Ecuador accused of using financial laws to silence indigenous and environmental groups |
Human Rights Watch’s latest findings on Ecuador paint a troubling picture of a government increasingly willing to wield financial controls as political weapons. The freezing of bank accounts belonging to Indigenous and environmental groups-implemented without prior judicial oversight and based on intelligence reports that judges later ruled lacked evidence-marks a dangerous escalation in President Daniel Noboa’s confrontation with civil society. What the administration presents as a technocratic enforcement of anti–money laundering laws is, in practice, a sweeping measure that has paralyzed frontline defenders of land, forests, and Indigenous rights.
The controversy erupted in the middle of mounting public unrest. Since mid-September, Ecuador has witnessed intensifying protests, driven largely by opposition to Noboa’s plan to eliminate diesel subsidies and approve a controversial mining project in Azuay province. These issues cut directly into the livelihoods of rural and Indigenous communities, and the organizations now targeted have been among the most prominent voices challenging the administration’s environmental and economic agenda.
The Financial and Economic Analysis Unit (UAFE), Ecuador’s financial-crimes agency, ordered the blocking of bank accounts beginning on September 19. These freezes were carried out under the Social Transparency Law, a recent legal instrument passed in August. The law allows authorities to suspend access to accounts without a court order as long as they claim to possess “objective, serious, and verifiable evidence” of suspicious activity. Judicial review occurs only after the freezes take effect.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) underscores the core problem: authorities did not provide the required evidence. Courts overturned at least several of the freezes because intelligence agencies and UAFE declined to submit........