Indymedia Journalists Targeted in Ecuador, Five Arrested

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h2. Indymedia Journalists Targeted in Ecuador, Five Arrested

bq. Ecuadorian police detained five journalists associated with <a href="http://www.ecuador.indymedia.org">Ecuador Indymedia</a> late Tuesday night, May 6th. Four of the five were released from custody on Wednesday afternoon. The government says that the four activists were detained because of their relationship with the fifth detainee, Ecuadorian resident and Colombian national Antonio Alcívar.

bq. The government at first refused to issue a statement on the matter or inform the detainees of the reason for their arrests. The <a href="http://www.inredh.org/">Regional Foundation for Assistance in Human Rights (INREDH)</a> noted that this was a violation of the detainees' constitutional right to be clearly informed of the reason for their detention along with the identities of those who ordered and carried out the arrests.

bq. <a href="http://www.ecuador.indymedia.org">CMI Ecuador</a>: <a href="http://www.ecuador.indymedia.org/es/2008/05/25115.shtml">Comunicadores de Indymedia Ecuador víctimas de arresto arbitrario</a> || <a href="http://ecuador.indymedia.org/es/2008/05/25116.shtml">URGENTE: SOLIDARIDAD CON COMUNICADORES INDEPE</a> || <a href="http://www.ecuador.indymedia.org/es/2008/05/25123.shtml">Comunicado detención comunicadores de Indymedia Ecuador víctimas de arresto arbitrario</a> || <a href="http://www.ecuador.indymedia.org/es/2008/05/25124.shtml">Periodistas populares fueron liberados (más información)</a> || <a href="http://brasil.indymedia.org">CMI Brasil</a>: <a href="http://brasil.indymedia.org/pt/blue/2008/05/419137.shtml">Comunicadores independentes são vítimas de prisão arbitrária</a> || <a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/">Upside Down World</a></blockquote>

According to INREDH, it is believed that
Alcívar is being pursued by the Colombian Administrative Security
Department (DAS) for arms trafficking charges and is accused of
having ties to the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN)
guerrilla group. Ecuadorian prosecutors are charging
Alcívar with using a false identity. The detainee apparently used
four aliases. Ecuador Indymedia accused the government
of targeting journalists for their leftist organizing and media
work. They also emphasized that Indymedia—an international
independent media platform open to a wide variety of
contributors—cannot be held responsible for the activities of all
of their collaborators. Ecuador Indymedia contributors
have been critical of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's
support for large-scale mining and a proposed Free Trade
Agreement with the European Union. According to INREDH,
it appears "that the [operation] was undertaken with the
intention of intimidating alternative press that approaches
information in a critical manner and is committed to social
struggles. This action constitutes a violation of the freedom of
expression." The arrests follow the March 1 Colombian
military attack on a FARC camp in Ecuador. The event sparked a
regional crisis and diplomatic ties between Quito and Bogotá are
still broken. To justify the attack, Colombia has made a number
of allegations—both publicly and through leaking documents via
anonymous sources—of FARC ties in Ecuador. The ELN is Colombia's
second largest guerilla group and has in the past years suffered
major attacks by the government, rightist paramilitaries and the
FARC. While the two guerrilla groups have in the past at times
collaborated, they have recently clashed over ELN territory near
the Venezuelan border. According to Ecuador Indymedia
and INREDH, the Judicial Police (PJ) and the Intervention and
Rescue Group (GIR) executed the arrests. The journalists were
arrested on the street and then taken to their homes where
searches were violently carried out. Agents reportedly
confiscated computers, documents and hard drives from the
journalists' homes. Agents also reportedly confiscated a Che
Guevara poster as "evidence." Ecuador Indymedia
organized an 11 a.m. press conference Wednesday in front of the
Quito Police station where the journalists were being held. And
at 3 p.m., 50 activists marched from the Polytechnic University
of Ecuador to the police station to demand fair and legal
treatment of the detainees and that all charges be made
public. According to INREDH, the detainees were not
permitted to see their lawyer and were forced to undergo
interrogation in the presence of a lawyer provided by
police. Activists and INREDH are making complaints to
the Ecuadorian Police Internal Affairs along with regional and
international human rights organizations. It is unclear
why the Ecuadorian government made the arrests and whether the
detentions are related to the recent conflict with Colombia. It
seems possible that President Correa, in an effort to counter
Colombian allegations, may be attempting to demonstrate the
government's resolve to root out guerrilla presence in
Ecuador—and intimidate some critics on his left in the
process. <hr/>Article by: Daniel Denvir, email:
daniel.denvir at gmail.com Daniel Denvir is an
independent journalist and a collaborator at the Latin American
Information Agency (www.alainet.org) in Quito, Ecuador. He is a
2008 recipient of NACLA's Samuel Chavkin Investigative Journalism
Grant and an editor at the forthcoming journal Caterwaul
Quarterly (http://www.caterwaulquarterly.com). source: <a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1274/1/">http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1274/1/</a>

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