Addendum: Participant Observers in Ecuadorian Border Controls

While we got off quite easily in our dealings with the on-board customs police, the family behind us had a rather stickier encounter. Peter's previous post analyzed the behavioral gestures of those involved, but the details of what was going on add some dimension to the politics of the situation.

The first hint of trouble came when the family produced their Colombian passports.

The exchange between the police and the family, represented by the father, went, more or less, as follows:

Policeman 1 to Policeman 2 (aside): They're Colombian.

Policeman 2 to Policeman 1: Yes.

P. 1 to P. 2: They're Colombians in Ecuador traveling to Peru!

P. 2 to P. 1: Yes they are.

P. 1 to Father: We need you to get out of the bus, get all your suitcases, and be inspected.

Father to Police: No.

P. 2: What do you mean, no? We have the authority here, and you should respect our authority.

Father: No, we're not getting up. It's the middle of the night.

P. 1 (getting very angry): I am telling you, you have to be inspected!

Father: Listen, we live in Ecuador. We have friends here.

P.1: That doesn't matter right now.

Father: Well, we're not getting up.

This went on even longer, until the police simply gave up and got off the bus, and everyone tried to go back to sleep.

Unfortunately, Colombians in Ecuador are often stigmatized. There are many Colombian refugees who come across the northern border into Ecuador, to escape the violence between the government, FARC and the ELN, and the U.S. government and/or in search of the [relatively] more stable economy and work available in Ecuador (check out Ecuador en Cifras for the official census data). According to the Colombian Organizacion Internacional para las Migraciones, in 2005 there were about 80,000 legal Colombian emigrants to Ecuador. Numbers can only have gone up since then. Of course, for every one Colombian who goes through government channels to legally immigrate, there are a few coming in under the radar. Just like any other country facing an influx of immigrants, Ecuadorian citizens are unhappy about the possibility that Colombians might take their jobs, and, to make matters worse, Colombians have gained (if not necessarily earned) a reputation for being particularly violent. The family behind us got lucky--it's easy enough to imagine a situation in which such bravado in the face of a customs official would not go over so well.
And in Peru, you're guilty until proven innocent...will our heroes escape?