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From Mr. R:
Please discuss the following:
 * Great work all around!
 * Your home page is laid out perfectly--even the citations!
 * My only suggestions are geared toward enhancing the appearance:
 * The 'summary', 'background', 'vital statistics', 'transnational issues' and 'human rights issues' should all be in  format, with one blank space above and below each header.
 * The citations for the summary should be immediately following the bullet point, rather than one line below--agains this is only to create a neater appearance, rather than having the citations sitcking out.
 * Everything that is boxed, beginning with 'Infant Mortality Rate' needs to be cleaned up. EX: Instead of all the info in the Infant Mortality Rate section, remove the boxes, and simply write: "Infant Mortality Rate: 22.1 per 1,000 live births"
 * The font & size for the sections noted above should be the same throughout the page, except for the various headings.

Your group grade for this portion is: 18/20
=Ecuador= Homepage CIA Propaganda CIA Payroll Jaime Roldos S.I.L. Texaco

__Summary__
 * From 1960 to 1963 the US was putting negative propaganda in Ecuador as well as in the US. It was mainly written about the government and politics, and very anti-communist. All of this was started by the CIA, who broadcast it on their radio. Along with the radio, propaganda was written in the US by CIA agents and then also written in Ecuador by anonymous column writers who were payed for each piece that they wrote.(CIA Propaganda)
 * Not only are CIA agents on the payroll, but also listed are politicians, people holding government offices, and even people who work in the post office. They would keep track of all of the mail that came and went from Cuba and the Soviet Union (aka Russia). Government official received special benefits from the CIA agents. The Directer of Immigration was also on the payroll to let them know who came and went to Cuba. (CIA Payroll) (Blum, William. __Killing Hope__.)([|http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Ecuador_uned_WBlum.html)]
 * Jaime Roldos is a man who tried to defend his people of Ecuador from exploitation, mainly from the big oil companies. He became the president of Ecuador and proceeded to take action defending his country. He kicked out the S.I.L. for how they treated the people of Ecuador and how they tried to take the oil. He unfortunately died in a helicopter "accident" after threatening to kick the oil companies out of the country.(Jaime Roldos)
 * Summer Institute of Linguistics. The S.I.L. is an evangelist missionary organization in Ecuador.They cooperate with major US oil companies to capture foreign oil. They promised food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc. to natives of the land in exchange for their trust and eventually for them to hand over the deeds to the land. US oil companies (Texaco, Exxon, Mobil, etc.) would extract oil with S.I.L.'s help and take the profit from Ecuador.(S.I.L.) (Perkins, John. __Confessions of an Economic Hit Man__. Berrett-Koehler, 2004.)
 * From 1972 to 1992 Texaco drilled for oil in the Amazon rain forests of Ecuador, and caused serious environmental damage. The company continues to deny responsibility, and refuse to compensate Ecuador for the damage done. (Texaco) [|Amnesty International]([|http://www.amnestyusa.org/By_Country/Ecuador/page.do?id=1011146&n1=3&n2=30&n3=896)]

Background
What is now Ecuador formed part of the northern Inca Empire until the Spanish conquest in 1533. Quito became a seat of Spanish colonial government in 1563 and part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717. The territories of the Viceroyalty - New Granada (Colombia), Venezuela, and Quito - gained their independence between 1819 and 1822 and formed a federation known as Gran Colombia. When Quito withdrew in 1830, the traditional name was changed in favor of the "Republic of the Equator." Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A border war with Peru that flared in 1995 was resolved in 1999. Although Ecuador marked 25 years of civilian governance in 2004, the period has been marred by political instability. Protests in Quito have contributed to the mid-term ouster of Ecuador's last three democratically elected Presidents.

Vital Statistics
Infant mortality rate: 22.1/1,000 live births Life expectancy at birth:76.62 years GDP (purchasing power parity): $98.28 billion (2007 est.) GDP (official exchange rate):$44.5 billion (2007 est.) GDP - real growth rate:2.6% (2007 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP):$7,100 (2007 est.) GDP - composition by sector: 10% Agriculture 35% Industry 54% Services Population below poverty line: 38.3% (2006) Disputes - international: organized illegal narcotics operations in Colombia penetrate across Ecuador's shared border, which thousands of Colombians also cross to escape the violence in their home country Refugees and internally displaced persons: //refugees (country of origin):// 9,851 (Colombia); note - UNHCR estimates as many as 250,000 Columbians are seeking asylum in Ecuador, many of whom do not register as refugees for fear of deportation (2006) Illicit drugs: significant transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and Peru, with over half of the US-bound cocaine passing through Ecuadorian Pacific waters; importer of precursor chemicals used in production of illicit narcotics; attractive location for cash-placement by drug traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and weak anti-money-laundering regime; increased activity on the northern frontier by trafficking groups and Colombian insurgents CIA World Fact Book ([|https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ec.html)]

Human Rights Issues
Texaco's two decades-long operations in Ecuador's Amazon region appear to be stained with oil spillages and intentional toxic waste dumping. This negligence has polluted both the land and groundwater supply of the communities living in the area while continually posing a threat to their health, economic and cultural survival. [|Amnesty International]([|http://www.amnestyusa.org/By_Country/Ecuador/page.do?id=1011146&n1=3&n2=30&n3=896)]

Transnational Issues
March 4, 2008 - A senior Colombian guerrilla leader killed in Ecuador last weekend in a cross-border raid by Colombian forces held secret talks with U.S. diplomats ten years ago in Costa Rica, according to a [|declassified memorandum of conversation] published on the Web today by the National Security Archive and [|cited in today's //New York Times//]. The slain insurgent, Raúl Reyes, met secretly in Costa Rica in December 1998 with a U.S. diplomatic mission led by Philip T. Chicola, then director of the State Department's Office of Andean Affairs. The meeting was particularly sensitive in that the guerrilla group represented by Reyes, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was listed on the State Department's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The FARC remains Colombia 's oldest and largest rebel army. National Security Archives [|http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20080304/index.htm) 