Assessment for Blacks in Ecuador

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Risk Assessment | Analytic Summary | References

Risk Assessment

Due to recent attention to Afro-Latino issues from local, state and international bodies, it is easier to assess the Afro-Ecuadorian situation than it has been in previous years. The risk of rebellion remains low as black groups mobilizing for political, economic and cultural rights use nonviolent tactics, and it is unlikely this will change. The Ecuadorian government has demonstrated its willingness to negotiate with black groups to reform discriminatory practices. Although the lobbying efforts of Afro-Ecuadoran organizations have enjoyed moderate success, significant improvement in their highly marginalized communities has yet to happen. Pervasive racism exists at all levels of society.

While Ecuador's government has experienced a great deal of turmoil in recent years, mostly due to the large-scale mobilization of highland and lowland indigenous groups, there is no reason to expect that this will have a negative impact on black rights. In fact, Afro-Ecuadorians have largely benefited from the indigenous rights movement’s push for acknowledgement of the multiethnic nature of Ecuador not just in constitutional changes, but in effective legislation aimed at neglected communities.

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Analytic Summary

The majority of Afro-Ecuadorians reside in the northern coastal regions, particularly in the Esmeraldas province .There are also small black populations in the urban centers of Quito and Guayaquil, and in the Chota-Mira Valley of the Carchi and Imbabura provinces (GROUPCON = 3).The black and mulatto population is estimated to be about 1.1 million, or 8 percent of the total population. Afro-Ecuadorians are the descendants of slaves originally brought to the country in the early 16th century. In 1851 slavery was outlawed, and blacks were freed. Following the abolition of slavery, few non-black Ecuadorians inhabited the coastal region, and blacks dominated life there. They worked not only as laborers but also involved in commerce and local government. However, social exclusion of these communities by the central government in the interior of the country, coupled with economic support from the government for whites and mestizos to set up businesses in the coastal provinces, marginalized blacks in the region.

The widespread ideology of mestizaje—also known as blanqueamiento (whitening)— has perpetuated racism against Afro-Ecuadorians. The mestizaje philosophy that the “delinquent” black and Indian races can be improved by racial intermixture with white or Europoid races, has not only led to political and economic discrimination, but helped the lighter-skinned ethnic groups in power deny their country even had a black population. It was only in 2001 that the first national census included a question about ethnicity. Before that groups could only be distinguished by language. Since Afro-Ecuadorians speak Spanish (LANG = 0),their numbers often did not appear.

Ecuador’s society remains stratified with reports of overt social prejudice against blacks in all spheres of society (POLDIS06 = 3; ECDIS06 = 3). Nevertheless, Ecuador has no formal policies of racial or ethnic discrimination and is constitutionally defined as a "multinational" country. There is only one Afro-Ecuadorian member of congress (LEGISREP06 = 1).. The Collective Rights of Black and Afro-Ecuadorian Peoples law passed in 2006 established The Afro-Ecuadorian Development Council (CONDAE), a government office which creates policies and strategies for improving black communities. It is the second state-level body explicitly for Afro-Ecuadorians. The other group that informs the president on black issues is the Afro-Ecuadorian Development Corporation (Corporación de Desarrollo Afroecuatoriano, CODAE), formally launched in 2002. CODAE was created in 1998 during the interim presidency of Fabian Alarcon, but formally institutionalized in 2002.

Although the Development Project for the Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians (Proyecto de Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indigenas y Afroecuatorianos, PRODEPINE) took aim at black communities in 1998 with funding from the World Bank, it was predominantly an indigenous-focused initiative. While Afro-Ecuadorians have mostly benefited from the indigenous rights movement’s promotion of a multicultural, multiethnic, and multinational Ecuador, government development programs for Ecuador's indigenous populations have simply been applied to Afro-descendants, without taking into consideration their unique situations. The 2006 Afro-Ecuadorian law sought to disaggregate the needs of Afro-Ecuadorian communities from those of the indigenous. While the new laws and departments are the first serious attempts to address the problems faced by blacks within society,, significant change in Afro-communities has not happened.

Recent constitutional and legal gains are the positive results of the Afro-Ecuadorian movement that began about 30 years ago with the formation of black empowerment organizations. The Center of Afro-Ecuadorian Studies, an organization that studies Afro-culture and advocates racial consciousness, was founded in 1979.It was the first organization to rally around issues pertaining to marginalized blacks in Ecuador and is still active today. Another long-standing group is the Association of Black Ecuadorians (Asociacion de Negros Ecuatorianos, ASONE), founded in 1988. Its aims include developing cultural pride and reversing environmental damage by logging companies and shrimp farms in the coastal region. In 1989 the Afro-Ecuadorian Institute was founded to revive African traditions among Ecuador’s Afro-descendants.

