stuck in ecuador

[time2go]

It was two yrs ago now when I got caught up in this nightmare. I was living in peru and enjoying. Being a daily pot smoker, I took advantage of being in the big city to resupply my personal stash. I was driving back to my home in the north from lima after a fun trip to cusco. Had to pass through this place where there was a lot of checkpoints due to high crime, unknown to me. Passed a few no problem, no searches and no threat. Then arriving at one more checkpoint, my "friend" driving got a little rude with the officer. Big problem. They tear apart the car and find the weed, hidden but not that well. It all ends up getting unavoidably pinned on me since I am the dumb gringo. I get carted off to the station. 

Normally there you can just pay a roadside bribe and be on your way but for me this was not possible. They called in the prosecutor specialized in drugs and this guy had a real problem with me, despite this just being a simple posession case. They called the press. It was a circus. They made such a big deal over nothing! Trying to look like they caught this bad guy, little ole me, despite no dealing, no proof of anything else. However the qty was enough for them. It was about 62 grams, way less than even a kilo. More like two plus oz. Heck I did not even know how much weight it was, just bought some and never thought twice. Up to five grams is allowed and not punished but over that they consider you a micro or small time dealer, which I learned much later.

Was held at the police station for the max of two weeks while they get ready to charge me. Every day was hearing "gringo vas a salir por la calle" (you are going to walk free) but it never happened. Just the two weeks there was a bad sign. Get sent to the courthouse cell. Only supposed to be there for 24hrs but I am there for three days, 72 hrs in horrible conditions. Finally my trial day. It was a kangaroo court. The verdict was decided before I set foot in the court. It was obvious from the looks on the faces of the judge and all the clerks, despite a good lawyer on my part, nothing could be done. I think it was all a shakedown for money anyway. Sent to jail for six months of prison while they further investigate. Common here called preventitive prison.

Was charged very unjustly with an obscure code called favoring and promotion for what should have been a normal posession case. Due to that code, it was an offense which carried 8-15yrs, so six months seemed ok at the time but for me I was freaking as it was blown way out of proportion and simple posession does not even get any time in prison.

Easy to get in, hard to get out! So goes the saying right? So after three trials or hearings in prison, I prove I am not some big time guy with evidence of my jobs in the US and my old scrpit for mmj from cali along with some drs records, and they let me out with conditional freedom. A miracle, I was so happy to be out. It was short time but those three months were hell. The nightmare of being locked up abroad is/was over for now but my case is still ongiong. I am not allowed to leave the country and have to sign in every month, among other conditions. Failure to comply is a return to prison.

I get out and things are moving along ok. I have some money in the US and live off of that as well as pay for legal fees of a good lawyer. Then things take a turn for the worse. My bank decides to shut me down, they close off access to my accounts for no specific reason, saying I need to return to the US to reclaim my funds. No ifs ands or buts. This is where a backup would have been nice. Diversify. Well I was but one bank had acquired the other so they were part of the same org and I was out of money and screwed. I have a very small family and was never very close with them. Due to my living abroad I had become estranged and had no support at all from them. I was in touch with any and all of my so called friends but after explaining things few offered any help. I guess they did not want to be involved and I understand, but I was desperate and thought I would get more help than I did. I tried and failed to get special permission to leave to clear up this huge problem. I ended up calling in some loans I made and raised just enough money to survive but could no longer afford my lawyer. This is when things really went sour.

I asked for a public defender but it was a process that took several months, during which time my case was proceeding with or without a lawyer. I did not know this. It was during this time that there was a ten day window when the evidence that was used to get me my conditional freedom was supposed to be turned over to the high court. Well, with nobody running my case and me totally unaware and unfamiliar with the process, it never got done. That evidence was never trurned in and it even becomes unadmissable! Really unjust and unfair to me. 

Finally get the public defender assigned but it was too late anyway. This guy was horrible too, despite many efforts on my part, he was never available to work with me on the case. I asked for a new lawyer but before I could go through that process there was a trial scheduled, it was supposed to be my final ruling, yet nothing had been done on my part, no evidence presented etc. I was not even notified of the trial and so never went. Thank god as they would have locked me away for at least 8 yrs. The PD also did not show as he was away at training or so he claimed. However now I am in contempt of court and there is a warrant issued for me. Two options, turn myself in or hide/flee etc. I choose freedom of course. This was about may of last yr.

So I am already living on a very tight budget and working informally but not making much barely enough to survive. After the warrant I had to go somewhere else low profile and that just further complicated everything. Six months pass (end of 2015) and I manage to find a loan from a friend so I can try to leave the country.

I make it. I get out. I am now in a Ecuador and away from a very real threat. Now the challenge is to get out of here and back to the US. Easier said than done. I had a plane ticket and tried to just fly out. I knew there was nothing with interpol and thought I could just leave. Not so. When I came here I never got a stamp in my passport so now the immigrations people will not let me leave. Lucky they do not detain me, I leave the airport stuck here in a foreign land with little cash left. Not sure what to do next or how to proceed just know that I made it this far and not going to give in now.

In an ideal world I would regain access to my bank accounts and with money todo es posible, anything is possible. Worst case is I am stuck here, but no way am I going back to face injustice! I am actually talking to my bank and praying for a miracle. So far there has been no progress, they say my account is blocked due to possible fraud. This makes me very crazy. Although I undestand they are trying to protect me, they have totally screwed me. They would not take any type of phone authetication and just said I need to return to the US and present myself at an office with an ID. I feel they are being completely unrasonable.

