Author: Michel Baljet

"I am Michel Baljet, a Dutch journalist and researcher. My travel has taken me across continents and into conflict zones, where I was regularly in the right place at the wrong time. I am driven by the desire to discover the truth and provide impartial reporting, even if that means immersing myself completely in the most challenging landscapes of our society. I am currently in a period of medical rehabilitation. Despite this temporary setback, I remain resolute in my work, using this time to write about current events and share thought-provoking pieces from my extensive archive. As always, I stand ready to dive back into the wonderful waste heaps of our society as soon as I am able to do so again.
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13 and pregnant. Fortunately, she is not alone

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Your father left you with your mother at an early age, in school you are doing well but you still have a few years to go before you are ready.

Your future plans? you are just beginning to think about that, why the rush-you have a whole life ahead of you. Your mom works her ass off 6 days a week to make all the ends meet so you can go to school and so you can do everything else you want to do as a 13-year-old girl. Then you find out you're pregnant and, if you survive, will be a mother at 14. (The odds of dying during pregnancy are 5x higher under 15 than someone 25).

Her mother works 6 days a week for about 250 euros a month plus some social security. She goes to school and finds the love of her life there. They have a great time together and probably because of the lack of preventive education and contraceptives in this country, one thing leads to another. Talking about it is taboo, so once the high word finally gets out it turns out to be three months down the road. With an angry father after you who would rather see you dead than alive, the most logical decision is to run away with your future husband who is two years older. Deciding not to want to be a mother yet is something you can't do emotionally, and besides, having an abortion isn't allowed either. But you are confident, you will be a wonderful mother.

Abortion is only allowed if the mother's life is in danger or if the child is deformed, this requires a judge's approval, which is a long bureaucratic process in which by the time a decision is made it is often already too late. In addition, it is not accepted by the church, so if you already find a judge you can forget about "the support" of the church afterwards.

Between 2000 and 2010, the number of teenage pregnancies in Ecuador increased by over 70%. The only luck we can talk about is that the child was conceived in some kind of love, as 1 in 4 women in Ecuador become victims of sexual violence.

Many teenage mothers have no partner and raise the child on their own; it looks like this daughter will follow the path of her single mother.

She is fortunately not alone in her struggle. Nearly 40% of girls in Ecuador under 20 are mothers or pregnant. Among girls with no education, this number is even alarmingly higher.

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[The door stays shut. Could they be dead?

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For months I've been watching them as they play on the street, trying to make money on the side by renting out parking spots or with a customer walking into their house looking for a new adventure. A few days ago, three men left the house early. The gate in front of their front door was forcibly removed and there is no latch in the front door, since then there is no sign of life coming from the house of one of my neighbors...

The neighborhood in Quito where I currently live is not the safest neighborhood imaginable, it is recommended not to walk the streets there after 7 p.m., it is teeming with "rent by the hour" hostels and every business owner has an alarm button to call a special unit in case something happens.

The family, -if it is a family at all- consists of three children and two women. The youngest (boy) I estimate 5 years old and the two girls both under 15, one of whom is closer to 10 than 15. They live diagonally below the balcony where I stand several times a day to enjoy the view.

It was already a fascinating family in recent months; the little boy (5) could often still be found on the street in front of the house late at night near midnight, and when the blue fluorescent lights came on and two young girls had dressed up, many new and sometimes regular male customers could be found at my neighbor's house.

Last weekend there was a lot of commotion outside; the steel fence, which many houses have here, and my neighbors' until recently protective outer door were in the middle of the street. A couple of men forced their way through the wooden front door and clearly had no intention of leaving without answers. As one of the girls falls down after being hit in the face the men manage to work their way inside the house while screaming. The door closes for a moment and the muffling of voices seems to make the street quiet again.

Not much later the door shoots open again after which one of the girls runs to the corner of the street and calls out to whomever she thinks is the police. Just after her, one of the men runs after her. Disappointed that the car passing by was not a police car and visibly frightened, they work her way back to her home with resistance. After two of the men drag the steel fencing that was still on the street inside, the door closes.

