So, what is CONAIE?

Here is an excerpt: “Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador … In order for our voice to be heard at the national level, we formed the organization that now represents us, CONAIE, in 1986. CONAIE represents all of the indigenous nationalities of the country, some organized into provincial organizations, and others not. The National Organization is the result of a long process which is worth reviewing from a distance in order to better understand where we have come from and where we are going. CONAIE was formed out of the union of two already existing organizations, ECUARUNARI and CONFENIAIE.  ECUARUNARI, the regional organization of the Sierra that has been functioning for over 20 years, and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon(CONFENIAE), formed in 1980, created that same year the National Coordinating Council of the Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, CONACNIE.”

Now, since I highly suspect that CONAIE is financed, influenced, controlled or infiltrated in some fashion by the US government, I decided to go through the NED’s website.  I found the following (and more):

Grantor: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED)
Grantee: Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador (Indigenous Enterprise Institute of Ecuador) (IEIE)
Country(ies): Ecuador
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Subject(s): Business and Economics
Grant Awarded: 2006
Amount: 67,955

Grantor: NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY (NED)
Grantee: Fundación Q’ellkaj (Q’ellkaj Foundation)
Country(ies): Ecuador
Region: Latin America and the Caribbean
Subject(s): Youth
Grant Awarded: 2006
Amount: 91,256
 

So what is the, Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador?

And what is Fundación Q’ellkaj (Q’ellkaj Foundation)?

I decided to look into it and found more than I expected.  I went to the website of Corporación Instituto Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador, which is actually Corporación Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador … or CEIE … a not-for-profit organization founded in 2005 by Ángel Medina, Mariano Curicama, Lourdes Tibán, Fernando Navarro, and Raúl Gangotena.  Their website also states that Norman Bailey is one of their honorary members.

First, who is Norman Bailey?

If I am not mistaken, the Norman Bailey they refer to is the Norman Bailey who “In 1981 … joined the Reagan administration as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs …”

The NED was created at that time, 1980-1981.

And who are the other characters involved in the CEIE? According to their website, I quote excerpts in Spanish:

ANGEL MEDINA

“ … fundador y presidente de la Fundación Q´ellkaj …”

FERNANDO NAVARRO

“ … Presidente de la Federación de Cámaras de Comercio del Ecuador…”

RAUL GANGOTENA  

“… Tiene relación con los siguientes organismos internacionales: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow, International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy … Embajador del Ecuador en los Estados Unidos … Actuó como consejero para la Subsecreataría de Defensa en 2001 …”

LOURDES TIBAN

“… Asesora del Consejo Político de la ECUARUNARI … la Declaración de los Derechos de los Pueblos Indígenas en Washington DC ...”

Below are the connections I can find between the information found on the NED and CIEI websites and CONAIE (who are the ones organizing the anti-government protests are in Ecuador):

-Lourdes Tiban, who is one of the co-founders of CIEI worked with ECUARUNARI, which was one of the founding organizations of CONAIE.  I would not be surprised if she has some influence or direct relations with CONAIE.  She also worked in Washington D.C., the home of the NED.

-Both CIEI and Q´ellkaj receive NED financing. Angel Medina is/was founder and president of Q´ellkaj and co-founder of CIEI … and he works with Lourdes Tiban, who was involved with ECUARUNARI, a member organization of CONAIE.

-Raul Gangotena, another co-founder of NED-financed CIEI, has/had direct links with the NED and works with Lourdes Tiban, who has/had links to ECUARUNARI, which has/had links to CONAIE.

-Fernando Navarro, another co-founder of CIEI, was president of the Ecuadorian federation of chambers of commerce. The Federación de Cámaras de Comercio del Ecuador is the equivalent to the NED-financed Fedecamaras in Venezuela, one of the organizations which headed up the violent coup against democratically-elected Chavez in 2002 and the subsequent violent economic sabotage of the country in 2002 and 2003. Since he was probably a highly influential person, then he probably still is a highly influential person.  Since he works/worked with Lourdes Tiban, and since Lourdes has/had links to ECUARUNARI (indirectly CONAIE), then he may have influence over CONAIE.

There are too many coincidences.

CONAIE, and indigenous Ecuadorian organization, is organizing anti-government demonstrations in Ecuador for no apparent valid reason (except to cause disorder and destabilization). At least one person at another Ecuadorian NED-financed indigenous organization (CIEI), has or has had links with CONAIE. Four of the five founding members of CIEI have links to the NED or Washington or to types of organizations which in Venezuela are financed by the NED.  CIEI was coincidentally created in 2005, not long before Rafael Correa was elected president of Ecuador. Norman Bailey, who was present at the White House when the NED was created, is a member of CIEI.

Anyways, what is an Ecuadorian indigenous organization (CIEI ) doing with a bunch of wealthy, Washington-connected elites running the show?  That makes no sense at all. Why is the NED financing this indigenous organization (CIEI ), an organization which clearly appears to have some links with another Ecuadorian indigenous organization (CONAIE ) which is trying to destabilize the Ecuadorian government?

From the Venezuelan experience, it is evident to me that using (paying) local organizations to destabilize a government is one of the US government’s favorite tactics … and it is happening in Ecuador as we speak. I would also not be surprised if some of the Ecuadorians involved in US-financed destabilization tactics are also regularly consulting with Venezuelans who were/are involved in US-financed destabilization tactics in Venezuela.