This situation has really drained me and I just feel super stressed, tired, and depressed. Somehow need to keep my animos arriba, or my head held high. I have enough cash for about ten days and then this is going to get interesting. Hoping I can make something happen between now n then. Been praying a lot. I feel like after all that has happened to get stuck here is bad, really bad, but it could be worse. I feel like if it was meant for me to be in prison, I would not have made it his far. 

If my hand is forced and I run out of money my next option is probably going to be to try and get deported, but not sure there. It is a grey area and they may ship me back to peru. Probably will. I can turn myself in to immigration police but it puts me in a very exposed position. May be better to just be here illigally. The problem would be finding work. Sure I can find something eventually just a very scary situation to be in. I am really in a tight spot, backed into a corner here. It would be nice to know for sure if I present myself either at the us consulate or with immigrations what they will do. Will they just send me back to peru?

Gonna end this long post here. Sorry if I left out some details in the interest of brevity, it is such a saga. Will be happy to try to answer any questions best as possible. Any creative ideas from this well traveled group would be much appreciated.

[Kurt]

What's your citizenship?

What did the embassy say when you told them this?

If you did not tell them, why?

[time2go]

Citizen of USA

Did not approach the embassy here regarding my case due to a. being wanted in peru, and b. my illegal entry here in ecuador. Probably not a good idea to conceal that info as it would only lead to more probs and not sure how they would react to learning those things.

I did renew my passport here without a hitch but that is all so far. When I was detained in Peru they sent someone up from the embassy pretty much right away to check on my welfare and let me know what they could n could not do. They were pretty clear with me, in Peru, that they could not help with legal matters beyond giving me a list of suggested lawyers.

[Kurt]

Citizen of USA

Did not approach the embassy here regarding my case due to a. being wanted in peru, and b. my illegal entry here in ecuador. Probably not a good idea to conceal that info as it would only lead to more probs and not sure how they would react to learning those things.

I did renew my passport here without a hitch but that is all so far. When I was detained in Peru they sent someone up from the embassy pretty much right away to check on my welfare and let me know what they could n could not do. They were pretty clear with me, in Peru, that they could not help with legal matters beyond giving me a list of suggested lawyers.

You probably should as that seems to be your only way out, legally. You could theoretically sneak into Colombia but theory from people sitting on a chair in the comfort of their own home should not be an option unless you are desperate as I, or anyone else sitting in a chair at home, have nothing to lose.

We had a poster here who got fucked in Ecuador, they drained his money, threatened him with jail and based on experience that is what will likely happen to you when your money runs out.

Go to the Embassy. Where is Jullian Assange? in Ecuardor's embassy. find out who is unhappy about this, and go to their embassy. You can either be a nobody or a pawn, and if I were you I would choose the pawn option.

[time2go]

With the borders round here pretty open i probably could slip into colombia easy, but based on my problem here of not being able to leave without proving where n how i came in, they would likely also give me probs at some point if n when I tried to leave, so would probably just end up being stuck there too. Cant say I really enjoy the prospect of being stuck in either locale, so that leaves the embassy.

I have thought about going to them but I just do not see them giving me floor space to crash indefinitely like assange got. It just seems like a big unknown, but if I put myself in their shoes, after they hear my case, I see them telling me to get lost or go back to Peru and turn myself in, or worse making sure I go back.

That leaves what you said about being a pawn. So then if I am understanding you, I need to find another countries embassy who would be sympathetic to helping me? Or go to colombia and then crash the ecuadorian embassy like assange. :-)

Just curious if you know what became of that one poster you mentioned?

Thx for the info. Much appreciated.

[coldharvest]

Any advice or information taken from this forum is entirely at your own risk.

[Kurt]

Any advice or information taken from this forum is entirely at your own risk.

Totally, even more of a caveat, we sometimes suck.

I am kind of baffled as to how you ended up there and for so long. My guess is either a mountaineer or something, but mountaineers are usually too anal and plan too far ahead to get into the mess you got in.

Snowboarder who found endless mountains and dope is my guess. If I am correct, you gotta start to unravel the parts of your personality that got you in this mess.

You can try other nations if you like, but I would go with the US as they have some amount of jurisdiction over you. Come to them as a recovering addict who wants "nothing more than to get clean" even if you are not an addict, but I am just taking a shot that coke and snowboarding / skiing go pretty good together so I will stick with that idea for now.

Also contact your local congressional office and state senate office before you approach the embassy or have your friends do that in your home area. Employees of your Representatives carry a lot of weight among beaurocrats, or more than you do now anyway, so use them.

[nowonmai]

Make a raft and head for Hawaii.

[Douchebag]

Join all the other wetbacks on the trip north to Al Paso.

[frostyneutron]

Like, woh man. Didn't your parents or other adults ever tell you that your druggie lifestyle would catch up with you?

[nowonmai]

Like, woh man. Didn't your parents or other adults ever tell you that your druggie lifestyle would catch up with you?

Let him who hath no sin cast the first stone.

I hope he gets out and writes a book about it. Assuming he exists.

[coldharvest]

You are shamefully fucking clownshoes.

[nowonmai]

You are shamefully fucking clownshoes.

Which one? That could apply to any or all of us on this thread.

[coldharvest]

You are shamefully fucking clownshoes.

Which one? That could apply to any or all of us on this thread.

this time2go fuckin' 'shoe

[time2go]

Wishing I didnt exist but unfortunately I do.