A few issues...

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Well guys let me tell you of some of the issues that effect Ecuadorians. While we have been here, the national elections have been played out and one of the main contenders is a bloke called Alvora Noboa...he´s owns many of the Banana Plantations of Ecuador...banana´s being one of the main exports for Ecuador. As part of you wages you get to live on the plantation, as part of your wages...so you get a lovely pad for this...a room maybe for 8 -10 people, no beds, no bedding, no protective clothing. for when you are working with highly toxic chemicals they spray on bananas....People are sub contracted, so have no union rights which means empoyers get out of responsibility for working conditions, they have no social protection and no paid leave. A few months ago some of Noboas employees held a strike to campaign for union rights for sub contractees, co-incidentally ...some dodgy fellas from Columbia turned up and started shooting at the campaigning employees...life is NOT good if you work on Banana Plantations. Things do seem to be changing from the hard struggle and campaigns of banana workers ...see www.bananalink.org.uk for further info. But these changes have come opposed by Noboa...so I urge you all just to think a little before you buy your next banana, there are options for fair trade and organic banana´s, and you do have power as a consumer to do something.

Noboa´s shifty tactic in elctioneering were further realised where we staying, as noisy trucks trundled through the countryside, stopping at people´s house and getting people to pledge to Noboa, this was encouraged by them getting people to sign forms which promised housing support after the elections...these "legal" documents were duly found a couple of days later...in the landfill tip!!!

Anyway after many expectations that Noboa would get in - he didn´t, a guy called Correa got in, he´s a little more socially minded than Noboa, which is good, bit Ecuadorian politics is notoriously unstable. They´ve had about 13 presidents in the last 4 years!!! Correa is also anti the setting up a free trade movement with the US...so I don´t know how that will go down with Bush, whom were kind of hoping Noboa would get in

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