MIGRATION: ECUADORIANS STILL LOOKING NORTH

UNCLAS QUITO 001549 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SMIG PHUM PREL EC SUBJECT: MIGRATION: ECUADORIANS STILL LOOKING NORTH ¶1. (U) Summary: At least since the severe economic crisis in 1999, the two certainties in Ecuador have been death and emigration. A steady stream of 30,000 to 40,000 undocumented migrants takes to the sea and skies annually from Ecuador in pursuit of their own American dreams. Periodic reports of migrant deaths, including a boat sinking that claimed 94 lives in August 2005, do not appear to deter outward-bound Ecuadorians or the smugglers who profit from moving them. Immediately following the August tragedy, the number of boats bound for Mexico and Guatemala from Ecuador dropped. But now, less than a year after the accident, the number of embarkations is back up, the covert fleet having only temporarily moved south to Northern Peru. The latest drowning deaths put increased pressure on authorities to crack down on alien smuggling -- Congress raised penalties for convicted smugglers, but the northward flow continues, fueled by limited economic opportunity at home. End Summary Another Day, Another Death -------------- ¶2. (U) Carmen Chuni, Carlos Arevalo and Jose Gomez shared the dream of thousands of Ecuadorians hungering for a better life in the United States. They paid thousands of dollars to a smuggling ring and embarked on the dangerous journey by boat to Central America. Unlike some of their compatriots who meet tragedy before even touching Guatemalan soil, the three men landed there and passed into Mexico. There Chuni and Arevalo and other migrants died in a bus accident as they were shuttled northward. Gomez, injured in the crash, fled the scene and spent four days in the mountains without food before he turned himself in to police. He did so when he read in a newspaper that his relatives' unidentified bodies were going to be buried in unmarked graves. Gomez later died from injuries sustained in the crash. The Public Ombudsman's Office in Azuay Province paid $2,500 for the bodies of the three to be returned to Ecuador. Chuni's corpse was returned to his 22-year-old wife and daughters, ages 3 and 9 months. ¶3. (U) Sad stories of migrant tragedies appear regularly here in newspaper, radio and TV reports. Also common are reports of U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities rescuing hundreds of hopeful immigrants from decrepit boats discovered on the edge of disaster. The Ecuadorian Navy and National Institute for Child and Family (INNFA) launched an awareness campaign in January to dissuade potential migrants from risking their lives and being deceived by smugglers. One anti-smuggling TV spot even features the personal testimony of one of nine people who survived the August boat sinking. Wilma Castro spent three days clinging to a fuel tank before rescuers found her. Sun and chemical burns left her face and those of fellow survivors almost unrecognizable. Their images and news of the 94 drowning deaths incensed many here who blame corrupt politicians for failing to create economic opportunities at home and for failing to jail smugglers. For weeks, the media kept up the coverage of the tragedy. The common refrain from journalists and public was "How can this happen?" Congress scrambled to introduce bills increasing punishments for convicted smugglers, called "coyoteros" in Spanish. ¶4. (U) As a result of the clamor, smuggling boats temporarily moved south along the Pacific Coast. Like the returning tide, however, the irregular departures have now returned to Ecuador. Willing customers picked up where they left off, seemingly unfazed by the warnings of danger. As often is the case, migrants rescued from sinking boats climb aboard others. Congress, meanwhile, allowed the anti-coyotero bills to languish. Pieces of Coyote Pie -------------- ¶5. (U) Migrant smuggling is big business in Ecuador, and involves an extensive network of smugglers that includes recruiters, coyoteros, boat owners and crewmembers, providers of ground transportation (in Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico) and loan sharks. According to reports from smuggled migrants, police and military also facilitate the illegal migration. ¶6. (U) Ecuador's smuggling network is extensive and not limited to the coast. Starting with the intending immigrant's first contact with a recruiter -- through a business card, a newspaper ad or word-of-mouth referral, he or she is run through a relay of smuggling accomplices. Loan sharks move in to help the migrant get the required cash for the trip. Persons smuggled through Bolivia by air pay $10,000 to $15,000. Oceangoing customers pay a similar amount; usually only a portion is required up front with the rest payable in installments along the route. Generally coyoteros' customers aren't the poorest of poor, but rather members of the lower middle class who are enticed by materialism touted by the entertainment media, Congressman Freddy Ehlers told PolOff. Ecuadorian National Human Rights Ombudsman Claudio Mueckay