Cablegate: Ecuador's Oas Democracy Practitioners

VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #3047 3492215
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 152215Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5905
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 6263
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS PRIORITY 2230
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ DEC 0279
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA PRIORITY 1228
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL PRIORITY 1579
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL

UNCLAS QUITO 003047

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

WHA/EPSC FOR ROBERT SCHWARTZ, USOAS FOR ANDREW STEVENSON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EC KSUM PHUM OAS
SUBJECT: ECUADOR'S OAS DEMOCRACY PRACTITIONERS

REF: STATE 195953

1. Per reftel request, Embassy and AmConGen Guayaquil have
identified the following democracy activists we recommend be
included in the OAS democracy practitioner registry.

2. Manuel Ignacio Gomez Lecaro is a public relations expert
and respected weekly editorialist for Guayaquil's leading
newspaper "El Universo." Gomez is a progressive political
commentator with a regional perspective. He owns the PR firm
"Veritas Communications/Opinion e Imagen."

Contact information:
Phone: 593-4-263-0300, ext. 119
Cell: 09-942-8542
Email: manueligomez@yahoo.com

3. Jose Valencia is Executive Director of Citizen
Participation ("Participacion Ciudadana"), Ecuador's leading
NGO in the area of transparency, democracy building, election
monitoring, and civic participation. Citizen Participation,
an USAID grantee, played a key role monitoring Ecuador's
recent election and was widely praised for its accurate quick
count and impartial monitoring of campaign expenditures by
the candidates.

Contact information:
Phone: 593-2-246-6003
Email: jvalencia@participacionciudadana.org

4. Simon Pachano is the Deputy Director of the Political
Science Division of the Latin American Faculty of Political
Sciences ("FLACSO") in Ecuador. He is an expert in electoral
reform and political process and advocates for stable and
stronger democratic institutions.

Contact information:
Phone: 593-2-323-8888
Email: spachano@flacso.org.ec

5. Farith Simon is a lawyer and Professor at the University
of San Francisco in Quito ("USFQ"). He heads USFQ's legal
defense and human rights clinics and is an expert on criminal
justice and legal issues relating to minors. He has vast
experience implementing legal reform projects in Ecuador and
is frequently called on to consult for other Latin American
countries. In addition he is often asked for his opinion by
the media.

Contact information:
Phone: 593-2-297-1790
Email: fariths@mail.usfq.edu.ec

6. Cesar Montufar is the former Director of Citizen
Participation and a professor of Social and Global Studies of
the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito. He was a key
reformist critic of Congress packing the Supreme Court during
ex-president Lucio Gutierrez' tenure. He has founded a new
political movement called Democratic Key ("Clave
Democratica") which is dedicated principally to promoting
constitutional reform.

Contact information:
Phone: 593-2-322-7593 ext.1615
Email: cesar@uasb.edu.ec

7. Dr. Anunziatta Valdez is a former member of Congress and
an attorney. Currently, she is Director of the Guayaquil
chapter of Citizen Participation. Prior to serving in
Congress, Dr. Valdez was involved with the women's rights NGO
"Maria Guare," which focuses on combating domestic abuse.

Contact information:
Phone: 593-4-231-2352
Cell: 099297911
JEWELL

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