Ecuador
Indigenous Nationalities in Ecuador
Fuente/Source: Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE), Las nacionalidades indígenas en el Ecuador: Nuestro proceso organizativo, 2d ed. (Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala, 1989), 284.
Tensions Spark Over Ecuadorian Oil Attacks, Stratfor, Inc ~ Dec. 18
Sacked Colonels Victims Of U.S. Pressure, Say Critics, By Kintto Lucas ~ June 7
Environmental Health Campaign Targets Cities, By Kintto Lucas ~ June 4
Amnesty To Heal Deeply Divided Armed Forces, By Kintto Lucas ~ June 1
Left-Indigenous Alliance Triumphs at The Polls, by Kintto Lucas ~ May 23
"Dollarization" Brings Inflation, Pessimism to Ecuador, by Kintto Lucas ~ May 19
Indigenous Ecuadorian Woman as Vice-President of Congress, by Kintto Lucas (IPS) ~ March 31
Power Is Not Indigenous Goal, Says Leader, By By Kintto Lucas ~ Quito, Febraury 2, 2000
Tensions Stay High With Demands Unmet, By Kintto Lucas ~ Quito, January 26, 2000
Indians Say Military Betrayed Them, By Kintto Lucas ~ Quito, January 24, 2000
Ecuador's New President Enters Presidential Palace ~ QUITO, January 23, 2000
Ecuadoran Congress Accepts Noboa as New President ~ QUITO, January 22, 2000
Key Facts About Ecuador, ~ Saturday, January 22, 9:49 AM ET
20,000 Indigenious People in Quito. The Capital is Militarised. Heavy Confrontations Feared, by Marlon Carrion ~ January 20, 2000
Rise of the Town Grows - A Press Bulletin of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) January 20, 2000
Economists Have Their Eyes On Ecuador, by Paul Krugman ~ January 20, 2000
Reckonings: Dollars and Desperation, by Paul Krugman ~ January 19, 2000
10,000 Indigenous Protestors Arrive in Quito, Capitol of Ecuador. Thousands of Police and Military Forces Posted at all the Entrances to the City ~ January 18, 2000
Call to the People of Ecuador for an Uprising for a New Government and State - The Indigenous and Peasant Federation of Imbabura (FICI) ~ January 13, 2000
Resolutions of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador ~ January 11, 2000
Economic Crisis Forces Ecuador to Abandon Its Own Currency ~ 13 January 2000
National Ad Campaign Charges Texaco With Race In Amazon Rainforest. Indian Leaders Arrive In New York Urging Texaco to Clean Up Toxic Waste That’s Killing Their Tribesmen and Ruining Historic Lands ~ Thursday, September 23, 1999
Tensions Spark Over Ecuadorian Oil Attacks
Stratfor, Inc ~ Dec. 18
Attacks on Ecuador's main oil infrastructure heightened tensions between the government in Quito and residents in Sucumbios province, home to the country's largest oil town, Lago Agrio, and several surrounding oil fields. The attacks may be an effort to prevent the construction of a new oil pipeline or to extort concessions from Quito. But the plan could backfire, sparking a government security crackdown in the region and prompting the growth of opposition groups willing to use terrorist tactics.
Eight people died Dec. 13 when an attack on Ecuador's main oil pipeline caused an explosion in Sucumbios province, a lawless swath of jungle in northeastern Ecuador that also serves as a key transport corridor for arms and goods to guerrillas in neighboring Colombia. The bombing is one in a recent spate of incidents involving Ecuador's oil industry in and around Sucumbios province.
In early October, 10 people were kidnapped from an oil exploration camp in Sucumbios. Two of the victims later turned up in Lago Agrio. A few weeks later, Ecuador's main oil pipeline, known as SOTE, was attacked at least twice. The pipeline transports oil from Lago Agrio - the country's largest oil town - in Sucumbios province to Balao, near Esmeraldas on Ecuador's Pacific coast.
Threats to the country's main oil infrastructure have heightened tensions in Sucumbios. Quito accused terrorists of perpetrating the attack, but no known terrorist groups operate in the region with the motivation to carry out the bombings. Nonetheless, the motive for the bombings may point to probable perpetrators.
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Sacked Colonels Victims Of U.S. Pressure, Say Critics
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Jun. 7 (IPS) Junior army officers who supported a peaceful indigenous "uprising" here in January, which ended with the ouster of president Jamil Mahuad, were fired as part of a "reorientation" of the army imposed by the United States, say officers involved in the rebellion. The colonels, who spent time under arrest in various military facilities after the Jan. 21 nationwide protests, roadblocks and strikes, were released after Congress approved an amnesty on June 1.
Yesterday, they appeared before army chief Norton Narváez who, according to local press reports, reprimanded them and told them they no longer had the trust of the armed forces. After the meeting, the army high command put 18 officers involved in the uprising under the jurisdiction of the defense ministry for 90 days, after which they will be put on leave for six months prior to being discharged.
A high-level source in the military who asked not to be named told IPS that the reprisal against the junior officers was due more to U.S. pressure than a desire to punish them for their actions. "It is very clear that the high command does not fear a split within the armed forces, as could occur, as indicated by its first steps towards complying with the recommendation to restructure imposed by the United States," said the source.
The head of the U.S. Army Southern Command, Charles Wilhelm, said a few months ago -- after an agreement was signed to yield the military base and port in the Ecuadorean city of Manta to the United States -- that one of the Pentagon's aims was to "reorient" Ecuador's armed forces. "Part of that reorientation is to modify the training of the Ecuadorean military, to bring it more in line with that received by the armed forces of the Southern Cone countries or Colombia, in the framework of a repressive doctrine," said the source. To meet that goal, "it is necessary to eliminate progressive elements that could resist, and this is just the start," he added.
Within the next five days, the colonels plan to invoke military laws to appeal the decision taken by the high command. Jorge Brito, one of the officers to be discharged, said the grounds for appeal include the fact that the decision was reached without the colonels being given a chance to defend their position. He also said he would clearly demonstrate that there were no grounds for the army to mistrust the officers.
After he was released under the amnesty, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, the leader of the group of junior officers, was taken into custody for 96 hours for making statements to the press that were not authorized by his superiors. Gutiérrez criticized the decision to allow foreign troops to be posted in the Manta base, as well as Ecuador's participation in the Plan Colombia.
Colombian President Andrés Pastrana has asked the international community to help finance that plan, which is designed to strengthen the peace process and boost efforts to combat drug trafficking. The plan entails a major increase in U.S. military aid to Colombia.
Gutiérrez suggested that the decision on the Manta military base and participation in the Plan Colombia be put to Ecuadorean voters in a plebiscite. He also said that to be fair, all of the military personnel who took part in the Jan. 21 uprising should be punished, not just the colonels. "If those of us who supported the indigenous rebellion are disciplined, those who worked in the shadows towards other objectives should also be punished," he said.
The parliamentary deputies belonging to the indigenous Pachakutik Multinational Movement said they would seek to impeach Defense Minister Hugo Unda if he went ahead with the plan to sanction the officers, in violation of the amnesty. The indigenous movement and other social organizations are in the final stage of a drive to collect signatures to hold a referendum on the amnesty, the yielding of the Manta base to the United States, and the dollarization of the economy.
The constitution stipulates that 605,000 signatures -- equivalent to eight percent of voters in this country of 11.5 million -- are needed to call a referendum. One million signatures have been collected so far, but the organizers of the effort have set a target of two million. "If the politicians and military brass cannot resolve the problem," the people must do so, said Napoleón Saltos, with the Coordinator of Social Movements.
"If anyone is going to be held accountable, then everyone should be, including the generals and President Gustavo Noboa, who was not sworn in on Jan. 22 in accordance with the constitution, but in the presence of the military command," argued the activist.
Catholic nun Elsie Monge, the director of the Ecumenical Human Rights Commission (CEDHU), maintained that failure to comply with the amnesty and participation by Ecuador in the Plan Colombia would amount to violations of the constitution. "We hope the interpreters of the constitution do not invent new arguments to disregard the legal principle of an amnesty," said Monge, who argued that it is illegal to try to enforce internal military laws to castigate the colonels. "It seems that the amnesty has allowed everyone to forget the conduct of the military brass and President Noboa, who took power illegally," she said. "Those who participated in the real coup d'etat are allowed off the hook, but we are not permitted to forget the colonels' rebellion."
With respect to the Manta military base, Monge said that according to the constitution, any international agreement that establishes political or military alliances must be approved by a plenary session of Congress, which did not occur. "The agreement was signed in violation of that provision, and without the existence of any bilateral treaty discussed by the citizenry. Now we are in the middle of a war, and we will be the victims of consequences that we are not prepared to face," argued Monge. She added that she could find no explanation for the inclusion in the accord of a clause permitting the United States to use the Manta port, since the government has insisted that only the military base is to be used.
The treaty also states that the Ecuadorean government renounces any claims on the basis of "damages, losses or destruction of property resulting from activities related to the accord" or "injuries or deaths suffered by personnel in the performance of their duties."
In addition, Monge expressed concern over Wilhelm's remarks, which she said amounted to "U.S. meddling to overhaul Ecuador's armed forces." The army source consulted by IPS said the U.S. government was already facing problems getting Congress to approve the Plan Colombia, and that it did not want to run into any opposition in Ecuador.
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Environmental Health Campaign Targets Cities
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Jun. 4 (IPS) The governments of 10 cities in Ecuador and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) are launching a massive educational campaign to raise public awareness about environmental health, and to increase participation by civil society in keeping urban areas clean. The municipalities of Guayaquil, Babahoyo, Machala, Porto Viejo and Esmeraldas in Ecuador's Pacific coast region; Quito, Cuenca, Loja and Tulcán in the Andes mountains; and Tena in the country's Amazon region will kick off the project tomorrow.
The planned activities will stretch out to October, although certain key dates will be highlighted, like World Environment Day (June 5), World Population Day (July 11) and World Habitat Day (Oct. 5). Martha Rodríguez Jaramillo, one of the campaign coordinators, stressed the need for intensive efforts in urban areas "to get reporters and the public to understand that if we don't do something now, the day will come when it will be impossible to live in the cities. "Our aim is to raise awareness among Ecuadoreans that excessive consumption, a poor diet, and a lack of solidarity and concern about the environment threaten the balance of ecosystems as well as people's health," she said.
