Ecuadorian Delegation Bears Witness to Injustices of U.S.–Based Multinational Corporation

Cesar Cardenas and Augusto Parada are coming from Ecuador to Washington, DC, Boston, and San Francisco from April 11–24 with a mission. They are determined to hold U.S.–based multinational corporation Bechtel accountable for mismanagement of the water supply in Guayaquil, Ecuador, mismanagement that resulted in water shutoffs, contamination, and a deadly Hepatitis A outbreak in 2005. The company is now trying to sell–out to another private corporation, taking the profits from the community and leave its debts and contractual obligations behind. Bechtel’s privatization in Ecuador would not have been possible without a financial guarantee from the World Bank. Cardenas and Parada have filed an official complaint through the World Bank ombudsman seeking to cancel the guarantee –– the World Bank is currently investigating.

Speaking Engagements and Media Availability

Ecuadorian water activists Cesar Cardenas Ramirez and Augusto Parada Campos, of the Citizen's Observatory for Public Services, and Emily Joyner, the author of Murky Waters: A Critical and Purposeful Look at Water and Sanitation Services in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

• Washington, DC: April 11-15

  When: April 11th, 6PM
  Where: Busboys and Poets
  2021 14th Street, NW
  
  When: April 13th, 10:30AM
  Where: Unitarian Universalist Church
  Corner of Arlington Boulevard and George Mason Drive,
  Arlington
  
  When: April 15th, 12 noon
  Where: American University Washington College of Law, Rm 602
  4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
  
  

• Boston: April 16-20

  When: April 20th, 10AM
  Where: All Soul's Church
  196 Elm Street
  Braintree, Massachusetts
  
  

• San Francisco: April 21-23

  When: April 21, 12:30PM
  Where: Global Exchange
  2017 Mission Street, 2nd Floor
  
  When: April 21, 7PM
  Where: Modern Times Bookstore
  888 Valencia Street
  
  When: April 23, 7-9PM
  Where: First United Methodist Church
  9 Ross Valley Drive at Fourth Street,
  San Rafael
  

Media Availability

Throughout their tour, Cardenas and Parada are available for interviews and reporter meetings, either in Spanish or with the help of Joyner as their English translator.

Books Available

The book Murky Waters or Aguita Amarilla, written by Emily Joyner, is available in English and Spanish at Busboys and Poets or by emailing us at water(at)fwwatch(dot)org. The book documents in painful detail the failure of Bechtel's water privatization experiment in Guayaquil, Ecuador.