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Sunday-Monday October 20-21, 2013
Here is the unedited report I submitted to our Justice For Coopera group:
Oct. 21/13 TRIP to Quito
report
As I sit down to write this report on our trip to Quito to try to see
President Correa, it is impossible to know where to begin. I apologize if it becomes lengthy and I will
try to avoid sounding like a travelogue.
At 9pm on Sunday night Oct 20/13, 21 Ecuadorians and myself
boarded a bus to the capital city of Quito
and arrived at 5:30am. The group’s
leader, Dr Quito, did not come on the bus ride, saying that he intended to fly
the next day to meet us (but could not get an early flight). Some other Ecuadorians managed their own
transportation so that there were about 30 of us there to demonstrate Monday
morning in front of the Presidential Palace. The disappointment in getting so few people,
and only one from the Expat community, was brought up often. However, understandably, the hardship of the
trip, combined with the uncertainty as to the length of the protest, was not
very palatable to such an aging group.
Our group quickly occupied the center prime position in
front of the Palace so that we could be seen and heard. We knew we would have strong competition from
the many protestors of the oil drilling in the Yasuni.
There was to be a ceremony inside the Palace at 9am,
attended by the President, followed by the “changing of the guard” at 11am,
also to be attended by the President.
As soon as we deployed our banners and did a couple of
chants we were approached by a man from the Asesor Presidencia, to see if
representatives from our group wished to present their case. Chosen were
Grace Estrella, Marco Ecalada, Juan, and myself (and we were later joined by
Sandra as well). The balance of the
group was then asked not to make any disruptive noise during the two
ceremonies.
Note that my camera and phone were removed upon entering the security area, Sorry.
At approximately 8:30am our little delegation was sitting
inside the Palace, outside the Asesor’s office awaiting our turn. At 9am the first ceremony began with the
arrival of President Correa and we crossed the center compound to watch. Marco arrived first and he did get a glimpse
of President Correa but, very quickly, the President’s security detail were
shooing us back to the Asesor’s office.
We were admitted at approximately 9:30 and I was mightily
impressed with the caliber of the man we were dealing with. I apologize that I am very lax in getting
people’s names. This fellow was extremely
professional, knowledgeable, and seemed genuinely and sincerely sympathetic to
our plight.
Marco and Grace centered their presentation on the official
SEPS documents ordering the Liquidation which clearly show the misguided
collusion involved. Nobody mentioned
the possibility of the invocation of the Bi-Lateral treaties between Ecuador and the USA
and Canada .
When I was asked to speak, I centered my remarks on the many
examples of breaches to the Constitution of Ecuador, which clearly states that
the Supreme Law of Ecuador cannot be suborned or circumvented by subsequent
laws from any source.
As the second ceremony was about to begin at 11am, Marco was
asked to go out to remind our demonstrators to be quiet again. To my knowledge, our group was compliant.
Our fruitful meeting lasted until about 11:30. I had a package of documents for the “eyes
only” of the President, which would add factual evidence and credence to the
case we had just presented. At Marco’s
urging, I placed these documents in the hands of the Asesor before we
left. The Asesor had given us a very
fair and sympathetic hearing for 2 hours so we had place our trust that our
case would indeed meet the eyes of the President.
Once outside, we hurriedly informed our impatient group of
our success and then had to rush off for a meeting at 12:30pm across town at
the SEPS office, set up by the Asesor, that was to include the Asesor, and Hugo
Jacome, head of SEPS. A slightly different
group was chosen to represent the group at this meeting, myself, Marco, Grace,
2 elderly women, and a fellow I will just label as #6.
We took two cabs and arrived late but that did not matter
because neither the Asesor nor Hugo Jacome showed up. At approximately 1:30 this meeting began,
with Mr. Cruz, the second-in-command at SEPS presiding, and attended by another
representative from the Asesor’s office.