PAHO defines environmental health as a social function involving the improvement of relations among human beings, and between them and their environment. Rodríguez Jaramillo said the campaign would focus on education, communication and the mobilization of civil society, to encourage efforts in the educational system and the family unit aimed at protecting the environment.
A variety of public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community groups have joined together to support the campaign, which will target two million people in this country of 11.5 million.
Inter-institutional committees comprised of more than 100 members each have been set up in the selected cities to plan and implement activities. "The proposed objectives and activities arise from the problems, needs, possibilities and diversity of the actors involved, taking into account geographic and cultural characteristics, past experiences, time frames and available funding," said Rodríguez Jaramillo.
The campaign will involve forums and seminars, music festivals, art fairs, the painting of murals by local communities, the planting of trees and flowers, and collective clean-ups of public spaces like parks. Activities will address the need for better waste management and recycling, the importance of clean drinking water for healthy living, and how to treat water-borne diseases.
Conferences will be held on air pollution caused by vehicle exhaust fumes and possible solutions, in accordance with the specific characteristics of each city. Tree planting drives and seminars on the threat posed by deforestation will attempt to boost public awareness on the need to curb the felling of trees in the areas around Ecuador's cities.
The campaign will rely heavily on the media to spread its environmental messages, by broadcasting educational videos and radio ads, and through articles in the press. Thousands of educational pamphlets for adults and children will be distributed in the 10 participating cities throughout the campaign. "PAHO, the municipalities and other institutions participating in this campaign see the media as key for bringing the issue of environmental health home to a much broader range of people," said Rodríguez Jaramillo.
But "it is important to complement the outreach effort in the mass media with direct citizen participation in art contests, the painting of murals, or collective clean-ups in which people get involved in defending the environment," she added.
Radio programs will publicize the activities, and encourage local residents to take part.
Through an agreement with the National Union of Ecuadorean Journalists, workshops will be held to train communicators in environmental issues and terminology, and to foment media coverage of environmental problems. "Reporters have a hard time addressing environmental issues, because many of them lack the training to do so in an adequate manner, or the understanding of the importance of these issues to our lives," said the campaign coordinator.
Primary and secondary schools will also play an important role in the campaign, holding art contests, putting on plays and puppet theatres addressing ecological questions, painting murals and creating art using recycled products.
Talks on environmental health will be held in schools in poor neighborhoods, where people will be taught hygiene techniques and how to disinfect water, as well as the importance of recycling. "The support of private companies is making it possible to award prizes to those participating in activities like essay contests on conservation and adequate water use or art contests on pollution by vehicle emissions and the poor handling of waste," said Rodríguez Jaramillo.
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Amnesty To Heal Deeply Divided Armed Forces
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Jun. 1 (IPS) The Ecuadorean Congress has approved an amnesty law for civilians and military personnel who joined in the indigenous "uprising" against the government of Jamil Mahuad -- which was toppled on Jan. 21 -- in an attempt to heal divisions in the armed forces. In the days running up to yesterday's approval of the new law, political and social pressure in favor of an amnesty had been mounting, and the government of Gustavo Noboa had urged parliament to enact the draft law.
But until May 30, the bill still lacked the majority of 82 votes, or three-fourths of the single-chamber parliament, necessary for passage due to opposition from the Social Christian Party (PSC) and the populist Roldosista Ecuadorean Party (PRE). The PSC backed a partial amnesty that would not apply to the civilian and military leaders of
the uprising, while the PRE demanded that former president Abdalá Bucaram, impeached by Congress in 1997, be covered by the law. But Bucaram gave the go-ahead yesterday from Panama, where he is living in exile, for the parliamentary deputies belonging to his party to vote for the amnesty without setting any conditions.
Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez, the leader of the junior officers who backed the Jan. 21 nationwide protests, roadblocks and strikes, who is under arrest in a military barracks on the outskirts of Quito, told IPS that a partial amnesty would have been unacceptable.
"While the amnesty is important, I wasn't losing any sleep over it, because I preferred a plebiscite in which the people would decide that we should be released," he said.
According to a survey by the Cedatos polling firm, carried out prior to yesterday's passage of the new law, 61 percent of the population was in favor of an amnesty for the colonels. Gutiérrez said the solid showing in the May 21 provincial and municipal elections by leftist parties and sectors with ties to Ecuador's well-organized indigenous movement demonstrated the high level of support enjoyed by those involved in the "uprising."
"The results of the election served as a clear demonstration that the Ecuadorean people want a change in the style of governing, and that a majority of them share the yearning for justice and equity expressed in the Jan. 21 rebellion," said the colonel, in whose view the outcome of the local elections amounted to a sort of plebiscite in which voters came out in favor of an amnesty.
"At the polls, voters approved the nationwide effort to give a new direction to government policy, to change this neo-liberal system for another, one with a social orientation, which would place the human being above everything else," said Gutiérrez.
The amnesty is part of an effort to overcome the crisis shaking Ecuador's institutional order since 1996, and above all to unify the deeply divided armed forces. But "resolving the problems of poverty and corruption" is more important than an amnesty, said Gutiérrez.
"Whether or not they throw us in jail or release us, if they fail to resolve the underlying causes of the problem, tomorrow there will be a new uprising and new leaders will emerge," he argued. "If they only attack the effect of the crisis and not the causes, the instability will continue."
Referring to the process in Venezuela that began with a 1992 attempted coup led by Hugo Chávez -- at that time an unknown lieutenant-colonel heading a broad-based movement for change, who was elected president of Venezuela in late 1998 -- Gutiérrez stressed the differences between that rebellion and the one staged by the Ecuadorean colonels early this year. "There are few similarities and many differences between the two movements," said the officer.
"The main difference is that the Venezuelan process was purely a military one. We, on the other hand, joined the indigenous people and various social sectors in their legitimate demands." He also highlighted the differences between the rebellion in Ecuador and last month's attempted coup in Paraguay. "A basic difference between the armed forces of Ecuador and those of the rest of Latin America is that we have enjoyed a high level of integration with the most marginalized sectors of society and, within them, with the indigenous peoples, with whom we have worked on a number of development projects," he pointed out.
(Indigenous people account for 3.5 million of Ecuador's total population of 11.5 million.)
Ecuador's military personnel receive training that emphasizes the principle of solidarity, Gutiérrez added. "That marks the difference with other, more elitist, armed forces, who due to 'foreign alienation' were made to repress the people when they should have been by their side, which is the reason for the resentment felt by the people of those countries," he maintained.
The officer criticised the role played by armed forces in other Latin American nations, and said Ecuador's military were not there "to repress the legitimate aspirations of the people. "The armed forces justify their existence to the extent that they work alongside the people, and help resolve their problems," he said. "That is etched into the consciousness of our officers and troops, and is stipulated by the constitution.
"Problems crop up when those in power do not listen to the majority and act on behalf of the elites," he argued. "That is why uprisings and popular protests occur, like those in Ecuador and the rest of the countries of Latin America. The people have to find a way to resolve their pressing national problems."
Gutiérrez said he was opposed to the dollarization of the Ecuadorean economy, which he predicted would fail because inflation has not stopped rising since the measure was adopted. "This model will generate more unemployment, as occurred in Argentina with the 'convertibility' plan (currency board), which pushed unemployment up threefold and drove businesses into bankruptcy," said the officer. "And that country has a higher level of industrial development than ours, and the capacity to export products with added value, while its people are better-educated."
The adoption of the dollar as Ecuador's official currency was one of many measures "that favor a handful of bankers and entrepreneurs who have been able to accumulate dollars, while the rest of us will be losers," said Gutiérrez. "It is a somewhat romantic, novel measure that was adopted without any analysis, and one that does not take into account the broader interests of society," he said.
As far as Gutiérrez is concerned, the Jan. 21 "uprising" did not end in defeat. "Today, the people know that they have the right to rise up against oppressive, corrupt governments, and to overthrow those which fail to comply with the people's mandate, because that is part of democracy," he concluded.
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Left-Indigenous Alliance Triumphs at The Polls
by Kintto Lucas (IPS) ~ May 23
An alliance of leftist parties, the indigenous movement and a broad range of social groups made a solid showing in the May 21 municipal and provincial elections in Ecuador. The alliance formed by the Pachakutik Multinational Movement, the Democratic Left (ID) party, the People's Democratic Movement (MPD), the Socialist Party (PS), and the New Country Citizens (CNP) Party triumphed throughout the country's Andean mountain region, in several Amazon jungle provinces, and in the capital of Esmeraldas, a coastal province bordering Colombia.
Within the alliance, the big winners were Pachakutik -- the political arm of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) -- social organizations, and the ID, a social democratic party headed by former president Rodrigo Borja (1988-92).
In Quito, retired general Paco Moncayo became mayor-elect after taking 53 percent of the vote, a victory that leaves him well-positioned to run in the 2002 presidential elections. Moncayo, who served as head of the joint armed forces command during the 1995 border skirmishes with Peru, backed a Jan. 21 "popular uprising" -- nationwide protests, roadblocks and strikes -- headed by Ecuador's well-organized indigenous movement, which was also supported by a faction of "progressive" junior officers.
"Throughout the Sierra (mountainous region), sectors of eastern Ecuador and Esmeraldas, people clearly demonstrated their support for the sectors involved in the January uprising," said indigenous leader Miguel Lluco, the national coordinator of Pachakutik.
The growth of Pachakutik, which won 19 city governments and five provincial governorships, demonstrated the increasing strength of support for indigenous and social movements in various regions. "We have demonstrated that we not only have the power to mobilize large masses of people to stage an uprising, occupy cities or block roads," said Lluco. "We also triumphed in the polls, even though we do not have money to spend on campaign publicity like the right-wing parties do."
In the elections, voters punished the forces that have ruled the country for the past few years, and which have attempted to impose an economic model that has failed to reflect the wishes of social sectors, "and particularly our wishes for justice for all Ecuadoreans," he said.
On May 21, voters "punished those governments for their corruption, rejected economic policies that have driven down the buying power of a majority of Ecuadoreans, and expressed a flat 'no' to U.S. intervention in our territory and to Ecuador's participation in Colombia's civil war," Lluco added.
