Los
Alamos is one of the Ecuadorian banana plantation owned by the country's
richest man Álvaro Noboa Pontón. The Noboa Corporation is the
world's fifth largest exporter of bananas and yet its workers endure
amongst the worst pay and conditions in Latin America.
The
Noboa Corporation does not permit freedom of association although this
is a right enshrined in Ecuadorian law. I worked in Ecuador with an
organisation called FENACLE (Federation of Rural and Agricultural Workers
and Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador) who are behind a drive to organise
banana plantation workers.
At
the end of April 2002, 1200 Los Alamos workers inaugurated three trade
unions. On May 6th workers declared a strike about low pay and the appalling
working conditions. This portrait is of one of the workers who present
on the picket line on the first day of the strike. Ten days later masked
armed men entered the plantation and violently evicted the workers injuring
many with gun shot wounds. One man lost his leg (see
Mauro portrait). A subsequent attack on workers took place 18 hours
later. I documented this and if you would like to see a film that follows
these events please contact me.
Order
a copy or organise a screening of Bonita, a film which tells the story
of the strike
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