ECUADOR IMPLEMENTS TRAVEL DOC REQUIREMENTS FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 QUITO 001100

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: TWENTY YEARS
TAGS: CVIS PREL PGOV ASEC CMGT KCRM KFRD KTIP EC
CH, CO, PE
SUBJECT: ECUADOR IMPLEMENTS TRAVEL DOC REQUIREMENTS FOR
CHINESE

REF: A. STATE 112021

B. GUAYAQUIL 257

C. QUITO 834

D. QUITO 890

E. QUITO 929

F. QUITO 952

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Classified By: Ambassador Heather M. Hodges for Reasons 1.4 (b&d)


1. (C) Summary. Mission Ecuador has coordinated a joint
strategy with our Chinese counterparts for delivering
demarches to the GOE on its visa policies, specifically the
lack of control over "tourists", and working with Ecuadorian
authorities to improve their controls (Ref A). Both the U.S.
and Chinese Ambassadors and staff have met with GOE
officials, requesting that the policy be reconsidered and
that the Ecuadorian authorities improve their controls at
port of entry, including authorizing and training immigration
police to identify and deport intending immigrants. Due to
those and other pressures, the GOE has privately stated that
it will implement a travel document requirement for Chinese
nationals effective December 1. Post will continue to press
the GOE to broaden this decision to include other nationals,
and will work with Chinese Embassy officials and Ecuadorian
authorities to pursue human traffickers. (End Summary)

A Coordinated Joint Demarche


2. (C) On October 22, Embassy officials from the consular
and political sections and from DHS met with the Chinese DCM
and four other Chinese Embassy officials. The Chinese DCM
noted that his ambassador had met with President Correa but
that he (Correa) was unwilling to change his policy on
lifting visa requirements. The Chinese officials agreed that
a joint effort at delivering demarches to the GOE would be
more effective, including a possible joint demarche by the
two ambassadors. In addition to demonstrating the negative
effects of the policy, it was agreed that the demarche
strategy would include encouraging the GOE to implement new

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procedures to prevent migrants from entering Ecuador.
Specifically, this could include providing the immigration
police the training to determine who is an intending
immigrant and the authority to deport such migrants.


3. (C) The Ambassador has raised the visa policy issue with
numerous GOE officials, including Foreign Minister Maria
Isabel Salvador, VP Lenin Moreno, Minister of Coordination of
Internal and External Security Gustavo Larrea, and Minister
of Government and Police Fernando Bustamante (Refs C thru F).
DHS ICE Attache has raised the issue with Prosecutor General
Washington Pesantez, and the DHS ICE Attache together with
PolCouns discussed the issue with the President's Legal
Advisor. All have responded that the visa policy was the
President's decision.


4. (SBU) Chinese Ambassador Runguo Cai has delivered
demarches to GOE officials, including the Foreign Minister
and Vice President. In an interview with El Universo
newspaper on November 19, Ambassador Cai publicly requested
that the GOE reinstate its visa policy for Chinese nationals.
A number of recent press articles have highlighted the
growing number of problems created by the GOE's removal of a
tourist visa requirement for Chinese nationals, including
human smuggling and trafficking.

Resulting Change in GOE Policy


5. (C) The Chinese DCM in Quito informed the Embassy on
November 21 that the GOE would reinstate its visa requirement
for Chinese nationals, effective December 1. The Chinese DCM
believed that this change in policy was unique to Chinese
nationals. Although the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry has not
issued a statement on the issue, GOE officials also indicated
during the November 24 U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Dialogue
meeting in Quito that the GOE would reinstate a travel
document requirement for Chinese nationals. The GOE noted
that this problem was unique to Chinese migrants. WHA DAS
Chris McMullen countered in the meeting that although the

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Chinese have come in greater numbers to Ecuador, the issue
applies also to other foreign nationals who may become
victims of human trafficking or take advantage of the no-visa
environment for illicit activity or terrorism. According to
the MFA, as of December 1, Chinese tourists wishing to travel
to Ecuador would need to travel in groups using travel
documents authorized by Chinese travel agencies that also
have the approval of the Ecuadorian Consulate in China.
However, the Chinese Acting Consul told PolOff on November 26
that the Chinese Embassy was still not clear on how exactly
the new policy would work, and the GOE had still not advised
the immigration police or airport officials of the GOE,s
change in policy.