Pachakutik clearly demonstrated its capability in those city governments where it was reelected, and where it has governed through grassroots and indigenous "people's town councils" that make budget decisions and decide on actions to be taken, said Lluco. "In those towns, collective work for the good of all residents, known as 'minga' among indigenous communities, as well as grassroots participation have helped sectors neglected for centuries get on their feet," he added.
In Lluco's view, the coming together of progressive sectors represented an enormous step forward, in which participants in the alliance committed themselves to an increasingly pluralistic effort, leaving behind sectarianism and past rivalries. "The elections sent a message to the government and the powerful elites, but also to social movements and the left, that we must demonstrate our capacity to strengthen our unity," said the indigenous leader.
The May 21 electoral victory did not put an end to the demands put forth by Indians, women's groups, unions of peasant farmers and other social movements, which must be based on the mobilizing capacity of those sectors, Lluco stressed. The social movements are waiting to see what will happen with a package of economic measures to be announced by the government in the next few weeks in compliance with the prescriptions laid out in a letter of intent signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "January's uprising was the first message we sent," said Lluco. "Now we have sent a message at the polls. We hope the government of President (Rafael) Noboa will understand how things stand, and agree to dialogue and to a joint search for solutions."
Lluco said the government should not try to impose "a policy like the dollarization of the economy, which has driven up inflation and has only favored a select few."
The indigenous movement -- representing 3.5 million Indians in a total population of 11.5 million -- is increasingly consolidating its participation in politics, and the Noboa administration must begin to rethink its actions towards the poor majority and vulnerable groups, he said. After the elections, Pres. Noboa denied that the results of the municipal elections would influence government policies. However, economic measures to be implemented this month were put off to mid-June.
Several government spokespersons said the social spending foreseen by the announced measures was inadequate, and suggested that the hikes in the prices of cooking gas and fuel be staggered. According to analysts, the announcements that the upcoming economic measures could be softened were aimed at preventing even wider protests, strikes and roadblocks than were seen in January.
In Ecuador's coastal region, the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC) held onto the provincial government of Guayas and the city government of Guayaquil, Ecuador's biggest city and economic capital. The PSC shares most of the city governments in the coastal region with the populist Roldosista Party (PRE) led by former president Abdalá Bucaram, who was impeached by parliament in February 1997 and today lives in exile.
The People's Democracy (DP) party led by former presidents Oswaldo Hurtado (1980-84) and Jamil Mahuad -- removed from office after the January uprising -- lost ground, holding onto a mere handful of small cities in the coastal, mountain and jungle regions.
In Guayaquil, the mayor-elect is Jaime Nebot, who represented the PSC in the 1992 presidential elections, won by Sixto Durán Ballén, and in 1996, when Bucaram was elected.
The PSC is demanding political and economic autonomy for the province of Guayas. The party's leaders have threatened on several occasions to secede from the rest of the country if the demands of the region's business associations and bankers are not addressed. The results of the May 21 local elections indicated increasing regional polarization between political tendencies, with the coastal provinces tending towards rightist populism and the Andean region moving towards the center-left.
Analysts warn that the two conflicting visions of Ecuador's future may clash sooner or later, and trigger a "Balkanization" of the country. Political analyst Felipe Burbano said the May 21 elections highlighted, as never before, the political fault lines dividing this small Andean nation. The elections "clearly demonstrated...the internal borders that have emerged within Ecuador," he said.
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"Dollarization" Brings Inflation, Pessimism to Ecuador
by Kintto Lucas (IPS) ~ May 19
The official adoption of the dollar as Ecuador's currency on April 1 has triggered inflation and led to even broader opposition to the government's economic policy. A wide range of sectors fear runaway inflation in dollars, just four months before the projected elimination of the local currency, the sucre. Inflation stood at 10.21 percent in April, up from 5.5 percent in April 1999, according to the National Institute of Censuses and Statistics (INEC). Cumulative inflation for the past 12 months stands at 88.88 percent, compared to 56.1 percent from May 1998 to April 1999.
In a survey released today, the local polling firm Cedatos found that 69 percent of respondents were opposed to the "dollarization" of the economy, 81 percent said they were earning less than before the adoption of the dollar, and 85 percent said their buying power had shrunk.
Social movements, exporters, professionals and other sectors set up an Alternative Forum yesterday, which has already drawn up a proposal to replace the dollarization of the economy. The initiative would consist of pegging a new sucre to the dollar and reactivating the Central Bank as the entity that issues the local currency and governs monetary policy. Thus, the current exchange rate of 25,000 sucres to the dollar would be replaced by parity between the new sucre and the dollar, and a national currency would continue to circulate.
Luis Maldonado, the president of the Ecuadorean Federation of Exporters (Fedexport), told IPS that dollarization would compound the vulnerability of productive sectors. "Stability has not arrived, and inflation is soaring as never before -- but now it is in dollars," he complained.
Maldonado said the Forum's request is a serious proposal designed to replace the model which the government of Gustavo Noboa is attempting to implement. "The economic fundamentalists want us to believe that there is no longer any way out, but that is not true," he maintained.
According to the dollarization plan, the Central Bank must change all of the sucres circulating in the market for dollars from its reserves, at an exchange rate of 25,000 sucres per dollar, by September. Then, with no foreign reserves left, the Central Bank would disappear as a financial body and the currency issuer, to become one of the entities involved in restructuring the banking sector. Once that occurs, the sucre would disappear, and all business, in goods as well as services, would be conducted in dollars.
The solution suggested by the Alternative Forum is urgently needed by the country, because "the false hopes raised by dollarization have come crashing down," asserted economist Alberto Acosta. "What was announced, amidst a bargain sale of populist marvels, turned out to be a nightmare," said Acosta. "Inflation is soaring and interest rates in dollars are even higher than those of the pre-dollarization era."
INEC director Germán Rojas resigned after he was allegedly pressured not to reveal the real inflation rate. Rojas said he had been pressured by the president's brother Ricardo Noboa -- the director of the National Council of Modernization, in charge of the privatization process -- as well as by finance ministry authorities.
Acosta also said dollarization would lead to a rigid exchange rate in the future, which would deal a blow to those who produce exportable goods, while driving up imports.
The new system "will widen the social gap and exacerbate centralism, based on the accumulation of dollars in zones that export raw materials," he argued.
The Alternative Forum proposes putting a halt to the bleeding out of foreign reserves, which "they want to turn over to insolvent banks," according to a high-level Central Bank official consulted by IPS. According to the informant, who preferred to remain anonymous, if the current policy goes forward, the country will "run the risk of not having enough monetary reserves to change all of the sucres for dollars."
According to official reports, the foreign reserves shrank in the space of just one week -- from May 5 to May 12 -- from $928 to $896 million. But the Central Bank source said that at that rate, the reserves must now stand at just over $700 million. "The idea is to swiftly exhaust the reserves by shelling out the money to the banks so there will be no backtracking in the dollarization process," he maintained. "They want to put us in a straightjacket." Another of the proposals allegedly being discussed by the Superintendency of Banks to bail out the crisis-stricken financial system is for the still solvent banks to grant credit to bankrupt entities with a guarantee from the Central Bank.
That measure would make it unnecessary to use the foreign reserves, and thus avoid the risk that the reserves might not stretch far enough to purchase all of the sucres in circulation. But the banks that do not have problems are not keen on lending to those which are on the verge of bankruptcy. "In order to do that, they are demanding that the privatizations serve as a guarantee, because the guarantee of a bank that is about to disappear, like the Central Bank, makes no sense," said the anonymous source.
In the Santa Clara market, meanwhile, one of the biggest markets in Quito, people complained that they did not want the sucre to disappear. "A country where the president said on TV that he wears a beard without a mustache to imitate Abraham Lincoln, and who 'kills' the sucre to impose a currency with which we are not even familiar is shameful," said vegetable vendor Rosa Lima. She added that she would only take sucres or one dollar bills, because she was afraid of receiving counterfeit dollars, such as those detected in recent weeks.
The counterfeit bills "even get by the banks. A friend of mine was paid with two false bills when she went to cash a check. How could they not get by us?" she wondered.
President Noboa, meanwhile, hopes the agreement signed with the IMF will help guarantee the success of the dollarization plan. According to the latest letter of intent, the IMF has made a $300 million stand-by loan available, of which $120 million have already been disbursed. Meanwhile, the Ecuadorean government plans to eliminate subsidies keeping down fuel and electricity prices, restructure the banking system and privatize the power, oil and telephone companies.
The president announced today that by the end of the month, the first step -- the elimination of subsidies -- would be taken towards privatization, which will mean a 50, 100 and 230 percent rise in the cost of gas, fuel and electricity respectively. Against the current backdrop of economic instability, social unrest and widespread opposition to dollarization, the rise in fuel and utility rates could trigger an even stronger popular uprising than the one which brought down president Jamil Mahuad in January.
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Indigenous Ecuadorian Woman as Vice-President of Congress
by Kintto Lucas, (IPS) ~ March 31
Nina Pacari, the first woman vice-president of Ecuador's single-chamber parliament, is also an indigenous leader. "The fact that I was named vice-president of the Ecuadorean parliament shocked a lot of people, because we are not used to seeing an indigenous woman in the leadership of such an important public authority," said the parliamentary deputy.
Pacari, a member of the Kichwa indigenous community, was born in 1961 in Cotacachi, a town in the northern province of Imbabura. A lawyer, she headed the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) commissions on land and territory in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"For indigenous people, the earth is the mother," said the lawmaker. "And that period was very important, because we were able to work out 80 percent of the land disputes that pitted our brothers and sisters against landowners."
In 1997, Pacari was named chair of the National Planning Council on Indigenous and Black Peoples, a government body created to design policies on issues involving ethnic minorities and to plan and implement projects for the development of those communities.
In November of that same year, she was elected as a member of the National Constituent Assembly that rewrote the constitution, and in 1998 headed the Pachakutik Movement of Multinational Unity's list of parliamentary candidates.
After becoming one of the female candidates for Congress to win the greatest number of votes in the 1998 elections, she was designated vice-president of parliament.
