So in 1994 when I headed to the United States, I was coming with the idea of studying journalism. I wanted to learn the skills to write about the situation in my country. I was coming from an event that had drastically changed my life. I was heading to Knoxville, Tennessee, to college. I didn’t know anything about Knoxville, Tennessee, because in Equatorial Guinea, even in movies, you see Western movies and you know something about Texas, you know something about countries – I mean about states, U.S. states they are featuring in those Western movies.
I was coming to Knoxville with a lot of hope. I knew enough about the U.S. to know that if I worked hard, I would acquire the skills to help me change the situation in my country. And in Knoxville, Tennessee, I found wonderful professors and wonderful friends that helped me really stay focused on what was important both as far as college and personally. Eventually in Knoxville I became – not only I got – or not only that earned my baccalaureate degree, but I also decided to go to law school, where I began to feel that, you know, I had the preparation to deal with what I thought at that point was the biggest challenge inside my country, lack of rule of law.
There were no laws. The country was guided by one family and one family alone. And again, the professors I had in law school were instrumental in helping me figure out how do you use law for what laws are meant to be used for. In Knoxville I also decided, after studying law, to join an organization, a legal aid organization, and work on behalf of rights of migrant workers. So for three years in Tennessee, I worked representing migrant workers from Central and South America working in the poultry and codfish processing industries. It got me a chance to see – gave me a chance, an opportunity to see what was happening in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Louisiana, in Arkansas, Kentucky, all the states where migrant labor was a big factor of the economies in those place, but fundamentally it gave me an opportunity to learn how people could actually change the situation in which they lived in.
I worked with some amazing people, immigrants who came to the United States with absolutely nothing, but within a few years, learning their rights, learning the language, learning the ways, could drastically change their lifestyle and their family lifestyles, both in Tennessee and these other states I have mentioned, as well as back at home in Guatemala and Mexico. Three years into doing that type of work, I realized that, yes, change is definitely possible. If working on employment and immigration rights with these amazing people, we can so drastically change not just their life here but their life back in their countries, certainly we Equatorial Guineans can do this.
In 2004, I decided to go back to school, and I went to Columbia University in New York, where I got an LL.M., a master’s in law degree, focusing specifically on human rights. In 2005, once I was done with my LL.M., I decided that I needed an organization that would allow me to focus all my energies working on Equatorial Guinea. Looking at the intersection of oil or energy and human rights, I do believe that oil production, the revenues from oil, can be a source for good in places like Equatorial Guinea.
Tutu Alicante is a human rights lawyer from the island of Annobon in Equatorial Guinea. In 1993, Mr. Alicante was in a Roman Catholic seminary, preparing for the priesthood. A group of citizens, among them one of Mr. Alicante’s cousins, organized a peaceful demonstration at the governor’s house calling for respect for human rights and measures to address widespread poverty. In response, government forces arrested and killed a number of the demonstrators and burned Mr. Alicante’s family home to the ground. He left Equatorial Guinea in 1994 to pursue his education abroad.
After obtaining a law degree from the University of Tennessee and a Masters in Law from Columbia University, he worked on legal defense programs for migrant farm workers and as a consultant for a branch of the Open Society Institute promoting legal accountability and transparency in extractive industries.
Tutu Alicante founded and serves as Executive Director of EG Justice, a nonprofit and nongovernmental organization that educates, empowers, and engages a new generation of democracy and human rights advocates at home and abroad. It undertakes grassroots campaigns to reform institutions inside Equatorial Guinea and documents human rights violations, collecting oral and written testimonies inside the country and abroad to hold violators accountable. EG Justice publishes periodic reports and educates the public. EG Justice collaborates with international institutions to bring critical human rights issues to the attention of global policymakers, including the United Nations, the African Union, and other multilateral organizations. It undertakes and supports legal advocacy to hold human rights abusers accountable in local, regional, and international tribunals and works closely with community-based partners to empower them through the litigation process.
Follow Tutu Alicante on Twitter at @TutuAlicante and follow EG Justice on Twitter at @EGJustice
Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa’s smallest countries, with a population of roughly 650,000 people. It is the only independent country on the continent where Spanish is the official language. Extensive oil reserves were discovered in 1996 and have dramatically altered the country’s fortunes. Oil has made Equatorial Guinea the wealthiest country in Africa on a per capita basis, with the World Bank estimating the country’s per capita GDP (Purchasing Power Parity in current international dollars) at over $35,000 – nominally higher than that of France or Japan. However, the country’s resources are distributed very unevenly, with more than 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
The area now known as Equatorial Guinea was home to many indigenous tribal groups when it was first discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in 1471. In 1778, Portugal ceded the area to Spain and it became home to many plantations. Immigrants came from other African countries as well as Spain looking for work. Freed slaves also came to the country, creating a mixture of ethnic and cultural groups. Spain ruled the country as a colony until 1968, when it granted Equatorial Guinea independence.
In 1968, Francisco Macias Nguema became the first president of the nation. During his rule, Macias carried out the execution of those who he perceived as a threat to his rule as well as many members of the Bubi ethnic minority. By the end of his time in power more than a third of the population of Equatorial Guinea had either fled the country or had been executed. The nation experienced a massive “brain drain” as Macias specifically targeted intellectuals and those involved in education. Macias also declared himself president for life, closed down some churches, prevented Equatoguineans from leaving the country, and banned things he perceived as “un-African,” including Western medicine.
In 1979, current President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo overthrew and executed his predecessor and uncle, Francisco Macias Nguema, in a bloody military coup. However, Obiang continued many of the policies and practices of his uncle’s regime. The judiciary and parliament are firmly under the control of the president. Obiang’s regime has never held credible elections. Basic freedoms, such as freedom of expression, assembly and conscience are not respected by the regime.
Equatorial Guinea’s oil resources are controlled by Obiang’s supporters and other elites. Corruption is rampant – in 2013, Transparency International ranked Equatorial Guinea 163rd out of 177 countries surveyed.
In its 2014 “Freedom in the World” Report, Freedom House labeled Equatorial Guinea as “not free”. The nation received the worst possible score of seven in political rights, civil liberties, and as its overall freedom rating. Freedom House’s 2014 “Freedom of the Press” Report gave Equatorial Guinea a score of 90, where 0 is the best possible score and 100 is the worst possible score.