inadequate or actually 
harmful. He spoke proudly of raising the environmental budget, and 
complained that it was poorly utilized. Correa concluded by 
congratulating Congressman McGovern on "overcoming racism" by 
electing Obama, and saying that he hoped President Obama would 
"reverse the contradictions" in U.S. policies. 
 
¶15. (SBU) In his meeting with Congressman McGovern, Minister of 
Defense Javier Ponce noted that the conflict up north was not 
Ecuador's making, and asserted that Ecaudor would defend its 
sovereignty but did not want a confrontation. He said the GOE did 
not have links to the FARC. Asked what he would want in terms of 
assistance from the U.S., Ponce said he appreciated the 
installations the U.S. had provided. Regarding intelligence, he 
said it was not an area of interest for cooperation. On training, 
he said he was concerned the MOD did not know who the U.S. was 
training and in what. He noted that they had already asked the U.S. 
for assistance with monitoring chips for boats (to prevent piracy). 
Finally, he thought assistance programs, to include the Pacific 
coast, were important. 
 
¶16. (SBU) McGovern asked what could be done to get Colombia and 
Ecuador to re-establish relations. Ponce answered that if the U.S. 
only supported one side, there would be distrust, and that there 
should be a balanced relationship. He added that the CIA has to 
change "its old ways." And last, that the U.S. should deal with 
Ecuador without conditions on things like the ATPA. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Following the meeting, Principal Under Secretary of 
Defense Miguel Carvajal also pulled aside Congressman McGovern and 
asked for assistance from the U.S. Congress in investigating the 
March 1 killing of FARC leader Raul Reyes by Colombia. McGovern 
replied that it was important to reestablish trust between our 
governments, but did not respond to the request. 
 
HODGES