Ecuador
has come under fire for scrutinizing non-profits like Accion
Ecologica, many of whom get millions from Europe and North America.
Part
1
Ecuador, the
tiny South American nation sandwiched between Colombia and Peru,
rarely makes waves in the English-speaking world’s corporate
mediascape. Last year, news traveled far on at least two occasions.
First, with
an earthquake that killed at least 673 people. Second, when the
government moved to investigate and potentially dissolve a nonprofit
called Accion Ecologica in connection with deadly violence between
members of an Amazonian tribe and police sent to protect a
Chinese-operated mining project.
Ecologists
and prominent activists friendly to the group, including
heavy-weights such as Naomi Klein, called out what they characterized
as a callous repression and criminalization of Indigenous people
protecting the unparalleled richness of the Amazon and alleged state
prejudice against an underdog non-profit organization that was only
there to save the rainforest and its inhabitants.
Ecuador's
socialist government, on the other hand, sees the "underdog"
label as misplaced.
NGOs may be
seen as do-gooders, but that's not always the case. As a country
historically vulnerable to the whims of powers in the North, Ecuador
has, under the administration of the outgoing President Rafael
Correa, put up a guard against a new kind of public diplomacy from
abroad that focuses on gaining the favor of civil society to
indirectly execute their political priorities.
NGOs are
flagged when they operate outside the bounds of the law and their
stated objectives, indicators of potential pressure from outside
funders to protect their interests rather than those of nationals.
“We’re
an Ecuadorean NGO, born here in Ecuador and working for 30 years in
the defense of the rights of the environment and of communities
across the country, and for that work we are very well known, even at
an international level,” Alexandra Almeida, president of Accion
Ecologica, told teleSUR.
“But
that doesn’t mean that a foreign organization could manipulate us
with anything — with funds, with nothing — that’s how we
operate.”
NGOs have
rarely had to justify their work to anyone, let alone prove that they
act for the good of the people only. But Ecuador is not an ordinary
country. Rich in resources but export dependent, authorities are
attempting to manage the many foreign hands trying to pull the
country's development in their favor.
Source,
videos:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Foreign-Funded-NGOs-in-Ecuador-Trojan-Horse-for-Intervention-20170217-0013.html
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