Increased Migration and Trafficking


6. (C) Separately, the Minister of Coordination of Internal
and External Security announced on November 24 that the GOE
would implement a biometric system, to incorporate digital
fingerprinting, for the entry of all foreigners on its
northern and southern borders, effective in January, 2009.
The system reportedly will also be implemented at the Quito
and Guayaquil airports, although it is unclear when. The GOE
initiated a pilot of this system on November 10 in
Huaquillas, on the border with Peru, and on November 17 in
Rumichaca, on the border with Colombia. However, head of the
Migration Police at the Quito airport, Colonel Lenin Bolanos,
told our DHS ICE Attache on November 28 that the
fingerprinting system would only be used initially on foreign
nationals that were being deported, due to limitations in
equipment, trained personnel, etc.


7. (U) In the three months since the GOE,s implementation
on June 20 of its policy of visa-free entry into Ecuador for
all tourists, approximately 7,837 Chinese nationals have
entered Ecuador, compared to the 2,875 who entered during the
six months prior. The rate at which Chinese nationals have
entered Ecuador since the visa waiver was 78 per day,
compared to 13 per day in 2007, representing a 600% increase.

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Ecuador is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that
allows the entry of Chinese without a visa.


8. (SBU) Chinese nationals typically travel on flights
through Spain to arrive in Ecuador, both in Quito and
Guayaquil. Entering and departing on Chinese passports, the
Chinese migrants travel to Central America, Colombia,
Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba via commercial air, including
charter flights. There have been several cases of Chinese
migrants traveling to the U.S. on Japanese or South Korean
passports obtained illegally in Ecuador or in Central
America.


9. (SBU) Ecuadorian authorities have encountered an
increasing number of cases of human smuggling and
trafficking, as well as corruption and use of false travel
documents (Ref B). On November 15, the Ecuadorian Coast
Guard boarded a fishing vessel with 45 Chinese migrants off
the coast of Esmeraldas province. Ecuadorian authorities
estimate that these Chinese migrants pay the traffickers as
much as $70,000 for the whole travel and documentation
package.

Additional Joint Cooperation


10. (C) In the October 22 meeting with Chinese Embassy
officials, the Chinese DCM offered to coordinate with the
U.S. Embassy to help identify and locate smugglers and
fraudulent document rings. The Chinese DCM noted that his
Embassy occasionally receives information about what he
referred to as the "Chinese, Ecuadorian or Peruvian mafia"
involved in these illicit activities, but that their Embassy
had no security personnel. Sharing information with the U.S.
Embassy and our counterparts in the Ecuadorian police could
lead to seizure of these smugglers.

Comment


11. (C) It is not clear under the proposed policy change

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whether the Chinese tourist/traveler would simply present the
travel document at the port of entry in Ecuador or whether
the Ecuadorian Consulate would also provide information to
immigration agents through an online check. It is also
unclear how difficult it may be to falsify these documents,
what the GOE will do to train its immigration officials, and
how the GOC will assist airport officials in China. The
conflicting information regarding use of the digital
fingerprinting system indicates that this too may not be as
initially effective as the GOE might hope.


12. (C) To follow-up, the Embassy will provide the MFA and
National Secretariat of Migration information regarding the
flow of foreign nationals into Ecuador to demonstrate that
the problem of increased migration extends beyond just the
Chinese. The Embassy will also meet again with Chinese
Embassy officials to determine the effectiveness of the
implementation of the GOE's policy and to coordinate future
cooperation.
HODGES