I was surprised when I saw cheerful and colorful people walking along the most beautiful avenue in the city, drinking coconut water from the coconut itself and throwing it on the pavement like someone throwing a tiny cigarette.

I was surprised to meet a mayor who belonged to the line of mayors: for many years the position was alternated between brothers and cousins ​​from the same family. The interview was held in a half-demolished building whose windows were still without glass.

Emeralds will not drown

I was surprised to see that the tourist office was faced with a deliberate garbage dump and that the director did not mind the stench or the crowd of buzzards or turkeys on the roof, as he called them.

I was shocked by the misfortune and inequality of its people. It was the year 1991 and Esmeralda never ceased to amaze me. It was a year in which I collaborated with the Ecumenical Committee on Projects in seeking answers about environmental awareness. I traveled to the province of Esmeraldas and came back ungratefully surprised. I remember not knowing where to start my report. Everything was amazing to me.

The Minister of Transport and Public Works, César Rohon, declared Esmeraldas in a state of emergency on the road

Today, 32 years later, I see that its population and its misfortune have practically doubled, that they have multiplied as much as her misery, and that various politicians, of different colors and inclinations, have left Esmeralda to her fate, or rather your bad luck.

(…) I look through the pictures from the news and I return to restlessness, sadness and hopelessness.

I look at muddy children, devastated women, bewildered men and wonder: what do politicians have on their chests? Will it be hollow and dry, damp and rotten, like a scorpion’s cave? Which one has? Maybe vanity, ambition, megalomania, rudeness settle there. Because they certainly have no heart. Samples of this are given daily.

The government allocates 12 million dollars for emergency works in the flood-affected cantons of Esmeraldas

As if in dementia or someone hoping for a miracle, I look at the pictures on the news and come back to restlessness, sadness and hopelessness. In the middle of insomnia, I get up impatiently to rummage through closets, pantries, drawers, looking for clothes, things, books and non-perishable food to send to people who are having a hard time. I can’t find anything. In a certain way, I am happy to confirm that we live on austerity. I’m going back to bed. I yawn from the cold, but the insomnia does not subside. Then again, as if in dementia or someone hoping for a miracle, I look at the pictures on the news and return to restlessness, sadness and hopelessness.

I pick up my phone and almost gropingly turn to Es-me-ral-das, and find this: “It is known as the Green Province because of its large amount of agricultural produce. Esmeraldas is one of the most important administrative, economic, financial and commercial centers of Ecuador. The main activities of the province are trade, animal husbandry, industry and agriculture. Much of its economy depends on the export of shrimp and bananas. In addition, cocoa, tobacco and coffee are produced. Fishing, petrochemical industry and tourism are important”. Oh really? Or it’s much worse. It’s not even a lack of resources: it’s a lack of awareness and an excess of ambition. This is shamelessness and stupidity. (OR)