agrees and blames the coyoteros too. He shared the account of a driver, soundly middle class, who was tricked into traveling by smugglers who described a Utopian United States. Gina Benavides of INREDH, a regional human rights foundation, points to the smugglers as well, calling the business of alien smuggling "as ugly as drug trafficking." ¶7. (U) Most people mortgage their homes and property in exchange for the money and pay at least $500 monthly interest for the loans. Next coyoteros and their accomplices set up the route, often starting from Azuay province in the south or Carchi in the north, sources of the heaviest outward migration. Along the route the migrants relay from bus to truck, hotel to hotel, until they arrive at a secluded beach, where they shuttled out to a waiting converted fishing vessel. Once aboard, it takes an average of eight to 10 days to reach a patch of deserted Guatemala coastline. Overloaded with migrants, otherwise seaworthy vessels become accidents waiting to happen. GOE Enforcement Diverting Flow -------------- ¶8. (U) Immediately following the August drownings, President Palacio charged Vice Adm. Hector Holguin, commander of the Ecuadorian Navy, with developing a plan to save migrants' lives. In early May, the GOE launched its "Anti-Coyotero Plan," which dedicates 1,500 sailors, three planes, 16 Coast Guard boats and two ships equipped with helicopters to patrolling Ecuador's 1,400 miles of coastline. Merchant marine authorities were ordered to seize unregistered fishing boats to prevent their being employed by smugglers. ¶9. (U) The U.S. Coast Guard estimates that 30,000 to 40,000 migrants left Ecuador in 2005 and 95 percent reached their intermediate destinations in Mexico or Central America. National Immigration Director Gen. Edmund Ruiz told PolOff that his police officers had frustrated 700 intending immigrants in the first five months of 2006, compared with 500 in all of 2005. Ruiz, whose jurisdiction stops at the water's edge, speculates that more people are using air routes because of the increased maritime surveillance under the Anti-Coyotero Plan. Police have noted a rise in the number of intending immigrants flying to Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, countries that do not require visas and can be used as launch pads to the United States. ¶10. (U) An integrated database introduced at Ecuadorian airports in July 2005 has enabled immigration police at the airports to check criminal records and deportations. Police also patrol pre-embarkation halls for suspicious-looking travelers who may have passed by immigration checkpoints without proper processing. However, Ruiz acknowledged police do make mistakes. An immigration officer earns about $250 a month, Ruiz said. When offered a bribe of $500, the temptation is great. But with pre-boarding checks and closed circuit cameras at immigration desks, Ruiz claimed he could detect and punish corruption among his immigration officers. Corruption Creeps In -------------- ¶11. (SBU) One prosecutor from the coastal province of Guayas told DHS that the Ecuadorian sailors assigned to the Anti-Coyotero Plan travel from boat to boat collecting bribes from complicit fishermen. We don't believe such activity to could be occuring widely given the pressure under which Holguin operates. We are aware of corrupt port captains who take bribes from coyoteros and look the other way when boats set sail. Politicians also succumb to temptation; a vice mayor in Manta routinely releases detained smugglers. ¶12. (U) To address corruption in the police, the USG in 2002 supported the formation of a special vetted GOE police unit to fight alien smuggling. The unit, called the Anti-Coyotero Operations Center (COAC),consists of 12 police officers who undergo regular polygraph tests and work under the supervision of DHS/ICE. NAS provides the Quito-based unit with logistical support including travel funds, vehicles and sophisticated equipment to conduct investigations. Since its inception, the work of the COAC has led to the arrests of 325 accused smugglers. ¶13. (SBU) Unfortunately, the vetted police team doesn't have a vetted prosecutor and vetted judge to whom it can hand over suspected criminals and criminal evidence. The number of convictions to date has been disappointing. The COAC had been working exclusively with one prosecutor, whom we had deemed reliable, but evidence has recently surfaced linking that prosecutor with the disappearance of criminal evidence and the failure of witnesses to appear in court to testify. The prosecutor is being transferred after having handled preliminary procedures on several high-profile cases including the case against Milton Bautista Guzman, charged with the August drowning deaths, and the case of accused alien smuggler Vinicio Luna, coordinator of the national soccer team. DHS has asked the attorney general's office for a complete accounting of the judicial status of all of the alien smuggling cases the COAC unit has investigated. Smugglers Face Greater Penalties -------------- ¶14. (U) After months of inaction, Congress