Document #1343249
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
1) Comisión de Policía de Tr
nsito translates into Traffic (Road Transport) Police Commission.
Tr nsito could also apply to foreign travel (transit), although
Cuenca is not reported among the sources currently available to the
IRBDC as having an international airport or border crossing.
Police forces are reportedly controlled by
the Minister of Government, who assumes responsibility for internal
security. [ World Defence Almanac 1986-87, (Bonn: Monch
Publishing Group, 1986), p. 98.] According to one source, the
department responsible is called Ministry of Government and Police,
also referred to as Interior Ministry. [ Keesing's Record of
World Events, (London, Longman Publishing Group), August 1988,
p. 36098; Europa Year Book 1989, (London: Europa
Publications, 1989), p. 914.] The military are reportedly not
responsible for the police forces, and fall under the jurisdiction
of the Minister of Defence. [ Europa 1989, p. 907; World
Defence Almanac 1986-87, p. 98.]
2) For information on guerrilla activity
reports currently available for 1988-1989, please find attached the
following:
-Andean Group Report, (London, Latin American Newsletters):
6 October 1988, p. 3; 2 March 1989, p. 7; 13 April 1989, p. 7.
-1989 International Yearbook on International Communist
Affairs, (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1989), p. 82.
According to the latter, three leaders of
Alfaro Vive Carajo (AVC) were captured in April 1988, and in
September of that year the AVC called for an amnesty. Meanwhile,
the splinter group Montoneros Patria Libre (MPL) kidnapped media
employees in August, criticized the new government and set forth a
number of demands (detailed in the attachment).
The book Human Rights in Ecuador,
(Washington, D.C./Lima: Americas Watch/Andean Commission of
Jurists, March 1988), pp. 16-17 although dealing mostly with events
prior to the requested timeframe, reports the main guerrilla group
-Alfaro Vive Carajo,
AVC- received serious setbacks in 1987 which may have reduced its
capacity.
According to another source, the AVC
re-surfaced in 1988, being held responsible for the takeover of
radio stations in January 1988 and kidnapping journalists in
September 1988. [ "Ecuador Swings Towards Social Democracy", in
Current History, (Philadelphia: Current History, Inc.),
March 1989, p. 141.]
The President of the Supreme Court of
Ecuador was murdered on 24 October 1988. Although the gunmen could
not be identified, surrounding events reportedly suggest
drug-traffickers were responsible for the crime. [
Keesing's, p. 36344; Andean Group Report, 15 December
1988, p. 8.]
Like the attached Andean Group
Reports, other sources report the AVC and MPL announced on
September 1988, as a new government led by the Democratic Left
party took office, that they were willing to cease hostilities,
although leaving the possibility open for violent actions in case
the new government did not accept certain conditions and demands;
the AVC reportedly reached an agreement with the government earlier
this year. [ Facts on File, (New York: Facts On File, Inc.),
May 1989, p. 325; Keesing's Record of World Events, December
1988, p. 36344.] The Europa year Book 1989 describes the AVC
as a supporter of the governing Democratic Left party of Ecuador
and states it was a guerrilla organization until February 1989. [
Europa Year Book 1989, (London: Europa Publications, 1989),
p. 915.] On 10 September 1989, Ecuador's President Rodrigo Borja
declared that no guerrilla warfare existed in Ecuador. [ Latin
America Daily Report, (Washington, D.C.: Foreign Broadcast
Information Service), 29 September 1989, p. 39.]