Mr. Alvarez, a Chilean national, and Mr. Lapo, an Ecuadorian national, were respectively the owner and manager of a ice box factory in Ecuador. Upon the interdiction of a shipment bound for Miami of cocaine contained in similar ice boxes produced by the factory, both individuals were detained incommunicado initially and for over one and a half years before release. The factory was seized for five years. The Commission held the case was admissible for consideration.