"This event is historic for the indigenous movement, because so far not one single member of our community, and much less an indigenous woman, had occupied any seat of authority in parliament," said Pacari.
Ecuador's indigenous people have been fielding candidates in elections since the Pachakutik Movement - a broad umbrella of indigenous, environmental, and women's groups and other social movements - was created in 1996.
Pachakutik designates its candidates for each city government after holding lengthy assemblies, in which the local communities participate.
The same system is used at the provincial and national levels. "Ecuador must get used to seeing indigenous people and women, who do not lose their identities or their commitment to the sectors they represent, in decision-making positions," said Pacari.
The lawmaker sees Congress as just one more area of struggle for indigenous people and women. "The legislative setting is different from the autonomous city councils, where proposals designed by our communities can be developed and implemented more easily," she said. "But it is still important as a forum for gaining visibility for indigenous views on social, political and economic issues."
Indigenous people have won spaces on city councils and the national legislature after "500 years of organizing and fighting oppression," Pacari stressed. "Through our actions, we have demonstrated that we do not only rise up against and demand an end to injustice, but that we have come up with proposals on social and economic issues and have presented alternatives that have frequently been ignored by government," said Pacari.
Several draft laws of interest to rural areas submitted by indigenous lawmakers were shelved by the previous legislature, which met from 1996 to 1998. "We must try to reach agreements (with other parliamentary forces) that will enable us to carry out our proposals, and we must help public opinion get to know us," said Pacari.
She added that efforts must also be made to keep women and indigenous legislators from falling into the trap of "bad bureaucratic habits" in parliament. "Although legislators cannot actively participate in the indigenous organization, they must not lose their links to and coordination with it. For that reason, they make constant visits to indigenous communities, and we have different mechanisms for keeping those connections alive,"
she said.
Pacari's team of advisers is divided into three sections: the first focuses on aspects of social organizing; the second on political and structural questions; and the third on mainly technical questions. The section focusing on political-organizational questions coordinates support for proposals put forth by indigenous organizations.
"A team works on the proposals in workshops and meetings and then submits them to Congress," she explained. "The same thing occurs with issues involving women. As legislators, we become part of a process, and gather proposals that arise from the social movements." Pacari said that while unity among indigenous peoples is strengthened by CONAIE, she underlined that "Indian peoples are not all one and the same thing.
"We are 11 nationalities with different visions, processes and strategies, which arise from different geographic settings, among other aspects. For example, you can't ask indigenous communities in the Amazon jungle to use the same forms of struggle as those living in mountainous regions."
But there is consensus that the unique characteristics of each ethnic community must be taken into account. "We must keep in mind that diversity of viewpoints in the movement does not mean divisions, but pluralism," said the lawmaker.
In the past eight years, Ecuador's indigenous people, who total 3.5 million in a total population of 11.5 million, have made significant strides towards getting the country's multinational nature recognized. The new constitution recognizes the collective rights of indigenous peoples and the multiethnic and multicultural nature of the country.
The right to practice indigenous medicine was also recognized, and the development of that area of knowledge is to be supported by the State, according to a constitutional clause. "Until they gained recognition by the constitution, our Yachags or shamans were persecuted and sent to jail. But that is no longer true," said Pacari. "But laws are necessary, due to the need for controls against abuses by non-indigenous people who claim to practice our medicine."
International Labor Organization (ILO) convention 169, which recognizes the rights of indigenous peoples, was also approved by parliament. Convention 169 was approved by the previous legislature thanks largely to the unflagging efforts of indigenous Deputy Miguel Lluco. Ratification of the convention signified a major stride forward for indigenous peoples, by providing a legal basis for their demands.
"Now it has been made clear that judges who try indigenous suspects must also look at indigenous norms, customs, and culture as extenuating circumstances when it comes to handing down sentences," said Pacari. "It has also been recognized that our peoples, through our authorities, can exercise authority in their territory, settle conflicts, and administer justice based on our traditions. The simultaneous exercise of indigenous law is being recognized." But she also stressed the need to harmonize laws and clearly establish competence, in order to prevent contradictions between indigenous traditions and national laws.
The approval of the ILO convention confirmed the official use of indigenous languages.
Indigenous people carrying out paperwork in public offices have the right to be attended in their own language, if they do not speak Spanish. Pacari said she was confident that participation by women and indigenous peoples in public office would continue to grow. "A state that admits such participation will gradually become multinational, and will be much more equitable," she maintained.
END
POWER IS NOT INDIGENOUS GOAL, SAYS LEADER
By By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Feb. 2 (IPS) -- The objective of Ecuador's indigenous peoples is not power, but to create social change "from within," said Antonio Vargas, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), a leading force in one of Latin America's best-organized native movements.
"There are many things more important than power: social change from within and building lives that are more colorful, more lively, and awareness that there is a serious problem here, and that change is necessary," Vargas said in an interview with IPS.
According to Vargas, the indigenous peoples were close to power during their Jan. 21 insurrection, but they were not obstinate about winning it.
"If we had been stubborn about power, there would have been confrontations and death. But since we weren't, we offered the possibility of another path. The important thing is that we caused a shake-up in the political class, and it was made clear that there is a rebellious population here that will make change without violence," he maintained.
The CONAIE directorate, accompanied by tens of thousands of indigenous people from throughout the country who had gathered in Quito, led the insurrection alongside military officials who stepped outside the chain of command.
The uprising occurred, in part, to protest Pres. Jamil Mahuad's proposal to replace the Ecuadoran sucre with the U.S. dollar as the nation's currency.
But the armed forces launched a coup d'etat, overthrowing Mahuad and replacing him with his vice president, Gustavo Noboa, in order to prevent the insurgents' "National Salvation Junta," installed in the parliament, from taking over the entire government.
The uprising has "shown Ecuador and the world that there are people living marginalized from government decisions," said the indigenous leader.
"We achieved our objective of bringing down the three government branches, even if it was just for a few hours. But above all we were able to put the branches' lack of prestige in the center of debate. Many said that this was a fantasy, suicide, a crazy idea of the leaders, but we proved them wrong," Vargas said.
He criticised the "apartheid" the indigenous peoples suffered when military personnel forced anyone wearing a poncho to get off buses destined for Quito, in an attempt to prevent them from amassing in the capital for the protest.
"They arrived anyway, on foot. And it created great unity for the different actions we have underway," he stated.
The leader, who for the first time since Jan. 21 agreed to comment on the insurrection, said that it was not a defeat because "it served to strengthen the indigenous movement and deepen the unity among Ecuadorans who want change."
"Since July 1999, CONAIE has become the unifying axis between social sectors and the indigenous world. Perhaps one mistake was not being able to put a more social emphasis in our political plan, but it is true the media hit us hard," he commented.
According to Vargas, the indigenous people never felt they were being used, because their actions were the result of their own objectives.
"We never let ourselves be used. Sometimes discrepancies arise with some sectors that want to move ahead in a hurry, and this hurry ends up as little marches and confrontations with the police, without moving anything forward because the government has them (stopped)," Vargas said.
Some television stations tried to provoke dissent among the indigenous groups by "giving space to certain personalities who did not represent anyone, in order to highlight differences and open wounds, but they were unsuccessful," said the leader.
"They were also anxious to release a falsified document, in which the alleged signature of (indigenous leader) Salvador Quishpe appeared, that said 'kill the mestizos,' and later, when it was disproved, they did not give the issue the same space," he argued.
Antonio Vargas is a member of the Kiwcha indigenous group, and became CONAIE president in 1996 at a time when the movement was suffering an acute division between groups from the Amazon and those from the Sierra. The tensions were fomented by then-president Abdala Bucaram, whom parliament removed from office in February 1997.
Vargas was re-elected as CONAIE president this year, and was a key player in the alliance between the indigenous movement and junior officers from the armed forces during the insurrection.
He stressed that the officers and the troops supporting them represent the beginning of a change in attitude in the military ranks.
"From this experience, a new military is born, which sees change is possible. It is the hope that the generals do not have, because they are more involved in corruption and defending their interests," asserted Vargas. "There is a seed that one day will germinate throughout the armed forces."
The indigenous leader believes it may have been a mistake to launch a take-over of the Government Palace and leave behind the legislative Congress the rebels had already occupied. From a position of power, "perhaps" they could have negotiated some important points with the new government.
"There was great pressure from people who wanted to take over the presidency because it was another symbol of corruption. Perhaps it was a mistake, and if we had stayed in Congress the results would have been different. In any case, the events have already occurred," he said.
The leader also accused the military's upper echelons of having masterminded a coup attempt that they later aborted thanks to the actions of the indigenous groups and junior officers.
"When we arrived at the Government Palace, the generals had prepared a proclamation and a communique in which they announced they were taking over all government branches and that we had not accepted it. That's why they had to sit down and talk with us."
Vargas acknowledged another mistake of the uprising, which was allowing Gen. Carlos Mendoza, then Chief of the Joint Command, to take part in the National Salvation Junta, which also included Vargas and former Supreme Court president Carlos Solorzano.
"Maybe it was a mistake to accept Mendoza, but if we hadn't a great deal of blood would have been spilled, and neither the colonels nor the indigenous leaders were willing to take that risk," he explained.
The Noboa government, which CONAIE has granted a six-month truce, could make changes if it has the will to do so. "If it doesn't, it will fall in the same mess as Mahuad and will be digging its own grave," Vargas maintained.
"If (Noboa) thinks what we want are some little agreements for some communities, he is mistaken and has not understood anything of what happened, because what we want goes much deeper. We are not asking for handouts."
"Many times the authorities are where they are because they are educated, but in practical terms they are ignorant because they don't understand the situation of the people," stated Vargas, "Therefore, they fail."
The leader expressed hope that there will be changes in Ecuador's future.
"Change will arrive without violence, peacefully, directed at the communities. What occurred Jan. 21 was a rehearsal. It made people feel in their hearts that it is possible, that they must not remain quiet because it only serves to help the same politicians as always."
Vargas rejects violence because he believes it will not get the indigenous movement anywhere, and argues that "mobilizing great masses using organization is the best road for seeking change."
