florian schneider on Wed, 19 Jan 2000 02:05:31 +0100 (CET)


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<nettime> no revolution yet in ecuador


[here is a compilation of some messages from a-info@tao.ca about the
mass protests of indigeneous and other social movements in Ecuador.
/fls]


Information in Spanish is available at an NGO website:
"Coordination of latin-american scientists, researchers and 
marginalized groups for a democratic alternative"
<http://conjuntos.es.fortunecity.com/social/6>

or the NGO Pulsar (news agency and radio network):
<http://www.amarc.org/pulsar>

Or through the mainstream Ecuadoran daily newspaper:
<http://www.hoy.com.ec/>

The economists titles: Ecuador on the Brink:
<http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/current/index_am4164.html>

_______________________________


1.      Preliminary account of the events in Ecuador (1/18/2000)

2.      Resolutions of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador

3.      Ecuadoran Government Repression (1/18/2000)

4.      Beginnings of an Uprising (1/15/2000)

5.      Police teargas Ecuador oil workers, students (Reuters,1/17/2000)

_______________________________

(1)

From: macamblo@itq.upv.es
To: ainfo@tao.ca, a-infos-en@tao.ca
Newsgroups: tao.a-infos
Subject: (en) Preliminary account of the events in Ecuador

18th January 2000
There are many news from alternative media informing of a revolt in 
Ecuador. Some of the news came through reliable collectives such as 
Usurpa (usurpa@sindominio.net) but many of them are only available in 
Spanish. The following is an attempt to summarize relevant facts in 
English. Please note that the information is at present very 
fragmentary, that not all the sources are reliable and that the 
writter of this has not a deep knowledge of Ecuador. 

Right now everything looks quite confusing with calls to 
civil desobedience and for a real direct democracy, on one hand, and 
other calls (from the so-called "National Parliament of the Peoples 
of Ecuador", see below) asking for a strong State, the collaboration 
of the Army, the Salvation of the Patria, the unity of the Patria, 
the set up of a "Governmet for the National Consolidation" and so 
for. Patria means the country but it has in Spanish an awful, 
strongly nationalist sense. It is a favorite word of fascists and 
stalinists; but in South America is essentially everywhere.

The social base of the revolt seems to be chiefly the indigenous 
people through the CONAIE (Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas  
de Ecuador- Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador). 
These are the ones calling for the indigenous and popular uprising 
together with the Coordinadora de Movimientos Sociales. There are 
also trade unions involved (at least the Union of oil workers of 
Petroecuador, the state-owned petrol company). The uprising is 
apparently supported by the catholic church.

There is a so-call National Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador, 
which is helding sessions since around a week. It claims to be a 
democratic assembly of  grassroots organizations. The chair person 
seems to be Bishop Luna. It is from this organization from which I 
hear disgusting claims about the Patria (its Salvation and Unity) and 
about the need for a strong State. 

My friend from Ecuador updated me about the economic situation behind 
the uprising:

-a ramplant inflation (100% according to some sources)

-the dolarization process. In one year the price of the dollar has 
increased from 5000 sucres to 25000 sucres. Now the government of 
president Jamil Mahuad decreted the "dollarization", i.e., the 
replacement of the sucre by the dollar as the national currency. The 
decrete needs to be approved by the National Congress (official 
Parliament).

-the basic salary is less than 25 $/month.

-there was a decrete to block the bank accounts (something that 
probably doesn't matter for most of the people, but which could help 
in movilizing "middle class", if there is any).

-there are also plans to start the privatization of the petrol fields 
and companies (some of them in the Amazonia). 

I guess the problems must be far more deep and there is a common call 
against neoliberalism and capitalism in the callings for upheaval.

The population of Ecuador is around 40% indian, 40% mixed, 20% white.
The power is held by the whites and there is a widespread corruption
at all levels. According to my friend the indians are very well
organized throughout the country and this is the fifth indian uprising
in the last few years. They got what they wanted in the previous four
movilizations. But what they really want now?

Apparently, the main goals are the resign of President Mahuad, stop to
the dollarization process and of the privatization of the oil fields
and companies. There are also calls for a real democracy and for a
strong decentralized State. Not very revolutionary and libertarian by
now, but this could be just the start.

My friend thinks there will be a lot of violence, since the military
support the president.

Concerning the actions, the indians were supposed to enter into 
Quito, the capital city, during this weekend. Quito was controlled by 
the military and the police. I heard nothing significant happened 
yet (but see below, at the end of this post). Other actions planned 
are the closing of roads (anytime, anywhere) and the seize of public 
buildings. Some organizations expect up to 1 million peasants 
participating in the movement. 

The petrol workers are on  strike, they will not pump oil to 
the pipelines and will support the seizure of oil wells by the 
indians in the Amazonia. 