The only positive spin I can put on this meeting is that we
were finally given some actual numbers to support the SEPS actions in the
liquidation. Marco and Grace pressed
for, and received, answers to just about everything they asked for regarding
the numbers. Given my lack of Spanish, I
did not bother to try to take additional notes so that I would not give out any
inaccurate information. An inordinate
amount of time was spent on these justifications. I assume that Grace and Marco will present these
numbers at the meeting on Thursday at 4pm at the Prefecture.
The two older ladies, one of them a 79-year-old pensioner,
gave impassioned and tearful pleas to an entirely cold and unsympathetic Mr.
Cruz. He just ignored them as seemingly
unimportant. I almost walked out at that
point, I was so disgusted with this bureaucrat and his continuous “I was
following orders” stance. He actually
seemed so very proud of his actions and he gave absolutely zero indications
that our plight had any significance to him at all. He seemed to enjoy our discomfort.
Mr. Cruz continuously and proudly referred to the mandate SEPS
was given to pay off all the small investors and that SEPS were
successful. He seemingly just brushed
off that they were in contravention of the original mandate to pay everyone up
to $31,000, not $30,000. My lack of
Spanish did not allow me to pick up on any rational explanations for this nor
SEPS’ ignoring the Constitutional guarantees for children, the aged, the
infirm, etc.
Mr. Cruz referred several times to their displeasure of the
leaking of documents and “half-truths” on the Internet by lawyer Dr. Carlos Heredia. Obviously Carlos has struck a huge nerve.
My contribution again was to point out several
contraventions to the Constitution and the legal remedy the Government has
under Article 11.9. to just spend $46 million, buy out the assets of Coopera,
and pay off the balance of the investors.
More time was spent haggling over the initial mandate and
getting more numbers out of SEPS. #6 contributed nothing at all. When we left this meeting we were not in a
very good mood. #6 felt that too much
time was spent on getting numbers and not enough time was spent on going after
SEPS. When we came back to the
assembled investors at the Palace, #6 proceeded to call Marco and Grace
“traitors” and all sorts of nonsense, distorting the things they had managed to
accomplish under those difficult circumstances.
At this point everyone was uncertain what to do. The demonstration continued in spite of
police requests for silence. Within a
month, such protests are outlawed by another new Government law, seeking to
stifle all dissent, from Coopera, Yasuni, etc. Speaking out against the Government, even
if you are totally right, can land you in jail.
This is totally against Article 98 of the Constitution, amongst others.
The news came that Dr. Quito was catching the 6pm flight to
join our group, meaning that he would probably arrive at the Palace around
8:30pm.
Marco and I both felt that we had done everything we possibly
could, and we were certainly not relishing the thought of spending a cold and
wet night in the open, hassled by the Police, etc. We asked ourselves what the arrival of Dr.
Quito would add to the equation and decided that it was highly unlikely that
anything positive would result, other than just making more noise. If Dr. Quito did manage to do more than that,
so much the better. Marco and I decided
to catch the 6:30 regular bus back to Cuenca ,
arriving very uncomfortably at 3:30am.
What, if anything, has occurred after that I have heard nothing to this
point.
Marco indicated to me that President Correa rises at 4am to
do most of his work, so I sent the President several Tweets to support our
actions yesterday and to again suggest the remedy granted to him under Article
11.9. of the Constitution.
Was it a success?
Only time will tell if our case, and our supporting documents, actually
get on President Correa’s desk. Then it
is a question of what action, if any, he may decide to take.
If anyone wants to get more information on results, I
suggest they attend the meeting at the Prefecture on Thursday at 4pm. I anticipate a raucous, rancorous meeting,
mostly because of the actions of #6, but I intend to be there anyway.
Personal observations:
It is so easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. Our request for additional persons to join
this demonstration unsurprisingly did not garner any response, only a criticism
that we were too harsh on the Government.
I find it hard not to remind such folks what history has taught us, time
and time again, to those who sat idly by while their rights and freedoms were
being trampled on. Yes, this present
administration is doing some wonderful things that they earnestly deserve
credit for, ..but they are also steadily stifling any opposition to their rule,
and we all should know where that eventually leads. This is not Conspiracy Theory rhetoric. These muzzling actions are actually
happening here, right now. All we ask is
that you please get your heads out of the sand and see the whole picture before
it is too late.