"If (change) doesn't come it may unleash violence, but we must manage ourselves with caution so that doesn't happen. In any case, one must realize that in the future there could be a huge social explosion, even a civil war, because the people may go out and loot and plunder if they don't have anything to eat."
Along with the CONAIE announcement that it would give the new government a six-month truce, the organization proposed that Pres. Noboa convoke a plebiscite on four questions, "in order to reaffirm democracy."
One of the questions for the Ecuadoran people is whether they agree with the ouster of former president Jamil Mahuad and the removal of legislators and Supreme Court ministers.
Another issue is whether they want "Ecuador to maintain its monetary sovereignty and the sucre to remain the official currency, and reject the 'dollarization' plan."
The plebiscite would also seek the public's opinion on whether the state should "maintain control and ownership of petroleum, electricity, telecommunications and social security."
Vargas argues, "If they (government officials) love democracy so much and fill their mouths with it, they should return sovereignty to the people in a plebiscite and prove they are truly democrats."
If Noboa rejects calling a national vote on these issues, CONAIE and the social movements would have to gather approximately 605,000 signatures in order to legally require a plebiscite -- which may be the indigenous movement's next major challenge.
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TENSIONS STAY HIGH WITH DEMANDS UNMET
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Jan. 26 (IPS) -- Only dialogue between the government and indigenous and citizens' groups will prevent political tensions in Ecuador from boiling over, as they did last week in a broad-based uprising, analysts here say.
The crisis that prompted the insurrection led by indigenous peoples, social movements and junior military officers continues to be a latent threat that could unleash renewed conflict, they add.
An editorial in yesterday's edition of El Comercio, a Quito daily, sums up the situation as it underscores the danger of further social upheaval and its unpredictable consequences if the new government pursues the "dollarization" project proposed by overthrown president Jamil Mahuad and does not listen to the indigenous movement.
"Dollarization did not just align the elites. It became a symbol to the indigenous and social movements of a system they are not going to allow come to pass," says the editorial.
Replacing Ecuador's currency, the sucre, with the dollar is now the dividing line between millions of citizens and "a good part of the power elites."
It is a painful process, "but neither the elites who support dollarization nor the government have said how -- or when -- they plan to make a social pact with the marginalized population," the editorial said.
If action is not taken in that direction, "the social fracture could worsen and serve as a medium for irrational and extremist actions."
Tensions are also aggravated by attempts to punish the rebel leaders who took over the congressional and presidential buildings on Jan. 21, and established a "National Salvation" Junta comprised of indigenous leader Antonio Vargas, army colonel Lucio Gutierrez and judge Carlos Solorzano.
The arrests of the insurgent junior military officers, and the government's demands for the trials of Vargas, Solorzano, and legislators Paco Moncayo and Rene Yandn, has only fanned the flames.
According to authorities, the military insubordination and social insurrection must be firmly punished in order to heal the nation's democracy.
The archbishop of Cuenca, Alberto Luna Tobar, asserts that only forgiveness can heal these wounds, "which are not new, but which have deepened as a result of the economic crisis and could worsen if solutions are not found through dialogue."
The new defence minister, retired admiral Hugo Unda, acknowledged that the nation's armed forces were polarized by last weekend's insurrection.
"Sadly, the events have weakened the military institution," said Unda, adding that the army is in "a very delicate situation," which must be overcome.
The minister affirmed that the rebel officers will by tried in military court and will have their right to legal defence, as well as guarantees of personal safety.
Such statements have led to division and uneasiness among military ranks as hundreds of officers face trial, many of whom are highly respected by their troops and have stood out as exceptional leaders within the armed forces.
Paco Moncayo, former chief of the armed forces Joint Command and former social-democratic legislator, stated today that a witch-hunt had begun against the insurgent officers, which "demonstrates the fear among the power elite."
"This is the revenge of a mentally ill right-wing that seeks to escape the shock of having to see the Ecuadoran people with the ability to take power," Moncayo told IPS.
The general, who was chief of operations during Ecuador's armed conflict with Peru in 1995, proposed that the social and indigenous movements launch a campaign to gather signatures for "annulling the mandate of the legislators."
Antonio Vargas, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) exhorted the president of the Supreme Court, Galo Pico, to tell him when he should appear at the prison, because he is not thinking of running away.
"Here I am, I'm not going to run, because I am not a banker or a businessman, nor anyone who robbed the money of the people and fled to the United States," Vargas told IPS.
The authorities "must understand that no walls will stop our struggle to build a multi-ethnic Ecuador, a nation that is just, egalitarian and profoundly participatory," he affirmed.
Gustavo Noboa, who was inaugurated today as the nation's new president, recognized that the crisis affecting a majority of the Ecuadoran people gave rise to widespread dissatisfaction, which was "accentuated among indigenous people...and deserves to be dealt with immediately."
Noboa assumed the presidency on Jan. 22 at the Joint Command's headquarters following a coup d'etat by the commanders, who denounced the Jamil Mahuad government and the people's junta elected by the indigenous groups and the rebel colonels.
The new president called for "unity, reconciliation and solidarity among all Ecuadorans."
Vargas affirmed that CONAIE is open to dialogue and awaits a call from the new government.
However, he made it clear that "if they want a political truce, it must be expressed through acts of justice and egalitarian economic and social policies, without looking for the guilty among our patriot leaders and military officers."
"As a way to consolidate democracy," CONAIE suggested to the new government that it call for a referendum May 21, the same date as municipal elections, to ask the Ecuadoran people if they want Noboa to continue as president and if they agree with the dollarization and privatization processes.
END
INDIANS SAY MILITARY BETRAYED THEM
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Jan. 24 (IPS) -- Ecuador's largest indigenous organization, whose leaders have been in hiding since their rebellion ended on Jan. 21, rejected an announcement by the new government that it plans to adopt the U.S. dollar as the national currency and implement strict economic measures.
The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Antonio Vargas, told IPS that the indigenous uprising was not a failure because it confirmed the group's organizational force and power to mobilize a large segment of the population.
Thousands of indigenous people, backed by peasants and trade unionists, the church and social organizations, participated in several days of protest that culminated on Jan. 21 with the takeover of Congress and the Supreme Court, and the installation of the "National Salvation" Junta.
"We have proven we are a force. We learned several things from this insurrection, so we will not make the same mistake of believing in traitors like the military commanders," he asserted.
Indigenous peoples make up 3.5 million of Ecuador's total population of 11.6 million.
Vargas said the indigenous movement and other social groups felt both outraged and betrayed by the events that occured subsequent to the Jan. 21 insurrection they led with more than 100 army officers.
"We do not accept that they have put (Gustavo) Noboa in the presidency. He was Mahuad's vice president and took over without Mahuad's resignation," he emphasized.
Vargas expressed dismay that Noboa would be proceeding with the "dollarization" of Ecuador, an idea originally proposed by former president Mahuad. Noboa has also announced strict economic adjustment measures, and supports the Bank superintendent who promoted adopting the dollar, which led to speculation by government-run banks.
Vargas cited charges by Democratic Left legislator Carlos Gonzalez, who said that the banks taken over by the State speculated with hundreds of millions of dollars during the last week of December and the first week of January, and the bank superintendent did nothing.
"It led to the disproportionate rise of the dollar, and this increase was the excuse to 'dollarize' the country, a proposal we reject because it will only bring more hunger to the poor," he stated.
The indigenous leader also said the unity and patience of the indigenous movement proved that a peaceful rebellion can create change, though he asserted that he will not trust military commanders again.
"One cannot trust those who supported the existing corruption instead of joining the fight for change," stated Vargas.
He made public demands for the safety of fellow junta member, Col. Lucio Gutierrez, arrested and in solitary confinement since Jan. 22, and for the safety of the other officers who took part in the insurrection.
"We ask the human rights defense organizations at the national and international levels to monitor what occurs in this country," Vargas stated.
Ecuador's new president, Gustavo Noboa, a member of the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei, affirmed after taking the presidential seat that he understands the indigenous demands but that "they were mistaken in their tactics for achieving their objectives as a result of the desperation in which they live."
Noboa also stated that the rebel colonels must be tried in court, serving as an example. "We must impose discipline in the country, not with a hard hand, but with firmness," he said.
New Interior Minister Francisco Huerta, who just days earlier had expressed support for the indigenous movement and the "People's Parliament of Ecuador," and rejected the dollarization proposal, abruptly changed his position and now backs the economic measure.
Huerta also said it is necessary to initiate dialogue with the indigenous movement, but was derogatory in his comments, saying: "We are not going to cure the republic with witchcraft or with hostile demonstrations."
"The power of the indigenous people cannot be found in shamanism or in alcohol," he warned.
In a Cotopaxi indigenous community, two hours from Quito by car, residents gathered to talk about the uprising and told IPS they were disappointed with the insurrection's outcome.
Mauricio Chiliquinga said he was sad because after they had achieved a popular government made up of Col. Gutierrez, indigenous leader Vargas and the former Supreme Court president Carlos Solorzano, "they ended up with a government that benefits the same politicians and powerful people as always."
Mariano Guznai commented that the Noboa government would be "more of the same" and that it does not inspire confidence.
"Noboa or Mahuad, it's the same thing. Everyone has to leave because nobody cares about our fate or the fate of the poor in this country. If they cared they would have already forgotten (the dollarization) proposed by the rich," he affirmed.
"Our victory ended up a failure, but nothing scares us anymore and if we once fought the landowners that exploited us to return our land, now we continue fighting the politicians and bankers who steal from us," argued Guznai.
Political analyst Paco Velasco, director of La Luna Radio in Quito, expressed his concern about trying the rebel colonels in court, saying it would further deepen the open wound created during the last several days.
"The indigenous and military rebels carried out an insurrection because they were desperate with so much corruption and poverty. They may have been mistaken with the road they chose but it was a just and idealistic fight that, according to polls, a large part of the population supported," Velasco stated.
He says a general amnesty is necessary to close the wounds and move forward, permitting the rebel officers to return to the army.
"Now many legislators, political and business leaders fill their mouths with words about the defense of democracy when they have done little or nothing to defend it, and call those who showed complete unselfishness in defending Ecuador 'coup leaders'," he argued.