approved penal code reforms in April that increased prison sentences for coyoteros and their accomplices to up to 25 years. Previously, members of smuggling rings could receive a maximum of 12 years imprisonment. The potential sentence applies to anyone "who through illegal means, promotes, overcrowds, induces, finances, participates in collaborates with or helps the emigration of nationals or foreigners from Ecuador to another country." The same penalty will apply to anyone who subjects children to the dangers of illegal emigration -- this includes parents and other relatives. If a smuggling attempt results in the death of a migrant, the convicted smuggler could receive a 16- to 25-year sentence. Migrants who accuse their traffickers are protected from prosecution. U.S. Migration Enforcement Limited -------------- ¶15. (U) U.S. Navy and Coast Guard involvement in anti-migrant interdiction efforts is peripheral to their primary anti-drug mission. U.S. vessels or aircraft intervene only when they spot imperiled boats of human cargo. Since April 2005, U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels intercepted and boarded boats carrying a total of nearly 700 migrants. ¶16. (U) Ecuadorian officials have expressed their desire to require every Ecuadorian registered vessel to be outfitted with a computer tracking chip, as Colombia does. However, the GOE lacks resources to fund the chips and the tracking equipment. The GOE also fails to reimburse costs of repatriating deported Ecuadorians, a sore spot with the governments of Guatemala and Nicaragua. Instead, DHS often pays for the return of many migrants intercepted at sea, at a cost of $40,000 to $60,000 per trip. Alejandro Guidi, head of the International Migration Organization (IOM) in Quito, told PolOff that a new IOM program paid for the "voluntary return" of 176 Ecuadorians from Mexico in the first three months of 2006. Under this program Ecuadorians avoid a deportation record. Demand Growing -------------- ¶17. (U) That Ecuadorians would seek opportunity outside of their own country is not surprising, given that 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The country's minimum wage of $160 a month is a dream to many. Ruiz said he didn't expect the demand for smugglers to subside with erection of a wall and U.S. National Guard Troops patrolling the U.S. border with Mexico. "coyoteros are specialists in avoiding the law, they'll simply find another way in." Ruminahui Migrant Association President Juan Manzanillas agreed that no wall or police force along the U.S. border will stanch the migrant flow. The coyoteros will simply charge more to find ways around new obstacles. The only way to end the unnecessary loss of life, according to Manzanillas, is for the U.S. to establish a policy of orderly immigration that will allow foreigners to enter the country as guest workers. Ecuadorians would wait their turn if they knew that they could eventually obtain a work visa, he said. ¶18. (U) But will they really wait when family reunification acts as an electromagnet pulling more and more Ecuadorians toward the United States? Manzanillas and Ruiz both noted that more younger travelers are attempting to migrate illegally. Youth whose parents emigrated while they were small are now heading north. The Migration Office reports that from January through April of 2006, 874 Ecuadorians have been deported--211 from Guatemala, 197 from the United States, and 164 from Mexico. Sixty of the deportees were minors. Comment -------------- ¶19. (SBU) Despite public attention on Mexico, the Ecuador-Central America maritime route sees some of the heaviest migrant traffic in the world. The Government of Ecuador's efforts to control this traffic are still preliminary. Increased maritime surveillance appears to have caught the attention of smugglers, who are switching to other human cargo routes. Public awareness campaigns have started, but the flow of migrants continues. First Lady of Ecuador Maria Beatriz Paret de Palacio crafted and led the GOE's anti-alien smuggling campaign that hit the airwaves in January 2006. Ironically, the first lady, an Amcit, plans herself retire to Miami when her husband leaves office in January 2007. ¶20. (SBU) While USG efforts to interdict and assist migrants on the high seas has saved lives and discouraged some migrants, we believe that increased investment in land-based efforts to be more cost effective. To be successful, we need to establish a permanent DHS presence in Ecuador and increase funding for anti-smuggling vetted units. With these tools, we would be more effective targeting alien smuggling kingpins and dismantling smuggling rings in Ecuador. ¶21. (SBU) While the "pull" factor of family and U.S. living conditions continues to attract Ecuadorians at all levels, the GOE must address the "push" factor by combating poverty and providing economic opportunity at home. We will encourage the new administration to continue to address the dangers of alien smuggling and hope it will not require another human tragedy to spur preventive action. JEWELL