News about the students are confuse: some are on strike, some are 
claiming against violence.

The government has declared the state of emergency. There have been 
at least three indigenous and/or popular leaders arrested, who 
will face a military trial. There were also more than one hundred 
demonstrators arrested in Quito. Most of them were children and old
people, who have been liberated now. But there are 27 students and 
workers from the Universidad Central of Quito who remain in jail. 
Apparently the region of the Sierra (the mountains) is completely 
militarized and there are severe controls by the military in the main 
roads, checking for arms. 

I have read some news in the web (Diaro HOY, a mainstream newspaper, I
guess. http://www.hoy.com.ec/). They talk about fragmentary
movilizations with different intensity in different parts of the
country. Most of them consist in the closing of roads, particularly
the main one, the Panamerican road. In several parts of the country,
included Quito (capital city) the military holds an strict control. 

In Cuenca a bomb destroyed the headquaters of Democracia Popular (the 
christianodemocrat party, supporter of the government of Mauhad)
Nobody has claimed authorship. The party stated they are sure the 
indians are not responsible for the bombing.

Finally, Blanca Chancoso (a leader of the CONAIE)
have called the three indigenous representatives in the National
Congress to leave this institution, given that the alternative
National Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador has denied authority to
the "three powers" of the State. One of the indigenous representatives
answered that now they should stay in the official Congress as
representatives of the indians until the situation changes. 

Blanca also pointed to the singular character of this uprising which, 
in contrast to the previous ones, will be gradually increasing in 
intensity. According to her organization there has been a significant 
movement of indians to Quito, where they will contact other social 
organizations. However, the strict control by the military may prevent 
a larger success: yesterday around 11 am the march of 400 indians 
coming from Chimborazo (180Km south of Quito) was not allowed to 
proceed to the capital city. There are informations of a severe 
repression there.  (see http://www.amarc.org/pulsar/). 

All in all, I think we must keep alert about it since I doubt we will
heard much on it from the mainstream media. Even with its
contradictions (which maybe are the result of different faces inside
the movement) this appear to be important news.



________________________

(2)

--- Forwarded Message from "el desaparecido" <desaparecido@gmx.de> ---
>Subject: (en) [ecuador] resolutions of the peoples' national 
parliament

Resolutions of the People's National Parliament of Ecuador

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
################


(3)     Ecuadoran Government Repression

--- Forwarded Message from "el desaparecido" <desaparecido@gmx.de> ---
>Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 03:04:36 +0100
>Subject: [ecuador] Day of Uprising 17.1

PGA Action at WTO Seattle - http://members.aol.com/pgacaravan

spanish original : www.amarc.org/pulsar

Information for Latin America via Internet
_________________________________________________

Ecuador: In a day of indigenous uprising, popular leaders and unionists 
are oppressed by security forces.
By Marlon Carrión C.
_________________________________________________

QUITO, Ecuador. - In response to the uprising of the indigenous people 
of Ecuador, the government put into practice a National State of 
Emergency, which had been in fact declared several days ago.

In the early morning hours three union and popular leaders were 
arrested by masked policemen.  The detentions were effected by members 
of public security who forcibly broke into the houses of Luis Villacís, 
Ciro Guzmán y José Chávez.  Doors and windows were smashed.  The 
detainees say and their families say that the arms-brandishing agents 
hit them and threatened them with death.

Since there is a State of Emergency, the detainees will be taken before 
a military tribunal instead of a civil court.  They are being held on 
charges of endangering the internal security of the State.

For its part, the Conference of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador said that 
its vice-president, Ricardo Ulcuango, had to be removed to an unknown 
location after having escaped government agents who had captured him.

The same sort of situation is occuring with the leaders of the 
Coordinator of Social Movements, which in conjunction with the Conaie 
declared the popular and indigenous uprising for the overthrow of  
President Jamil Mahaud.

Monsignor Albertos Luna Tobar, President of the National Parliament of 
the People of Ecuador,  protested and rejected the actions of the 
police and the military in detaining the union leaders.  Other 
political leaders have made similar protests.

The Popular Parliament is a democratic forum composed of indigenous 
natives, farmers and city people, that rejects the economic politics 
of Mahaud.  The Popular Parliament has called for civil disobedience.

Repression by state security forces against the demonstrators is taking
shape.  The mountainous region of Ecuador, with its high indigenous
population, is totally militarized, and clashes between indigenous 
people and the military have taken place, but the Ecuadoran press has 
suppressed the information.