According to the radio journalist, if they are going to try all those who have attempted coups in Ecuador, they would have to try Mahuad, who is accused of having prepared a "Fujimorazo" (a self-coup, dissolving Congress, as Peru's President Alberto Fujimori did in 1992).
Velasco expressed doubt about the legality of the new government, designated by a military commander and ratified by Congress after they declared that president Jamil Mahuad had abandoned the presidential seat.
Mahuad, however, never officially resigned and maintains he was overthrown.
Jorge Loor, leader of the National Peasant Council and an active participant in the protests of the last several days, told IPS that for the indigenous and peasant movement in Ecuador there are two governments.
"One with legitimacy and representation that is the expression of Ecuador's great majority, which was manifest in the 'National Salvation' Junta, made up of Lucio Gutierrez, Antonio Vargas and Carlos Solorzano," he said.
The other government, according to Loor, "declares itself legal and is led by Gustavo Noboa, supported by the right-wing parties, bankers and big business."
END
Ecuador's New President Enters Presidential Palace ~ QUITO, Jan 23 (AFP)
Ecuador's new president Gustavo Noboa entered the presidential palace Sunday following 48 hours of upheaval that saw the ouster of his predecessor in a bloodless military coup.
"Peace, progress and justice," were the 61-year-old university professor's only words to reporters as he entered Carondelet Palace in Quito's historic center.
In an emergency session Saturday the Ecuadoran legislature approved Noboa -- vice president to Jamil Mahuad, ousted in a bloodless military coup overnight Friday to Saturday -- as the country's new president.
The unicameral congress ruled that Mahuad had abandoned office, and that Noboa should replace him.
In a speech after the vote Noboa said he would maintain a state of emergency throughout the country and keep Mahuad's controversial economic program that replaces the local currency with the US dollar.
Noboa took control of Ecuador's government early Saturday, after a three-man military junta that deposed Mahuad handed power over to him. He will remain in office until January 2003, completing Mahuad's term.
On a picture-perfect Sunday there was no sign in Quito of the 10,000 Indians who had occupied the city for several days.
On Friday, the Indians -- members of an umbrella organization known as the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) -- stormed the congress building and the presidential palace itself, bringing the Mahuad presidency to its knees.
Protestors demanded Mahuad's resignation because of deteriorating economic conditions that included a dramatic fall in the value of the national currency, the sucre.
The CONAIE lifted the protest on Saturday, and by Sunday only leftover trash and smoldering ashes from their camp fires in the city parks remained.
Noboa arrived at the palace Sunday with his wife Maria Baquerizo and a small group of people, including several close friends.
The new president is scheduled to present a new cabinet to the public, then fly to his hometown of Guayaquil, the country's largest city, to cast his vote in a previously scheduled referendum on increased provincial autonomy.
A political independent, Noboa has a distinguished academic career that includes ten years as head of the private Catholic University of Guayaquil. He was also briefly the governor of Guayas province.
Noboa made a national name for himself when he took charge of efforts to rebuild coastal Ecuador following the devastating flooding caused by the El Nino phenomenon in 1998 and 1999.
The heavy rains and flooding swept away scores of bridges and damaged hundreds of kilometers (miles) of highways essential to the nation's exports.
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Ecuadoran Congress Accepts Noboa as New President ~ QUITO, Jan 22 (AFP)
In an emergency session on Saturday, the Ecuadoran Congress approved Gustavo Noboa as the country's new president, following a military coup that removed elected president Jamil Mahuad from office.
With cries of "long live democracy!" the congress approved Noboa, who was Mahuad's vice president, as the country's new leader by 87 votes in favor, two against, and one abstention.
Noboa took control of Ecuador's government early Saturday, after a three-man military junta that deposed Mahuad handed power over to him.
Noboa, 61, has vowed to continue efforts to modernize the country and fight corruption. He also promised to keep Mahuad's controversial economic program that replaces the local currency with the US dollar.
The unicameral congress -- meeting in the southern coastal city of Guayaquil, the country's largest city -- ruled that Mahuad had abandoned office, and that Noboa should replace him.
In a surprise televised speech from Quito just before congress met, Mahuad -- who had gone missing for hours -- said he had not resigned from the presidency, but recognized that he had been replaced by Noboa.
"The legitimate president was ousted by a military coup," Mahuad said in his brief speech, describing the event as a "charade."
Mahuad nevertheless urged Ecuadorans to unite behind Noboa, asking the nation "to give Gustavo Noboa the support that was not given to me."
The confusing string of events that led to a new government happened in a matter of hours: unrest that had been simmering for days peaked Friday when thousands of Indians took over the congress building and brought the capital to a standstill.
The Indians, members of a broad umbrella organization known as CONAI, were rapidly gaining support for a broader national strike against Mahuad.
A three-man junta was formed, led by former defense minister Army Colonel Carlos Mendoza, CONAI indigenous leader Antonio Vargas and former Supreme Court judge Carlos Solorzano y Vargas then overthrew Mahuad.
At first it was unclear if they would be resisted by forces loyal to Mahuad, a former mayor of Quito, or military forces bent on maintaining the constitutional order.
The unpopular Mahuad first challenged the mutineers to call their movement a coup and refused to resign. But around nightfall the army informed Mahuad that he no longer had their support, just as thousands of protesters marched on the presidential palace.
Mahuad vanished for hours -- in his speech he said that he was taken to the airport and offered an airplane to leave the country, but later slipped past a tightening military noose and took refuge at the Chilean embassy. Early Sunday Mahuad took to the airwaves to urge Ecuadorans to support the new president.
Early Saturday -- in part responding to an international outcry against any military coup -- the triumvirate invoked articles of the constitution on presidential succession and control of the government over to vice-president Noboa. Noboa accepted office around 7:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) Saturday.
Protestors demanded Mahuad's resignation because of deteriorating economic conditions -- including a dramatic fall in the value of the national currency, the sucre.
Indigenous people, numbering about 3.5 million in Ecuador's population of 13.5 million, feared that the dollarization plan would worsen their already dire economic plight.
Mahuad was elected 18 months ago on an ambitious program to modernize the economy and introduce market-oriented reforms.
But in recent months, Ecuador's recession-plagued economy has shrunk by seven percent, while inflation soared to 40.7 percent. During 1999, the sucre lost about half its value against the dollar.
END
By The Associated Press ~ Saturday, January 22, 9:49 AM ET
Key facts about Ecuador, where a military-led junta took power after President Jamil Mahuad fled his palace. The military chief then said the junta was dissolved and that the vice president would take power.
LAND: Located at the equator and wedged between Colombia and Peru on the northwest shoulder of South America. Roughly the size of Colorado.
PEOPLE: Most of the 12 million inhabitants are of mixed native Indian and Spanish heritage. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador has gained considerable political power over the past decade. In 1990, in what the Indians called an ``indigenous uprising,'' hundreds of thousands of Indians from remote hamlets in the Andean highlands and the Amazon jungle barricaded highways for days to demand government services.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Spanish, although Quichua is the first language of most of the nation's 4 million Indians.
RELIGION: Mainly Roman Catholic.
HISTORY: Mahuad assumed office in August 1998, taking over from Fabian Alarcon. He is Ecuador's fifth president since 1996 and the ninth since democratic elections were re-established. The last military coup in Ecuador occurred in 1972, and military rule followed until 1979.
POLITICS: Mahuad's government has been mired in savage political infighting since he took office. Demonstrations by students, transportation workers and rural Indian groups to protest Mahuad's economic policies often have turned violent.
ECONOMY: Ecuador has been struggling with its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, brought on by $2.6 billion in damage caused by El Nino-generated flooding in 1997-1998 and the collapse in the price of oil, Ecuador's main export, in 1998. Inflation last year topped 60 percent, the highest in Latin America, and the economy shrank 7.5 percent. Only one in three people in the workforce has a full-time job. Seven million Ecuadoreans live in poverty.
To learn more about the people of Ecuador, please visit this People of Ecuador.
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20,000 Indigenious People in Quito. The capital is militarised. Heavy confrontations feared.
By Marlon Carrion C. for the Agencia Informativa Púlsar ~ January 20, 2000
QUITO, Ecuador. The apparent calm up to now in the Ecuadorian city ended. At this stage people fear confrontations between the nearly 20,000 indigenas that converged into the city and the heavy deployed military force around the governmental palace.
The president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), Antonio Vargas, said in a press conference that the struggle will go on, that the indegena and popular uprising will continue until the ex-government of Jamil Mahuad comes out of the Palacio de Carondelet and resigns to power.
Vargas said that the indigenas y the urban sectors will not go on their knees in front of robbers and corrupt peoples detaining the economic and political power. He therefore called upon one single front because only the people can save the people. He also urged the police and the military to point their guns towards those who plunder the country and not against the people and the indigenas, their brothers and sisters.
While Vargas was talking to the press and in front of thousands of indigenas gathered at the Agoras of the Casa de la Cultura, Quito, a police helicopter threw propaganda leaflets in both Spanish and Quechua.
The leaflets accused the indigenas leaders of being corrupt and wanting to destroy the country. It called the indigenas to go peacefully back to their lands. This caused such anger and indignation among the demonstrators that the police in the sector had to flee.
Vargas confirmed the paralysation of the country in the rural sectors. He thanked the people from Quito for the support they had provided so far. He condemned the violence used by the military who confronted the farmers on the Ecuadorian coast. In some places the farmers had one to one confrontations with the military. The number of arrests is considered to be more than 300 so far.
Antonio Vargas denounced a further attempt of the police to arrest them, which was not possible due to the massive number of indigenas. He called upon the workers of the transport sector not to let them fool by the promises of the government like it had been the case for the indigenas in July 99 when they had converged massively into Quito during another uprising.
The Peoples Parliament rejected any dialogue with the government, saying they were tired of promises and lies. The Peoples Parliament defended the Constitutional paragraph attributing the sovereignty to the people and not to the politicians.
Vargas said that the uprising will not use arms. Its strategy is to block the roads and with the support of the oil industry workers, there will be fuel shortage in the whole country. The idea is to generate chaos and get the people to let the people express their discontent with the illegitimate government of Mahuad.
This discontentment has been visible in the rest of the cities in the country. For instance, on Wednesday morning in Cuenca, about 50.000 inhabitants took the streets and marched to the governmental building. Although the police and the military tried to repress the people, the push by the demonstrators was superior. Everyone is demanding Mahuad and his government to resign.
