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[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H10946-H10947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

          ECUADOR FACING HUMANITARIAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I have just returned from a remarkable 
trip to Ecuador. From November 8 through 13, I traveled through 
northern Ecuador looking at the refugee crisis on its border with 
Colombia and on the effects of oil contamination on the land and people 
of the Amazon basin.
  I saw firsthand the terrible human and environmental costs that have 
resulted from the decades-long failure to properly clean the 
contamination left by oil drilling and production. Specifically, the 
sites I visited were those that were under the control of Texaco, now 
Chevron. I visited oil pits that were poorly constructed, poorly 
remediated, or remediated not at all. This has left a toxic legacy for 
poor campesinos and indigenous peoples.
  I also saw the infrastructure that Chevron/Texaco created that 
allowed for the wholesale dumping of formation water and other highly 
toxic materials directly into the Amazon and its waters.
  As an American citizen, the degradation and contamination left behind 
in a poor part of the world by this U.S. company made me angry and 
ashamed.
  The drinking water for thousands of poor people is horribly unfit, 
even deadly. Children are drinking and bathing in water that reeks of 
oil. In one village, San Carlos, I couldn't come across a family that 
hasn't been touched by cancer. Mothers brought their children to show 
me the terrible rashes and sores that covered their bodies.
  A lawsuit has been filed against Chevron by 30,000 Amazon residents 
demanding that the company accept responsibility for substandard 
production practices and help with the clean-up efforts. Chevron, for 
its part, asserts it was released from responsibility in the 1990s, and 
the release remains in legal dispute.
  Neither Congress nor the United States Government should get involved 
in a legal matter that will soon be decided in a court of law. But as 
the years pass and nothing is done, the situation on the ground has 
become more and more desperate for thousands of poor people, and the 
pollution spreads deeper into the soil, the water, and the Amazon 
basin.
  I firmly believe these people and their environment need help and 
they need help now.
  As I traveled further north towards the border frontier, I found a 
growing humanitarian and security crisis. Eight years ago, the United 
States started pouring military aid--$4.8 billion of it--into Colombia, 
much of it focused on military operations in the violent coca growing 
zones just across the border from Ecuador.
  The result has been an alarming spillover of violence into Ecuador's 
peaceful but impoverished borderlands. Over 200,000 Colombians--a 
number rivaling many refugee crises in Africa--have fled to Ecuador to 
escape the violence and intense fighting between guerilla groups, the 
Colombian military, and Colombian paramilitary militias.
  As the GAO recently reported, harsh U.S. counter-drug strategies have 
failed to halt cocaine production in Colombia or ease the violence that 
comes with this illegal economy. Instead, organized crime has been 
pushed across the border into Ecuador.
  Mr. Speaker, I stood on the banks of the San Miguel River, which 
marks the border between Putumayo, Colombia, and Sucumbios, Ecuador. 
Only a few hundred yards of water separate the two.
  Mr. Speaker, Colombia's war is literally bleeding, violently, into 
Ecuador, which has no history of illegal drug cultivation or insurgency 
from its own people. Tensions between the two nations are high and 
diplomatic relations remain cut off.
  The refugee communities that I spoke with in Lago Agrio, Barranca 
Bermeja, and Puerto Mestanza feel abandoned and discriminated against.

[[Page H10947]]

They long to return to Colombia even as they describe the terror that 
forced them to seek safe haven in Ecuador.

                              {time}  2115

  They spoke of the need for community development projects but have no 
one to turn to to help them help bring their modest ideas into reality. 
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, is nearly the 
lone partner with the Ecuadorian government in dealing with the largest 
refugee crisis in the hemisphere, with some aid from the World Food 
Programme and the IOM. Where are the other NGOs and U.N. agencies that 
would normally be involved in a crisis of this magnitude?
  These crises are not of the making of the government of President 
Rafael Correa. Ecuador needs and deserves the support of the 
international community and Congress to address these challenges. They 
cannot be allowed to remain invisible.
  Mr. Speaker, I was deeply moved by my visit to Ecuador, and I will 
never forget the courageous people, Ecuadorians and Colombians, who 
told me their stories and asked for my help. They deserve to live a 
much better life. In the weeks ahead, I hope I can count on my House 
colleagues to help these communities in this effort.

          [From the Christian Science Monitor, June 24, 2008]

