I -- LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN GALAPAGOS- TUESDAY, 21 NOVEMBER
(by Tui De Roy):
Relative peace has returned since the weekend as most fishermen are out diving, you might say looting the resource now that they have effectively broken down all attempts to control their activities. However the atmosphere remains highly tense for the following reasons: Today senior citizens of Puerto Ayora (Santa Cruz Island) organized a peaceful demonstration that was cancelled by order of the Governor of the Province as too "provocative". Children from the Provincial high schools in San Cristobal, through their own group called "Youths for the World", have issued public statements on the need to uphold conservation and sustainable management rules. These children have been verbally attacked and threatened through the local Radio Station for expressing their views, but they are continuing their own pro-conservation campaign nonetheless.The president of the Committee of Concerned Galapagos Citizens formed last Friday, Rodrigo Jacome, reports that he has already received personal threats for expressing the group's demands for swift justice against criminal acts. Photos of the destruction of National Park premises on Isabela continue to be aired on local and national Ecuadorian TV, including a heart-rending shot of the smashed crib of the Park representative's newborn baby (the family is safe now). [An attempt will be made to send you this image, but there seems to be difficulties in its transmission]
The International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, IGTOA, is calling on all of its member companies to publicize the problems and warn the Ecuadorian government of the imminent loss of revenues the country stands to suffer, and the urgency to restore visitor confidence through swift action against the recent violence.
Many Ecuadorian newspapers in the capital of Ecuador are openly speculating on a suspected network of powerful financial interests instigating the fishermen to challenge the work of the Interinstitutional Management Authority in charge of upholding sustainable management policies for the Marine Reserve.
II -- SUGGESTED ACTIONS: Write to the President of Ecuador expressing the international community's concern in polite terms and asking that all efforts be applied to resolving this crisis in a prompt and permanent manner. Please be respectful. Call the Ecuadorian Embassy nearest you for a contact address. Activate any press contacts or other creative ways you might think of to spread the word so that the world may be informed of the situation Galapagos is suffering.