A few minutes later, a police car comes speeding down the street, rounding the corner with shouts and glass clinking in the background, heading for the next report.

The next few hours find a pleading discussion going on in the background of my quiet balcony moment. It is time to go to sleep.

...Early the next morning, three men leave the apartment. Later I notice that there is no longer a door handle on the door and there are suspiciously new wooden boards in front of the window. Since then the street has been quiet, no child playing, no blue lights on or strange men in the street. Nothing at all. My neighbor's door remains closed. Could they still be there....

(Photo is not the door from this article)

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[DUTCH] Ecuador fights for internet freedom and wins #InternetLibre

As of today, in terms of protecting Internet freedom, Ecuador is not only known as the guardian angel of Assange and Snowden, among others, but they have taken another big step in protecting Internet freedom. 

A decision was made today to remove Section 474 (Retention of Records and Reports.) from COIP (Organic Penal Code).

Why this is good news. 

Among other things, this article will require Internet service providers to store all user data for 6 months. This would involve tracking Internet activity, phone numbers, addresses, static and dynamic IP data, and all fixed and wireless communication connections. In addition, all this data had to be linked to each other (user ed).

Another rule would be that Internet cafes had to record their customers (on video). Failure to transfer this data would fall under criminal law.

A decision was made today to waive Article 474, showing Ecuador is not going to follow the trend of many others to take away internet freedom

For the full legislation: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5cMEHQ2197-Z3FiRlR4Q2s4dWc/edit (see page 188 for Article 474)

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No five-star hotel in New Street

At the end of February this year, the municipality of Breda well-known That there were plans for a hotel in the former monastery on Nieuwstraat. Since I have been following the developments around the Nieuwstraat for some time, I wrote here a few weeks ago a column about. Then I was particularly concerned about whether the agreements made with the sisters in 1992 had been fulfilled. I was also frustrated by the fact that the municipality would not let me see the contracts from back then.

In recent weeks, through other avenues, I have had those contracts received and I have talked to many people involved. What now appears is that the preliminary sales contract between WSG and HERMON BV has in the meantime already been dissolved. It would involve the sale of Nieuwstraat which WSG sold to HERMON BV for 3.2 million euros. This is a remarkable amount because WSG bought it from the municipality a few years before for 1.6 million. After that, WSG received millions for renovation but actually did nothing more than leave things as they were.

What is also striking is that the municipality had included a clause in the contract with WSG that if WSG had not fulfilled its restoration obligations by 2010 WSG was obliged to offer the Nieuwstraat back to the municipality. Upon inquiry, I also understand that WSG did this at the last minute but the municipality of Breda refused this offer.

At the time of writing I still have some questions open with various agencies (including WSG and municipality). As soon as I have answers to these I will update this post. But the most pressing question of course... What is going to happen to New Street? Are we going to let the squalor continue?

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New Street file: The files (last update 20/04/2012 12:04)

On this page I will upload all the files I receive through the different channels concerning the purchase, sale and resale of the nieuwstraat (the former monastery) in Breda.

last update: April 20, 2012 08:50

Through a third party (not the municipality), I have firmly received a number of documents (documents 1 to 5) these are land registry extracts, deeds of exchange of land and purchase agreements purchase agreements between both the sisters and the municipalities and the municipalities and WSG.

Messages:

Then on the backs of our dead sisters

Documents:

___________________________

document 1

Sale deed from the sisters to the Municipality of Breda

Date: October 14, 1992

___________________________

document 2

Sale deed from the Municipality of Breda to WSG.

Date: January 2, 2007

___________________________

document 3

Exchange and delivery deed Municipality of Breda and Slokker Vastgoed BV

Date: September 24, 2004

___________________________

document 4

Cadastral notice object New Street

Date: 10-04-2012

___________________________

document 5

Excerpt of Cadastral Map New Street

date: 10-04-2012

___________________________

Other documents

In the first column, I also used some documents I had found in old minutes or in the city archives.