                   Tackling Ecuador's Refugee Buildup

       Lago Agrio, Ecuador.--Less than a month ago, Rosalba Agredo 
     Gonzalez was given only a few minutes to leave her house in 
     Colombia. She was woken up in the middle of the night by 
     armed men who threatened her and took away her neighbor.
       ``They told me they wouldn't do anything to me because of 
     my children. Otherwise they would have killed me,'' she says.
       Agredo now lives with her elderly father and her three 
     children in Lago Agrio, a small city in northern Ecuador, 15 
     miles from the Colombian border. They've made their temporary 
     home alongside one wall of a small wooden house, with only a 
     tin roof, concrete floor, and plastic sheets for walls. She 
     doesn't have a job but sometimes prepares a local pastry at a 
     neighbor's house which her eldest son sells on the street. 
     Despite her precarious situation, she is happy to be in 
     Ecuador. ``I don't want to go back to Colombia, even if I 
     have to maintain myself by selling empanadas,'' she says. ``I 
     feel very happy here because even if I don't own anything I 
     know my children are safe.'' Agredo's story is not uncommon. 
     Ecuador has more refugees than any other Latin American 
     country--a consequence of the longstanding conflict in 
     Colombia, which has received little international attention. 
     Five to 10 refugees arrive in Ecuador every day, according to 
     the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 
     mainly, from two southern Colombian provinces bordering 
     Ecuador, Putumayo and Narino. Given the buildup of refugees, 
     the Ecuadorean government and a few humanitarian agencies are 
     taking measures to provide asylum and assistance. But the 
     challenges remain large. Of the estimated 180,000 who have 
     entered Ecuador escaping violence, 16,500 have received a 
     refugee visa and 22,000 are awaiting a response.

                        TROUBLE SECURING ASYLUM

       The remaining 80 percent have yet to apply--some fear 
     becoming vulnerable to further persecution, while others are 
     unaware they might qualify for asylum. Asylum seekers are 
     granted access to public health and education from the moment 
     they set foot in Ecuador. However they often have trouble 
     affording decent housing and supporting their families, as 
     they are not allowed to work until granted a refugee visa. 
     ``Legalizing refugees is very important so that they come out 
     of their invisibility, otherwise they can't get legal jobs 
     and become very vulnerable,'' says Alfonso Morales, who heads 
     the department for refugees at Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign 
     Affairs. ``They become easy prey to illegal networks and 
     often end up participating in illegal activities.'' On June 
     20, to coincide with World Refugee Day, the Ecuadorean 
     Ministry of Foreign Affairs inaugurated a new office in Lago 
     Agrio, an important step toward improving refugee 
     registration. The new office will make registration faster 
     for applicants, as documents will be processed directly 
     instead of being sent to Quito, Ecuador's capital. Another 
     new measure is an enhanced registration process that will 
     start in September and will make it possible for refugees to 
     apply for and receive their visas in one day. Right now the 
     registration process takes about four months if applicants 
     can go to Quito and between 18 and 24 months if they can't 
     leave the north.

                       ISOLATED, POOR COMMUNITIES

       But registration is just an initial step in the process of 
     providing better living conditions for refugees. The northern 
     province of Sucumbios, of of which Lago Agrio is the capital, 
     faces the largest influx of refugees. A jungle area separated 
     from Colombia by two rivers, the area also presents many 
     logistical and security challenges for humanitarian work. 
     Border communities here are difficult to access and often 
     lack basic infrastructure such as roads, drinking water, and 
     health facilities. Though Sucumbious is rich in oil, the 
     province is among the least developed in Ecuador, with high 
     levels of unemployment and an informal economy that relies on 
     illegal activity such as drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, 
     and human trafficking. It was in this province that 
     Colombia's cross-border raid on March 1 took place, leaving 
     FARC commander Raul Reyes--and another 25 people--dead and 
     creating a regional diplomatic crisis. ``In small communities 
     the solidarity is amazing. They are willing to share 
     everything, but it's important to intervene quickly so as not 
     to allow tensions to develop,'' says Xavier Creach, head of 
     the UNHCR field office in Lago Agrio. UNHCR has prioritized 
     reaching those isolated communities along the border.
       ``We have serious economic and institutional limits when it 
     comes to taking care of the huge quantity of Colombian 
     refugees that have come to our country,'' says Mr. Morales, 
     the government official. ``The international community hasn't 
     yet recognized the magnitude of the problem. We need foreign 
     support.''
                                  ____

           [From UNHER--The UN Refugee Agency, June 24, 2008]

     Ecuador Opens First Refugee Office Along Border with Colombia

       Lago Agrio.--Ecuador's Directorate General for Refugees has 
     just opened an office in the border province of Sucumbious, 
     the first state-run facility of its kind to be established 
     outside the national capital, Quito.
       President Rafael Correa presided over the opening ceremony 
     in the provincial capital of Lago Agrio last Friday, World 
     Refugee Day. Lago Agrio is located just a few kilometres from 
     northeast Ecuador's border with Colombia.
       Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador told guests that the 
     office would help Ecuador fulfill its obligations to refugees 
     and others in need of international protection. Equador has 
     the largest refugee population in Latin America, coming 
     mostly from Colombia.
       ``This is in agreement with Ecuador's commitment to all 
     human rights, a commitment that calls us to welcome any 
     person forced to leave their home country in search of safety 
     and a secure life,'' Salvador said, adding that the 
     government hoped to soon open more refugee offices along the 
     border.
       The new refugee office will provide advice and orientation 
     to registered refugees and other people of concern. Its staff 
     will also conduct interviews to assess the applications of 
     asylum seekers as well as issue documentation.
       It will he fully operational as of next month, allowing the 
     UN refugee agency to focus its activities on border 
     monitoring and local integration of refugees, with projects 
     that help both refugees and their host communities.

                          ____________________
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