What happens when there's political disturbance?

For the most part, Ecuador has followed the means of democracy for a few decades now--believing in democratic voting procedures, debates, and a system of checks and balances (though, this is currently being disputed). Politically speaking these days the Ecuadorians are pretty happy with their president, Rafael Correa, and support many of his decisions from banning bullfighting to media reform (according to this BBC article). He's recently gotten public support after the referendum questions were revealed, which means if all goes well Correa will be President for a third round. Well chicos y chicas, right now I'm not in favor of the government's actions.

On May 23rd, 2011 there was a full blow military force to close down illegal mines in the province of Las Esmeraldas, specifically in the villages of San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro. Conveniently, this province is the primary location where my PI and the EcoDess projects take place. The aforementioned villages are two out of five villages we want to sample in, but they were severely impacted by the government's actions. The President said, "El operativo fue con base en el estado de excepción, que decretó el Presidente en los cantones San Lorenzo y Eloy Alfaro, para impedir la explotación de oro," which translates to "the operation was based on a state of emergency, in San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro, to stop the exploitation of gold." At the same time, this forceful destruction and dynamite usage on 67 mining machines caused a severe amount of environmental damage in addition to the damage already caused by the illegal mining. The nearby rivers of San Lorenzo and Santiago were tested for their microbiological and chemical water quality by Instituto de Higiene Izquieta Pérez and the National Department of Water (Secretaría Nacional del Agua) to find that there are increased levels of bacteria, aluminum, mercury and arsenic. Keep in mind these rivers are the primary source of water for almost all of the villages living on the coast.

So the question is, should the government deal with illegal mining like this again? For me, I would have to belt a resounding NO. Of course I'm biased because I sure as heck would hope that things settle down so that it is safe to continue our research project, but moreover this issue clearly demonstrates the ignorance of governmental actions on the community's outlook. People are angry in these villages. It's already hard to come by potable water on the coasts. This action made drinking clean water that much harder to come by. At the same time, the illegal mining action was an income generator for several families, now what? It's definitely a controversial issue because the illegal mining itself had been causing damage to the environment for six months previous to the military operation. Were they poisoning themselves without even knowing it?

Don't worry Cathy or Leah, the University of San Francisco de Quito already sent some field directors to scope out the situation to see if it's safe before any of the students from University of Michigan or Emory get into the field. If all else fails, there is a potential plan B to work in Southern Quito on a hospital-based project with details TBD. Links to some articles on the illegal mining can be found here, here and here. Slightly more controversial: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55869.

As for now, I've been tuning in to spanish soap operas, grabbing coffee with students, and watching spanish movies (seen below) to apply what I'm learning.

Cross your fingers guys, I'm gonna need some luck these next few weeks.

P.S. More appealing pictures of Quito and some nearby sites will be up after this weekend.