In Loja, capital of the province with the same name, the demonstrations and protests haven’t stopped. Around noon, the military invaded university buildings. Hundreds of students were detained and several were seriously beaten up.
At the moment we send this message, Pulsar was informed of an enormous military and police operation in the City of Quito that is trying to prevent the indegenas march from reaching the centre of the City, which is were the presidential house is. It is considered that the number of military is way larger than it was when expresident Abdala Bucaram was forced by the people to leave the country.
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Press Bulletin of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, CONAIE
Rise of the Towns Grows
Social organizations and of the indigenous nationalities began to mobilize themselves, as much in the cities as in the different channels from the country in spite of the repression, threats and lies of the government.
Companions whom they loved to mobilize itself to different parts tell that the carriers said to them " have said to Us that any thing, any animal we can take, less Indian. "
There are threats with you order of halting and calumnies mounted by civil employees and false sold leaders, that they try to confuse with unfounded accusations, because that does not matter to them, but to demobilize and to create doubts and to divide to us to us.
It is important that they know that Guillermo Touma leader the FENACLE, when rejecting the declarations of Manuel Naula, denunciation that without no authorization and agreement have taken their name to disqualify to the fight of the CONAIE and the social movements of the country.
Also this class of people, becoming to happen through leaders of CONAIE and ECUARUNARI is calling to different mass media to call to suspend the actions, reason why we must be well kind not to let to us surprise. Any doubt, is preferable to communicate directly with the provincial, regional leaders of the CONAIE.
Our fight is by all and for all the Ecuadorian poor men, nonindigenous natives and. All we advanced to the encounter of the Towns in Quito, distracting the attention of the force publishes.
While the right, the government, the social christian ones, the roldosistas, the bankers are united to berth the goods of the depositors and the Ecuadorians, We are going to demonstrate our unit, because we are true, we are a single fist, a single heart, a single thought and a single voice
Departamento de Comunicación, CONAIE
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Dollars and Desperation, Reckonings, by Paul Krugman ~ January 19, 2000
Ecuador is a small, faraway country of which most Americans probably know nothing. (Hint: it's on the equator.) Last week, amid the hoopla of the AOL-Time Warner deal, one suspects that few noticed the surprise announcement by President Jamil Mahuad that he would abolish his nation's currency and replace it with the U.S. dollar. But there is an important story behind that story, which is not so much about Ecuador as about the great financial crisis that swept Asia in 1997-98, and the continuing debate over what to do when the next crisis strikes.
Everyone agrees that the Asian crisis was, in the first instance, a case of financial panic: basically, after enthusiastically putting hundreds of billions of dollars into Asia in the years before 1997, investors suddenly lost their nerve and began pulling out all at once, with catastrophic consequences. But there is a sharp difference of views over what could have prevented or at least mitigated that crisis.
Broadly speaking, one view holds that in times of panic the normal rules of business should be suspended -- that investors should be persuaded, or if necessary forced, to keep their money in place while the authorities get things under control. In the oddly euphemistic jargon of international finance, this is known as "burden-sharing," or even more obscurely as "private sector involvement."
The other view holds that the way to deal with panic is to try to reassure investors that their money is absolutely secure -- and that one way to do that is to offer an ironclad guarantee that their holdings of Korean won, or Indonesian rupiah, or Ecuadorian sucres, will not lose their value in terms of dollars. This can be done by establishing a "currency board," which holds dollar reserves large enough to back the entire national money supply; it can be done even more decisively by "dollarizing" -- that is, abandoning the national currency and using dollars instead.
It is an unresolved debate, because neither approach was given much of a trial. Hong Kong has a currency board, but was never itself the object of investor panic -- it just happened to be living in a bad neighborhood. Malaysia imposed controls on investors, but only after the worst of the panic was past.
And that's where Ecuador comes in. The small Latin nation has the dubious distinction of having plunged into crisis just as Asia climbed out; and as a result it has become a sort of guinea pig for economic nostrums. It is by no means an ideal choice as a clinical model. After all, at the beginning of 1997 Asian economies looked robustly healthy, with their government budgets balanced or in surplus; their crisis came, as it were, out of a clear blue sky.
Ecuador, by contrast, has always been more or less a mess; its plunging currency is only the outward sign of an inward disgrace, of a bankrupt banking system that cannot be rescued by an equally bankrupt government. But nonetheless, Ecuador is the test case we have, and its experience is likely to have a disproportionate effect on how the next big crisis is handled.
Indeed, the tiny nation has already done much to discredit the notion of "private sector involvement." Last September Ecuador decided, with more or less explicit encouragement from the International Monetary Fund, to temporarily suspend payment of some of its foreign debt. The experiment was a failure: while some investors found their money locked up, others continued to flee Ecuador, and the economy's tailspin continued.
Now its government has swung to the other extreme, and is trying to restore confidence in the currency by abolishing it. Observers say that this could work if it is accompanied by extensive domestic reform -- which is a bit like the old line that you can kill someone with witchcraft, if you also give him plenty of arsenic. But if it works, it will do much to make dollarization likely elsewhere (Argentina, for example); if it fails, as is much more likely, it will give dollarization a bad name.
And the outcome matters. Sometime -- almost surely sometime this decade -- there will be another great financial crisis like the ones that struck Mexico in 1994 or Asia in 1997. What will we do about it? Believe it or not, Ecuador may determine the answer.
Published Thursday, January 20, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News
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Economists Have Their Eyes On Ecuador, by Paul Krugman ~ January 20, 2000
LAST week, amid the hoopla of the AOL-Time Warner deal, one suspects that few noticed the surprise announcement by Ecuador's President Jamil Mahuad that he would abolish his nation's currency and replace it with the U.S. dollar. But there is an important story behind that story, which is not so much about Ecuador as about the financial crisis that swept Asia in 1997-98, and the continuing debate over what to do when the next crisis strikes.
Everyone agrees that the Asian crisis was, in the first instance, a case of financial panic: after pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into Asia in the years before 1997, investors suddenly lost their nerve and began pulling out all at once, with catastrophic consequences. But there is a sharp difference of views over what could have prevented or at least mitigated that crisis.
One view holds that in times of panic, the normal rules of business should be suspended -- that investors should be persuaded, or if necessary forced, to keep their money in place while authorities get things under control.
The other view holds that nations should try to reassure investors that their money is absolutely secure -- and that one way to do that is to offer a guarantee that their holdings will not lose their value in terms of dollars. This can be done by establishing a ``currency board,'' which holds dollar reserves large enough to back the entire national money supply; it can be done more decisively by ``dollarizing'' -- that is, abandoning the national currency and using dollars instead.
The debate is unresolved. Hong Kong has a currency board, but was never the object of panic. Malaysia imposed investor controls, but only after the worst of the panic was past.
And that's where Ecuador comes in. The small Latin American nation has the dubious distinction of having plunged into crisis just as Asia climbed out; and as a result it has become a sort of guinea pig for economic nostrums. It is by no means an ideal choice as a clinical model. Ecuador, in contrast to Asia, has always been a mess; its plunging currency is the outward sign of a bankrupt banking system that cannot be rescued by an equally bankrupt government. Nonetheless, Ecuador is the test case we have, and its experience is likely to have a disproportionate effect on how the next big crisis is handled.
Indeed, the tiny nation has already done much to discredit the notion of ``private sector involvement.'' Last September, Ecuador decided, with explicit encouragement from the International Monetary Fund, to temporarily suspend payment of some of its foreign debt. The experiment was a failure: while some investors found their money locked up, others continued to flee Ecuador, and the economy's tailspin continued.
Now its government has swung to the other extreme, and is trying to restore confidence in the currency by abolishing it. Observers say this could work if it is accompanied by domestic reform. If it works, it will do much to make dollarization likely elsewhere; if it fails, as is much more likely, it will give dollarization a bad name.
Sometime there will be another financial crisis like the ones that struck Mexico in 1994 or Asia in 1997. What will we do about it? Believe it or not, Ecuador may determine the answer.
Paul Krugman writes for the New York Times.
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10,000 Indigenous Protestors Arrive in Quito, Capitol of Ecuador. Thousands of Police and Military Forces Posted at all the Entrances to the City ~ January 18, 2000
They came down from the mountains and took Quito by surprise, said a uniformed chief, who asked to remain unidentified. Apparently some provided a distraction to the military while the rest of them were passing through mountain paths to make it to Quito which is at 2810 m above sea level.
The indigenous leaders and farmers said they were not in a hurry to make it to Quito and reaffirmed that another 40,000 are going there. They said that this effort of the poor in the country won’t be stopped and will not allow another deceit by the government. They will only leave Quito once president Jamil Mahuad resigns and the congress and court of justice is dissolved.
In July of 1999 thousands of indigenous had also marched down on Quito, demanding Mahuad to change his economical policies and demanding more resources for the indigenous. The president agreed to implement changes but never did. Instead, he worsened the economical crisis.
The Coordination of Social Movements says that the Confederaci Ûn Unica Nacional de Afiliados al Seguro Social Campesino, Coordinadora Nacional Campesina (both farmers unions), students, and universities have joined the uprising.
It also said that that the provinces in the south, the center, and the north of the country are nearly paralyzed. Also, the coastal region of the Ecuadorian Amazon which is progressively paralyzed by the oil industry is on strike.
"We have defeated the repression of Mahuad and he will soon announce his resignation and that of the whole of his corrupt government", said the indigeneous. They have called upon the progressive military, the small business, and the people in general to join the protest.
Silverio Cocha, president of the indigenous movement in Chimborazo, central Ecuador, said that the military won’t be able to stop people that have had enough of suffering hunger, deceit, and repression. Silverio Cocha has been searched and was to be imprisoned in his province, however he is still free in Quito. In order to make it to there he had to walk around to Iliniza mountain which about 5260 m high.
In the meantime, hundreds of demonstrators in Ecuador’s larger cities have been arrested and beaten up by the police. In Guayaquil, economical capital of the country, thousands of unemployed and ambulant sellers took to the streets in support of the indigenous uprising. In Cuenca and Loja the repression was very violent.