Land acquisition confirmation (1992)

Reasons for purchase and conditions (1992)

Confirmation conversion to student housing (1992)

Request credit for conversion to student housing (1993)

Application for additional funds for conversion to student housing (1994)

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So then on the backs of our dead sisters?

Breda's Board of B&W is reacting rabidly to HERMON BV's new plans. But wait, is this ethically correct?

"The buildings and the chapel on Nieuwstraat will undergo an unimaginable metamorphosis next year" that was the prediction of the owners of WSG (housing foundation Geertruidenberg) in 2007. This prediction has come true. Indeed, the premises (the former monastery in the center of breda) have since fallen into disrepair and decay. Its exterior walls -decorated with posters and graffiti- have become a disgrace to the streetscape of Breda. With this, the second prediction of these directors of WSG, namely "This piece of Breda will be all right" is not entirely fulfilled.

Now don't stop reading right away because we really need to go back in history to understand what preceded it.

History

On September 24, 1992, the municipality of Breda became proud owner of Nieuwstaat 21-29 in Breda. They bought the former convent of the Congregation Franciscan Sisters of Mariadal.

After negotiations initially stalled -because of an excessively high asking price- the monastery's asking price decreased significantly in 1992 because the municipality had a appointment with the sisters. They agreed that the former convent was to be used for "student housing" and non-commercial purposes. If these agreements were not kept, the municipality was obliged to pay a fine of 1 million guilders to the "sisters." A fine of 1 million guilders also had to be paid if the chapel was not used for liturgical and pastoral purposes.

With this, our city council and Mayor Nijpels made a promise to the sisters.

Student housing

After the purchase, the former monastery was converted into student housing (over 100) the cost of this, which was originally 1,216,763. golden would be fell over 40% higher from

We are selling the lot

In 2006, the municipality found out that it did cost quite a bit of money to renovate and maintain the place, so the municipality decided to divest the monastery to a third party. This became WSG. In the following years, the building stood empty and the WSG received millions in subsidies to restore and convert it into care facilities. 

But apparently WSG was not doing very well financially and lost it ended up losing over 60 million in equity in 2010 due to risky investments. This prevented the restoration of New Street, among other places, from going ahead.

The WSG decided to resell the property to raise money and avoid going bankrupt. A few weeks ago, the new destination was announced: a five-star hotel with more than 80 rooms and a bar and retail area in the original chapel. Our Municipal Executive responded enthusiastically to the initiative proposal submitted about a month earlier by HERMON BV, which is still fairly unknown to me. But what will the "sisters who had set such clear conditions?

Now I am of the opinion that it is good that something is finally happening with the Nieuwstraat but must this also mean that agreements made in the past turn out to be worth nothing? Can they really not be honored or, by mutual agreement, filled in in another way? Has the college given it any thought at all?

In recent weeks I have been in contact with all kinds of institutions, from the diocese in Breda to the KNR (Official umbrella organization of Religious Institutes)

Municipality does not want to provide information

As a result of those conversations, I tried last week to surface the original contracts between the sisters and the municipality, and the municipality and WSG. Unfortunately, I ran into a wall of opposition.

The municipality won't give me the contracts, so last week and WOB (Public Administration Act) request, this is a request where the municipality becomes obligated to still disclose the documents.

We are entitled to those documents because then we can have answers to questions such as; for what amount was it bought and sold at the time, under what exact conditions even more? In addition, I wonder why the municipality never chose -when the properties were deteriorating- to expropriate them from WSG? How could it have come to this point that an ancient monumental street was so run down and discarded in a few years?

Not daring to take responsibility.

Fortunately, our City Council has yet to vote on the plan for a five-star hotel. I assume that our people's representatives also do not want it on their head that - without even mentioning it - a commercial deal is made here on the backs (of the, as far as I have been able to find out, deceased) of the sisters. This against all agreements in order not to have to and not to dare to take responsibility for the havoc left behind in the heart of Breda.