VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0925/01 3311733
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261733Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0304
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0151
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 1353
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 0168
RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000925 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/AND, WHA/PPC, EAP/CM AND CA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER ASEC CVIS KCRM KFRD EC KTIP CS
SUBJECT: GOCR FEARS THAT LAX ECUADOR VISA POLICY IS FUELING 
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION 
 
REF: SAN JOSE 882 
 
¶1. (SBU) This is the unclassified version of San Jose 882, 
being transmitted at the request of the Human Smuggling and 
Trafficking Center (HSTC). 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) GOCR Immigration officials who traveled to Ecuador 
in October reported that approximately 10,000 Chinese had 
entered Ecuador since the GOE dropped its tourist visa 
requirements for all nationalities on June 20.  Embassy 
contacts feared that these Chinese were heading for Costa 
Rica and for the United States and that many could fall 
victim to forced labor trafficking or human smuggling 
"coyotaje."  Some of the Chinese had applied for Costa Rican 
permanent residency while in Beijing and then asked that 
their notification be sent to them in Ecuador, suggesting the 
beginning of an organized fraud pattern.  Post learned that 
flights from Ecuador through Costa Rica (a TACA Airlines hub 
for flights headed north) had began to include a diverse mix 
of nationalities since June, including Eastern Europeans, 
Arabs, and South Americans.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
CHINESE: INCREASED NUMBERS; POSSIBLE FRAUD 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) The GOCR General Directorate of Immigration (DGI) 
became concerned recently when officials noticed a pattern 
among non-related Chinese "family reunification" residency 
petitions.  Approximately 10 to 15 cases surfaced, involving 
young males aged 17 to 20, in which the applicants filed 
petitions in Beijing to come to Costa Rica, but requested 
that status notifications be sent to Ecuador.  One official 
offered as hypotheses that an organized fraud ring was 
smuggling or trafficking Chinese, or that such a ring was 
arranging valid residencies for Chinese but then using the 
documents for impostors waiting in Ecuador.  Two DGI 
officials were dispatched to Quito in October to reinforce 
training for GOCR consuls and to meet with Ecuadorian and 
Chinese officials; the DGI shared its report with Post.  The 
DGI halted the above-mentioned residency cases, and GOCR 
consuls in Beijing and Quito will take a closer look at 
Chinese petitions for evidence of fraud. 
 
¶4. (SBU) According to the DGI report, a senior Ecuadorian 
Immigration official told the GOCR DGI that between June 20 
and the October meeting, 10,748 Chinese had entered Ecuador 
and 4826 of those had departed, compared to 2007 statistics 
showing 4776 Chinese entries and 4417 departures.  Even with 
those statistics, however, the DGI was told it was too early 
to determine the positive or negative effect from dropping 
the Ecuadorian visa requirement, though officials were aware 
that many of the Chinese were looking to the U.S. as their 
final destination.  GOE officials explained to the DGI that 
the visa-less travel requirement was designed to increase 
tourism, investment and trade for Ecuador, as well as to 
"increase the free movement of people into and out of the 
country." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Also according to the DGI report, in a separate 
meeting with a Chinese Embassy official in Ecuador, the DGI 
learned that the majority of Chinese who had entered since 
June 20 came from the poorest provinces, Fujian and Guadong, 
and the Chinese government was concerned that they would fall 
victim to trafficking and smuggling rings.  Approximately 
one-third of those who entered Ecuador reportedly had 
departed legally.  The remainder stayed in Ecuador or sought 
to go illegally to Brazil, Colombia, Peru or to their most 
desired destination - the United States. 
 
----------------------------------- 
FLIGHTS FROM ECUADOR "COSMOPOLITAN" 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) A senior DGI official told Post that that daily 
flights arriving to San Jose from Ecuador had recently become 
"very cosmopolitan."  Before, these flights carried more 
"local" (Central American) clientele but now included many 
 
South Americans and Eastern Europeans, among others.  San 
Jose is a hub for TACA Airlines' northbound flights.  The DGI 
detected a pattern that these more "diverse" flights from 
Ecuador were generally transiting Costa Rica and headed to 
Guatemala or Belize - two countries with extremely porous 
borders with Mexico - as their final destination. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
OTHER NATIONALITIES USING ECUADOR AS BRIDGE? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ecuadorian Immigration officials told DGI officials 
that an unspecified number of Arabs were now arriving in 
Ecuador.  Reportedly, Ecuadorian Immigration maintained that 
the Correa administration's decision to drop visa 
requirements came as a surprise to the Immigration 
department.  GOCR consuls in Ecuador reported an increase in 
all types of visa applications since June 20. 
 
¶8. (SBU) One senior DGI official expressed concern to Post 
about a potential influx of African migration to the region. 
Whereas before Brazilian Immigration was an obstacle even 
though there were direct flights from Africa, now Africans 
could transit Brazil and land in Ecuador.  From there, they 
could migrate over land anywhere in Central, South, or North 
America. 
CIANCHETTE