In Portoviejo, home of the UPOCAM, one the countries largest farmers union, the unionists joined the urban population who were protesting and fought against police who used abundant quantities of tear gas. The military came in and the clashes went on until late Tuesday night.
The request of some business leaders to exterminate the indigenous uprising was not executed. This in part thanks to international support. The Peoples Parliament of Ecuador asks human rights organizations and peoples’organizations world wide to stay on alert because the protests will continue.
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Call to the People of Ecuador for an Uprising for a New Government and State
The Indigenous and Peasant Federation of Imbabura - FICI -, in coordination with all the social organizations of the Province, before the economic, political and social crisis caused by the government of Mahuad, make a call to the people of Ecuador to add to the great uprising for a new Government and a new State.
This patriotic action and the historical fight responds to the necessity to change the model of government implanted by the sectors of economics like the traditional bankers and political parties (PSC, DP, PRE, FRA, PC, among others) that have sunk the Country into the social and economic crisis, due to the corruption, anarchy and the particular interests of dominant groups.
Before the emergent crisis that hit the Country we declare the following:
1. To legitimize the Parliaments of the People in Ecuador on the National, Provincial and Cantonal levels, being the true democratic expression of the Ecuadorians.
2. To impel the construction of a new alternative power from the destitution of the present government.
3. It is necessary to implant a new economic, social policy that guards the interests of the great majorities of the Ecuadorian peoples (indigenous, retail farmers, craftsmen, workers, retailers, small and medium honest business people, transportation workers, students, women, etc.).
4. Our deep rejection of the dollarization, being an inadequate economic measurement, improvised and of short term, since it does not solve the integral crisis of the Country.
5. We make the Armed Forces, Police and National Government responsible for the life and the physical integrity of our National, Provincial and Local leaders.
6. We declared this Indigenous and Popular Uprising to be indefinite, non-violent, civic and patriotic.
7. We call on the International Community, other Indigenous Peoples, Solidarity and Human Rights Organizations, Social and Democratic Movements of the world, to stay vigilant of this historical struggle of the Peoples and Nationalities of Ecuador.
Imbabura, January 13, 2000
Carmen Yamberla, PRESIDENT of FICI
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Resolutions of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador ~ January 11, 2000
1. To install the People's Parliament of Ecuador as a request for democracy and plurinational representation, legitimate and sovereign: the People's Parliament of Ecuador is a permanent organ of decision and resolution. It assumes the preparation of transition to the NEW GOVERNMENT.
2. This Parliament does not recognize the set of measures announced by Jamil Mahuad and calls for civil disobedience and the raising up of the people until succeeding in the revocation of the President and his Government, National Congress, Supreme Court of Justice and the Organisms of Control and the establishment of a government of the people.
3. The People's National Parliament of Ecuador assumes as a mandate the preparation of the Alternative Program of Government, for which they summon to strengthen the work of the provincial and district Parliaments.
4. The Parliamentarians of Ecuador's people, in representation of the 22 provinces of the country and of the discussed proposals at the district and provincial level, ratify the necessity of a total change of the neoliberal model for a fair, responsible, environmentally sustainable economy, that recognizes plurinationality and cultural diversity, productive and democratic, directed towards human development.
5. The people of Ecuador, represented in this National Parliament, resolve to practice and develop democracy, real, with true participation and directed towards a political model, under the principles of AMA KILLA, AMA LLULLA, AMA SHUA.
6. The People's Parliament at the provincial, district level, of the people and nationalities of Ecuador and the People's National Parliament of Ecuador, will function in a permanent manner in the whole country, and will be the organ of political-democratic representation and resolution of the MANDATE of the people.
7. The people of Ecuador call on the Armed Forces to respect and support the actions and decisions of the provincial indigenous-popular Parliaments and of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador, for being a legitimate expression and the Constitutional Sovereign Power of the People.
Given and signed in Quito, capital of the Republic of Ecuador, in the session of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador, January 11, 2000.
Mns. Alberto Luna Tobar. S., President
Antonio Vargas, Vice President
Napoleon Saltos, Secretary
Manuel Castro, Pro-secretary
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Economic Crisis Forces Ecuador to Abandon Its Own Currency
By Our Correspondent~ 13 January 2000 - World Socialist Web Site
The small South American nation of Ecuador will abandon its own currency, the sucre, and dollarize its economy, President Jamil Mahuad announced Sunday in a nationally televised address. Mahuad declared a state of emergency January 6, the fourth since he took office 18 months ago, and ordered his 15-member cabinet to resign.
Mahuad appealed to trade union and indigenous organizations to abandon plans for a general strike set to begin on January 15. Oil workers at the state-owned Petroecuador have announced an indefinite strike starting January 17, and other public sector workers, including bus drivers and teachers, have already begun strike action.
The dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy means that the sucre will no longer be accepted as a means of payment except for coinage. All bills will be withdrawn from circulation and only US dollars will be permitted as currency. The US Treasury, not the Ecuadorian government, would then have effective control of the money supply, interest rates and other economic policies. Ecuador would become the second Latin American country to suffer such a total collapse of economic sovereignty, joining Panama as a colony in all but name.
Mahuad's action came only three days after Central Bank President Pablo Better rejected dollarization, saying that he would not be party to any "rushed, crazy measures." After Mahuad's speech, Better resigned, and the four remaining directors of the Central Bank were compelled to ratify the dollarization plan.
The exchange rate announced by Mahuad, 25,000 sucres to the dollar, testifies to the rapid impoverishment of the Ecuadorian masses over the past year, during which the sucre's value has fallen by 82 percent. At this exchange rate the minimum wage in Ecuador would be only $30 a month, half its value only six months ago.
Ecuador has been bankrupted by the collapse of oil prices in 1998 and early 1999 and by the effects of the El Nino and La Nina weather conditions on agricultural production. Oil is the country's main export and largest source of foreign exchange, and Ecuador's export earnings have plunged over the past two years. At the same time, storms caused by the unusual weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean have damaged much of the country's crop of bananas—another key export—and prices of food staples have skyrocketed.
Mahuad, who took office in August 1998, has faced one financial crisis after another. Last March he imposed a one-week bank holiday, then in April he ordered all savings and checking accounts frozen for a year. In September the government defaulted on part of its $20 billion in foreign debt, and by December ten of the country's largest banks had failed.
The dollarization plan is a desperate expedient to save Mahuad's government from the combination of financial catastrophe and social upheaval. The regime is seeking $250 million in new IMF loans and an additional $1 billion from other lenders conditional on the IMF action.
US officials have been cautious about the move. Before Mahuad's Sunday night speech, President Clinton telephoned him to express his support and Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers issued a statement reiterating US interest in a stable Ecuadorian government and economy. But no high-level pronouncement was issued after the dollarization plan was made public.
IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus, however, indicated full cooperation with Mahuad, issuing a statement Monday: "In light of the announcement yesterday by the government of Ecuador of its intention to move the economy to full dollarization, the IMF is prepared to send a fact-finding mission to Quito to provide technical assistance in adapting their fiscal and banking strategies to dollarization."
The Ecuadorian ruling class has been deeply shaken by the financial collapse and the mounting opposition to the Mahuad government, reflected in strikes, demonstrations and rioting in both Quito and Guayaquil, the two major cities, and in the countryside. Their demoralization was expressed by Jorge Rodriguez, an economist and former adviser to Mahuad, who declared, "We're now on the edge of economic collapse. We have just started to fall and are in the first phase of total collapse. If something dramatic is not done immediately, then I would predict total economic collapse within this year."
There have been rumblings of a military coup, although the military brass is not anxious to assume power under conditions of economic catastrophe. The day before he announced the dollarization plan, Mahuad met for seven hours with the top generals and admirals. These officers then issued a statement, published as a full-page advertisement in the country's major newspaper El Mercurio, declaring they would uphold "the constitutional process," but significantly making no mention of Mahuad or his government.
A particularly dangerous role is being played by the leaders of the trade unions and the former Stalinists of the Ecuadorian Communist Party, who are openly appealing for the military to intervene against the Mahuad government. They have established an alliance, the Patriotic Front, which includes student, peasant and indigenous groups. Luis Villacis, president of the Patriotic Front, called for continued protests until Mahuad resigns and for his replacement by a "Patriotic Government of National Unity," with representatives of the Catholic Church, the armed forces and "honest business leaders."
Copyright 1998-2000, World Socialist Web Site ~ All rights reserved
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National Ad Campaign Charges Texaco With Race, Discrimination -- This Time In Amazon Rainforest Indian Leaders Arrive In New York Urging Texaco to Clean Up Toxic Waste That’s Killing Their Tribesmen and Ruining Historic Lands
Thursday, September 23, 1999 Contact: Fenton Communications
New Public Health Study Confirms Increased Cancer In Areas Where Texaco Drilled and Made Billions
(New York, September 23) — Indigenous leaders today unveiled an explosive, national media campaign around the groundbreaking, $1 billion legal battle against Texaco.
The oil giant is being charged with racism for deciding to dump 16 million gallons of raw crude oil and toxic waste water onto historic lands in the Amazon rainforest. The campaign centers around a television spot featuring the driver of a Texaco oil tanker dumping oil on a white, suburban family. “Texaco would never do what you’re about to see to people who look like this,” says the ad, whose initial run this month will be on CNN in Manhattan, Washington, DC and Westchester, where Texaco is based. “But this is what Texaco did in the rainforest in Ecuador.”
The ad is part of a new national public education campaign aimed at exposing Texaco for its systematic dumping of more than 16 million gallons of oil and toxic wastewater -- three times that of the Exxon Valdez spill -- into the Ecuadoran Amazon over a 21-year period. Most of this dumping occurred because Texaco’s executives refused to install a proper waste-disposal system when it built Ecuador’s oil infrastructure in the early 1970s.
Along with the print and radio ads running this month, the TV ad points to Texaco's racist history to support its claim. In 1996, for example, Texaco paid out $176 million to settle a legal case brought by its own minority employees who had been denied promotions and other benefits because of their race. Texaco, which had strenuously fought that lawsuit for several years, suddenly admitted its wrongdoing when some of the company's top executives -- all white men -- were caught on tape calling their African-American employees "black jellybeans".
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