Royal Netherlands Embassy / Constitution Square Building
350 Albert Street, suite 2020 / Ottawa, ON K1R 1A4
Tel.: +1 613 237 5030 / Fax: +1 613 237 6471
email: nfo@dutchhelp.com
Jan 11, 2008
Your Excellency KAREL P.M. DE BEER,
In your function as the Ambassador of the Dutch Government to Canada, I am writing to you as the representative of the Humanist Centre of Cultures to condemn the fraudulent use of the “Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of investments between the Republic of Bolivia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands” by Euro Telecom International.
As you may know, on the 29th April 2007 Bolivia announced their withdrawal from ICSID (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes), a branch of the World Bank, and on May 8 the Ambassador for Foreign Affairs and Integration, Pablo Solon, announced that the next step would be the reviewing and renegotiation of treaties for the protection of investments that Bolivia signed with 24 different countries.
In April 2007 the transnational company Eurotelecom Italia, owner of Telecom ENTEL in Bolivia, sent a letter to the Bolivian Government in which they stated that they had notified ICSID that there was a dispute with the Bolivian State about alleged damages to their investments. On 12 October 2007 the Italian telecom company officially took its case against Bolivia to ICSID.
In order to defend their investments in ENTEL, Eurotelecom International NV (ETI), with their headquarters in Holland, made use of the "Agreement for the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between the Republic of Bolivia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands".
ETI is a shell company that employs no Dutch citizens, and supposedly holds 50% of the shares of ENTEL, but in reality another Dutch company, International Communication Holdings (ICH), is the 100% owner of ETI. ICH, in turn, is 100% owned by Telecom Italia International NV, also a Dutch company, that in turn is 100% owned by Telecom Italia s.p.a, an Italian Company.
ETI, ICH and Telecom Italia International strangely have the same address in Holland: Stravinskylaan 1627, 1077XX, Amsterdam.
The twisted figure of ETI-ENTEL is being fraudulently and misleadingly used by Telecom Italia s.p.a for legal reasons to take the case of ENTEL and the Bolivian State to ICSID.
This action is fraudulent because it is not at all a matter of protecting Dutch investments in Bolivia. All of these supposed investments in ENTEL came directly from Telecom Italia s.p.a, or rather, from Italy.
We categorically condemn this fraud and ask you, Ambassador De Beer, and the Dutch government to intervene and stop this fraudulent use of the Bilateral Treaty between Holland and Bolivian with all the measures at your disposal.
We also want to express our great concern about the defamation campaign that the ex-Bolivian oligarchy, the same people who have oppressed the indigenous peoples for 500 years, is instigating against President Evo Morales Ayma.
In Bolivia a profound process of transformation is happening, non-violently set in motion by President Morales, with a mandate given to him by the majority of the Bolivian people: a process of political, economic, social and legal transformation that is to be ratified by means of a referendum for a new Bolivian constitution. This new constitution will end more than 500 years of oppression of the 70% of the population—the indigenous peoples—and their status as people without rights.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Rodolfo Stavenhagen, said on 7 December in La Paz, after a 12-day visit, that Bolivian President Evo Morales is like Nelson Mandela because he is trying to change an unfair society. He pointed out that Mandela was the first black President of South Africa and that Morales is the first indigenous President of Bolivia.
Evo Morales is trying to end the system of apartheid that has ruled de facto for centuries in Bolivia. Regarding the bilateral agreements, he wants a relationship of equality and not foreign bosses. He wants ICSID to disappear because it was formed to guarantee the usurious profits of transnational companies at the expense of the people of poor countries. Of the 232 cases brought to ICSID, 230 were cases by multinational companies against States, in which the multinationals always won.
A President that defends the rights and well-being of his people, a people who have elected him fairly, merits our solidarity, admiration and support.
Evo Morales is a brave humanist and the first democratically-elected Bolivian who is calling on the world to abandon the path of wars, violence, economic oppression and human humiliation and to build a truly just world where people coexist in equality.
Therefore we ask you and your government to openly support the President of Bolivia and stop the fraudulent use of the Bilateral Investment Treaty between Holland and Bolivia by ETI-ENTEL, and defend him in front of the attacks by economic interests whose only objective is to undermine the new democratic process of Bolivia.
I look forward to receiving a response to this email, and I leave you with the greatest respect and cordial greetings,
Roberto Verdecchia
Centre of Cultures
Toronto, ON Canada
Copy to:
- Minister President Jan Peter Balkenende
Binnenhof 20 / Postbus 20001
2500 EA Den Haag
fax. +31 70 3564683
- Consul-General J. Kramer
Consulate General of the Netherlands in Toronto
1 Dundas Street West, Suite 2106
Toronto, ON M5G 1Z3
- Chairman of the Parliament, Jaques Tichelaar < J.Tichelaar@tweedekamer.nl>
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