Since these formative first years of the black movement, many more groups have formed: founded by soccer star Agustin Delgado, The Agustin Delgado Foundation works to improve the socio-economic situation of Afro-Ecuadorians in the Choto Valley; the Center for Studies and Investigations of Afro-descendants of Ecuador studies black communities to better inform the movement’s agenda and has worked with continental black and indigenous groups on children’s issues; the Equality Alliance fights discrimination and works to increase the national profile of black Ecuadorians; there is also the Black Community Movement (El Proceso de Comunidades Negras), based in San Lorenzo, Esmeraldas; and one the largest groups, the Afro-Ecuadorian Cultural Center, lobbies the government on Afro-Ecuadorian issues. These groups primarily work independent of one another or work only on a regional level. The National Confederation of Afro-Ecuadorians (Confederacion Nacional Afroecuatoriana, CNA) is one of two nationwide groups advocating on behalf of Afro-Ecuadorians. CNA was founded in 1999 and recognized legally in 2003 (GOJPA06 = 2). The other nationwide group, also founded in 1999, is the National Coordinator of Black Women of Ecuador (Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Negras de Ecuador), an organization that has been very effective at creating a national profile, as well as made rounds in international policy circles.

In the last decade, growing global awareness of Afro-Latino issues has led to a marked increase in international support for Afro-Ecuadorians. Since 1998 the World Bank has funded programs that specifically earmark money for Afro-Ecuadorian development. It most recently loaned $34 million for Afro-Ecuadorian and indigenous projects from 2003 to 2007.In 2005, the U.S. State Deparment provided money for political leadership training to Afro-Ecuadorians. USAID provided resources for the 2006 elections to ensure that Afro-Ecuadorians fully participated in the electoral process. In a land titling effort since 1999, CARE helped map community boundaries so many Afro-Ecuadorian communities could legally title their lands, an effort considered crucial to preserving the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve (RECC).

By all appearances Afro-Ecuadorians have made significant in roads to having a meaningful dialogue with the government, resulting in some important anti-discrimination constitutional changes and legislation While there are no reports of recent rebellion (REB01-06 = 0), protests amongst the Afro-Ecuadorian population have been sporadic, with the last protest occurring in 2004 (PROT04 = 3).

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References

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CIA World Factbook. 2008. "Ecuador." https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html, accessed 8/24/2008.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports and Issue Briefs. 1/1/2008. "Afro-Latinos in Latin America and considerations for U.S. policy."

Cummins, Thomas B. F., and William B. Taylor. 1998. "The Mulatto Gentlemen of Esmeraldas, Ecuador." In K. Mills and W. B. Taylor, eds., Colonial Spanish America. A Documentary History.. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc.

Democracy at Large. 2005. "Afro-Ecuadorians Strive for Political Rights." http://www.democracyatlarge.org/vol2_no3/vol2_no3_Ingalls.htm

Esman, Milton J. and Herring, Ronald J. 2003. Carrots, Sticks, and Ethnic Conflict: Rethinking Development Assistance. University of Michigan Press.

Fondo Indigena, 10/06/2005, “Encuentro Continental de Jóvenes Afrodescendientes e Indígenas en Ecuador--El racismo, la xenofobia y la intolerancia todavía persisten en América” http://www.fondoindigena.org/notiteca_nota.shtml?x=10718, accessed 8/23/2008.

Gates, Henry Louis and Appiah, Anthony. 1999. 'Esmeraldas' in Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Basic Civitas Books.

Halpern, Adam and Twine, France Winddance. 2000. “Antiracist activism in Ecuador: Black-Indian community.” Race & Class. 42:2. 19.

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The New Crisis. Nov/Dec 2002. "A New Day for Blacks in Ecuador."

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Oakley, Peter. 5/2001. “Social Exclusion and Afro-Latinos: A Contemporary Review (Draft).” http://www.iadb.org/exr/events/conference/pdf/intro_eng.pdf, accessed 8/19/2008.

Offen, Karl H. 2003. "The Territorial Turn: Making Black Territories in Pacific Colombia" Journal of Latin American Geography. 2:1. 43-73.

Rahier, Jean Muteba. 6/1998. Blackness, the racial/spatial order, migrations, and Miss Ecuador 1995-96." American Anthropologist. 100:2. 421.

Ribando, Clare.. 1/4/2005. “CRS Report for Congress: Afro-Latinos in Latin America and Considerations for U.S. Policy.” Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.

Secretaría Técnica del Frente Social. 2004. "Los Afroecuatorianos en cifras." Quito: Secretaría Técnica del Frente Social.

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Whitten, Norman and Quiroga, Diego. 1995. `Ecuador', in "Minority Rights Group, No Longer Invisible: Afro-Latin Americans Today." London: Minority Rights Publications.

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