Miguel Lluco, the first indigenous MP in Ecuador, who has been invited to speak at this year's Latin America Week, failed to arrive as planned on Sunday 25 March, at Dublin Airport. He was due to address the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Oireachtas this Wednesday, and several TDs were interested in meeting with him.

Lluco was on an American Airlines (AA) flight from Quito, via Miami and London Heathrow, to Dublin. American Airlines initially denied that Mr Lluco had boarded in Quito; eventually however they admitted that he had reached London Heathrow yesterday morning but had been prevented from entering Immigration there, which he needed to do to move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 (normally a routine operation) to catch his connecting flight to Dublin.

Aysha Moi of AA claimed that his papers were examined by AA security in Miami and found to be not in order - however they had ``mistakenly'' allowed him to board the flight to Heathrow. When he landed in Britain, he was taken from the plane in Heathrow. He was detained by security and forcibly prevented from presenting himself to the British Immigration authority. He was forced onto the next flight for Miami. He was given the option of being sent back on the next flight or being handed over to immigration officials to be detained. His request to stay for a few hours to prove his identity and that his intention was only to take the next flight to Dublin, were denied

Aidan Cahill, Co-ordinator of The Latin America Solidarity Centre, said they were ``very concerned for Mr Lluco's whereabouts, and the observation of his full legal rights. His visa papers were in order but he was prevented from submitting them for due process. At this time, there appears to be a question mark about the legality of the procedure as described by American Airlines. We are seeking legal advice.''

Oficials of the Dublin Department of Foreign Affairs consulted indicated that the least that is expected in a case like this would be for the customs office at Heathrow to phone the Irish Governement and the outhor of the letter of invitation Mr. Lluco was carrying.

Lluco, from Ecuador, is the co-ordinator of the mainly indigenous political party Pachak'utik (Resurgence) and in 1995 became the first ever indigenous deputy in the Ecuadorian Congress. Indigenous people represent 40% of the population in Ecuador. He is also a member of the National Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE).

Pchak'utik and the CONAIE are leading participants in a grand coalition of social movements (along with peasants and workers organisations) against the forced introduction of IMF packages that include cutbacks in all government spending, privatisations and the dollarisation of the economy. They are currently in dialogue with the government over fuel prices, public transport, and issues of national sovereignty.

LASC Conference

The Latin American Solidarity Centre in Dublin opened its Latin America week with a Round Table exchange of experience of oppression and discrimination between indigenous Latin American speakers and activists from Traveller groups in Ireland.

Some 50 people took part in the workshops. Speakers from Mexico and from the Sierra in Peru told of their work with the campesinos in health, education, language and culture, to find startling and disturbing parallel discrimination recounted by travellers in Ireland.

It was hard for people from Latin America to believe this existed here in Ireland. It was equally important for Travellers to find that, on the global scale, they are far from alone in suffering the discrimination in health, in education, and in the exclusion of their culture and nomadic life from the social `norm'.

There was a great excitement in the conference at the success of this exchange, and a deep awareness of the long hard work of development to build awareness of discrimination and the confidence and strength to confront it, to demand equality.