Ecuador: Video Presentation of Former Political Prisoner Guadalupe Llori

NEW YORK (July 8, 2010) - The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) released a video presentation of Guadalupe Llori, former prisoner of conscience and current governor of the province of Orellana in Ecuador, in which she recounts the human rights violations she endured at the hands of the Ecuadorean government. Llori’s presentation took place this April at the 2010 Oslo Freedom Forum.

“Guadalupe Llori was unjustly imprisoned for standing up to President Correa and demanding economic improvements for a people living in extremely impoverished conditions,” said Thor Halvorssen, president of HRF. “The story of the abuses perpetrated against this indigenous leader by her government made a notably strong impact on the human rights defenders gathered in Oslo,” he continued.

“On December 7, 2007, police and military troops entered my house, knocking down doors and breaking windows, savagely beating my elderly father and my niece," said Llori during her presentation. "Without explanation, they detained me and took me to the city of Quito, more than 300 kilometers away from my home. To justify my imprisonment, the judge and the prosecutor charged me with masterminding acts of sabotage and terrorism,” she continued.

Llori was elected governor in 2004, as a member of the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement party. Her arrest was part of the Ecuadorean government’s militarized response to protests taking place November 26-29, 2007, in Dayuma, an oil-rich town in Orellana. The residents were demanding the completion of a road, and the decentralization of oil revenue to benefit local governments. On November 29, the president Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency in Orellana. He also accused Llori of inciting the protests, calling her “Mama Lucha,” a slang term for a criminal figure in Ecuador. Llori responded by calling Correa a “vulgar goon” and a “pathetic replica of Hugo Chávez.”

Brooking no dissent or personal insult, Correa had Llori violently arrested on December 7, along with 26 other people who were pardoned four months later. Llori was accused of embezzlement in order to prevent her from benefitting from the amnesty under which her constituents were freed. She was kept in prison for the next five months.

HRF was the first organization to declare Llori a prisoner of conscience of the Ecuadorean government, taking her case shortly after her arrest. On August 27, 2008, after sending four letters to President Correa requesting her release, HRF filed a complaint on Llori’s behalf against the government of Ecuador before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Twenty days later, after spending more than nine months in jail, Llori was acquitted of any wrongdoing by the Superior Court of Nueva Loja, which acknowledged that there were no grounds for her imprisonment. Removed from office in March 2008, due to her imprisonment, Llori was reelected as governor of Orellana on April 29, 2009.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is committed to bringing together the world’s foremost human rights defenders to share their experiences and expertise with an audience of global leaders. It has included the participation of human rights heroes such as Victor Hugo Cárdenas, Marcel Granier, Clara Rojas, Václav Havel, Lubna al-Hussein, Anwar Ibrahim, Rebiya Kadeer, Greg Mortenson, Hernando de Soto, Armando Valladares, Lech Walesa, Elie Wiesel, Harry Wu, Lidia Yusupova, and Leyla Zana. All videos from the forum can be now watched on the Oslo Freedom Forum’s YouTube channel.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF does not support nor condone violence. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Václav Havel, Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Javier El-Hage, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org

See Guadalupe Llori ’s full presentation here.

Read the letter sent by HRF to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention here. (Spanish only)

See more Oslo Freedom Forum videos here.