Ecuador Health Ministry forced to clarify incomplete FOIA answer

A favorable ruling last week was handed down in the Ecuador case against the Health Ministry and National Government, whom plaintiffs claimed withheld information vital to public health. The judge ruled the Health Ministry must deliver information related to the content of the COVID-19 injections and contracts signed for purchasing the experiments.

Attorney William Sánchez Aveiga, who filed the lawsuit, told Frontline News: “A constitutional motion to access Public Information is filed when any state or even private entity that deals with public funds hides information, does not put it on its website and/or, at the direct request of an individual, does not deliver it - that refusal can be tacit or expressed.

"In this case, we sent a letter to the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Education on August 9^th, 2022, asking questions related to the ‘Plandemic’ as we call it.

“The Ministry of Health did not answer, they remained silent, the other Ministries did answer. We proceeded through the motion to access Public Information before a constitutional judge, we asked for it to be delivered to us," he added.  The Public hearing was held on February 3^rd in the Judicial Complex of Quitumbe Parish, south of the City of Quito in the Family Childhood and Adolescence Judicial Unit. 

The original request was submitted in August. The Health Ministry answered in December, with a document answering several questions, stating that the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 was mandatory for the entire national health system as of June 18, 2021. This document also indicates that the obligation for ordinary citizens took place on April 21, 2022.

However, the government already forced vaccination on December 21, 2021 through the Committee of Emergency Operations (COE). All this despite the fact that the required vaccine passport called vaccination “optional”, and the President of the Republic declared to the media that in Ecuador rights were not restricted and no one was forced to vaccinate.

The paper also indicates that since January 27, 2022, autopsies on those who died from COVID-19 were forbidden. All of this, according to Attorney Sánchez, “suggests that in Ecuador things are first forced and then the regulations are created."

He continued: “Of the three questions, two have to do with the contracts, and the other has to do with the sequencing of the genome of the alleged virus. It is total nonsense, a mess that has nothing to do with what was asked. They essentially indicate that there are confidentiality clauses in the contracts and that is why they cannot reveal anything. That is inadmissible; we have the Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information, also the Organic Law of State Security, and the Law of Jurisdictional Guarantees and Constitutional Control, which clearly establish when information can be denied and when it cannot be denied.

“The final result of this motion is that at the hearing the judge ruled the information public and therefore ruled in our favor, commanding the Ministry of Health to deliver it.”

Attorney Sánchez said they are waiting for the judicial decree, to be issued by the judge in coming days. Otherwise, they will petition the judge to remove the Health Minister if the Ministry does not provide the information as required by law.

This ruling is therefore irrevocable, even if the other party appeals. Nevertheless, as Attorney Sánchez pointed out, “they have no grounds to do so,” and concluded: “There will never be anything above the Constitution of the Republic – the Social Contract – between the State and an individual.”

This is an achievement that was obtained through the efforts of citizens, doctors, scientists, and lawyers who acted as plaintiffs amicus curiae. 

Other organizations fighting for their freedoms that would like professional advice can contact Attorney Sanchez via email: sirtuino@gmail.com