While we did not get our hoped-for actual audience with the
President himself, our meeting with the Asesor was long, sympathetic and
fruitful. I am personally extremely optimistic
that our case will get a fair presentation.
If our documentation reaches President Correa, we stand a much better
chance of getting our money back quickly than if we had just stayed at home. It is also preferable to the onerous and
time-consuming adversarial alternatives that await us if our pleas are not
heeded.
If the meeting with SEPS did anything for me at all, it was
to solidify in my mind that our future options are solely in the courts,
specifically the Constitutional
Court . I
am no lawyer, but even I would have absolutely no trouble in building an
airtight case against the embarrassing actions of the Government, MIES and
SEPS.
We have shot our wad with the Government with protests and
meetings prior to the enactment of this new muzzling legislation. If the Government does not quickly act
against the collusion, corruption and discrimination, then legal action will be
our only recourse to force the
issue.
The Revitalization option has zero appeal to older investors
who need their retirement funds now to survive. We cannot afford to wait to try to recoup
our investment 10-12 years in the future.
MIES and SEPS have destroyed anything worth revitalizing and, seriously,
who could we trust to have the expertise to rebuild this corpse?? This is simply not a viable option in my
books.
Another legal option is the invocation of the Bi-Lateral Treaties between Ecuador , the USA
and Canada
regarding the confiscation of our money. If you are not American or Canadian, I suggest
that you check to confirm if your country has a similar treaty as well and to
work to invoke its provisions as soon as possible. These treaties have time limits to begin the
process. Our stance must be that the
Government and its agencies, MIES and SEPS, have confiscated our money and used
our money to pay off other investors. It
is important to use the word “confiscated”.
This morning, Oct 22/13, I received the following response
from the Canadian Embassy requesting their assistances and advice:
Dear Mr. Bourassa,
Thank you for your correspondence. We are very sorry to hear about
your recent experience with Coopera Credit Union and the lost of your savings.
The bilateral investment treaty is in force between Ecuador
and Canada
We wish you all the best in solving the issue and
recuperating your investment. Sincerely,
We can sit around and
let the Government steal our money, or we can be proactive and do something
about it. Everyone willing join in the
invocation of their particular Bilateral Treaty should contact Carlos at cherediaf@gmail.com. We intend to begin this process with an open letter
delivered to president Correa to open the “dialogue” portion of the
process.
We would then assume
that all such persons would also be ready to join a suit to be brought in front
of the Constitutional Court
So there we have
it. E. & O.E.
Sincerely,
Al Bourassa
Hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al
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| We were told to meet at 8pm, but left on Ecuador time at 9pm |
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| Lots of room so the 8.5 hour trip was manageable |
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| We arrived at the Presidential Palace in Quito before 6am |
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| This gorgeous green-domed church is on the left of the square |
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| The green domes are very impressive |
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| This church is a block from the square |
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| This is a nice view diagonally across the square |
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| To the right you can see the bomb-sniffing dog at work on the balcony |
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| The calm before the storm |
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| The Virgen De El Panecillo in the distance |
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| Another angle on the green-domed church |
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| Nuns on the run |
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| Inside the Presidential Palace before the ceremonies |
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| Our group, hopeful to see President Correa himself |
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| Marco with some of our documentation. They took our camera and phone. |
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| This is on our way out of the Palace |
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| Even here they do things just for the tourists |
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| The Yasuni demonstrators outnumbered us heavily |
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| Grace Estrella giving our views to the Press |
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| The Press is getting some footage of our demonstration |
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| A view of the action across the front of the Palace |
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| The Yasuni demonstrators are plentiful |
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| We may be a small group but we were vocal and active |
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| Looking back across the front of the Palace |
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| Looking toward the old Cathedral |
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| Our group waiting in the SEPS meeting room |
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| Back at the Palace |
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| Our group is tireless in their determination. |
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| The police are ready for any ugliness |