The Conaie and the other social movements asks that the international
community maintains vigilance  over the repression ordered by President
Jamil Mahaud and carried out  by the National Police and the military.
##############

(4)

--- Forwarded Message from "el desaparecido" <desaparecido@gmx.de> ---
>Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 03:02:19 +0100
>Subject: (en) [ecuador] beginnning of popular indigenous uprising 15.1
PGA Action at WTO Seattle - http://members.aol.com/pgacaravan


National Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador

Quito, January 15, 2000
PRESS BULLETIN

Mahuad must leave office in order to prevent a social convulsion
BEGINING OF POPULAR-INDIGENOUS UPRISING

The popular-indigenous uprising called by the National Parliament of
the Peoples of Ecuador against the "dollarization," coruption,
privitization, and the empoverishing of the country started at 0 hour
today with the closing of roads in several provinces and the
mobilization of thousands of indigenous people on an encounter with
the peoples of Ecuador in Quito; Antonio Vargas, Parliament
Presiden, insisted thet the only maner in to avoid a social convulsion 
is if Mahuad and his government give way to the desires of the peoples
of Ecuador.

While Mahuad reads his testament before a corrupt Parliament, of
hunger, "dollarization," speculation and privitization, we the peoples
of Ecuador have convened ourselves in this Parliament of solidarity, of
many-nationalities, of a new Ecuador, democratic, economically
productiveand with millenary ethical principles, that is the difference
between our proposal and that of the the corrupt politicians, pointed
out Vargas.

On his part, Napoleón Saltos, spokesperson for the Coordinator of
Social Movements (Coordinadora de Movimientos Sociales),
emphasized the democratic character of this proposal and states being
sure that men and women will join this movement for a new Ecuador,
and with more reason when the cost of food products has increased
about 60% to 80% in price as consequence of the "dollarization,"
consequences which will be intolerable when the price of gas and food
products become unfrozen. At the same time, he gave thanks to the
Eclesiastical  Community of the Religous (Comunidad Eclesiástica de
Religiosos), whom in an unpublished event, manifested their total
support with the peoples of Ecuador in this sovereign search for a just
and democratic future.

On their part, the oil workers iniciated their actions of protest with 
the paralization of La Libertad Refinery (Refinería La Libertad) and
anounced that by January 17th it will add the rest of the areas of the
oil-industry, progresively, until reaching a total halt. The
CONFENIAE (  Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la
Amazonía Ecuatoriana), the Confederacy for the Indigenous Nations
of the Ecuadorian Amazons, the Amazon Defense Front and  the oil
workers declared that this decisions is undeclinable for no 
privitization of the oil and for the life of the Amazon.

As part of the general uprising, major and smalll markets will close
their doors next Monday Januray 17th. The Farmworker Social Health
Centers (Seguro Social Campesino) on its behalf has already initiated
measures in Manabí, Carchi and other provinces. Neighborhoods,
communities, health workers, public and industry works electritians,
students, christian communities and universities are ready to initiate
marches all over the country, under the proposal convoked by the
National Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador .

On Monday January 17th, in the presence of Monsigneur Alberto Luna 
Tobar, the amplified Parlament will be instated, while the Permanent 
Comission (Comisión Permanente) has remained in session without a rest 
since Tuesday January 11th, the day of its instalation. The aproved 
decrees refer to: state deragoutory for emergency; civil disobidience 
against the "dollarization";  judicial and civil indictments
against Jamil Mahuad for treason; a total fight against corruption, 
who's power is delegated to the provincial parliaments and the National 
Parliament of the Peoples of Ecuador.
##############

(5)


--- Forwarded Message from "el desaparecido" <desaparecido@gmx.de> ---
>Subject: [ecuador] (en) Police teargas Ecuador oil workers, students

PGA Action at WTO Seattle - http://members.aol.com/pgacaravan

Police teargas Ecuador oil workers, students

By Carlos A. DeJuana

  
QUITO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean police teargassed about 700 oil 
workers and students on Monday who were protesting President Jamil 
Mahuad's economic reforms, including plans to use the U.S. dollar for 
all large transactions. 

Police fired dozens of rounds of tear gas as the protesters marched 
toward the government palace, scattering the students and workers up 
side streets and into a nearby park. 

Just a few blocks away, Mahuad met with international advisers to 
discuss his plan to adopt the U.S. dollar as the Andean country's 
currency. He is hoping the shock measure will lead Ecuador out of its 
worst economic crisis in decades. 

The police are part of the 30,000 government forces who have been 
guarding Ecuador's highways, city streets and key government buildings 
since Friday for fear of protests by oil workers and indigenous groups 
demanding Mahuad's ouster. 

Oil workers went on strike on Monday morning to press for Mahuad's 
resignation and for better terms for state-owned Petroecuador, the 
country's largest source of revenue. Unions allege his government has 
been using oil revenues to finance bad economic policies rather than 
reinvesting in the industry. 

Highland Indian groups have vowed to block roads and eventually march on 
Quito to paralyse the capital by midweek unless Mahuad, Congress and the 
Supreme Court step down. 

But life proceeded at an almost normal pace on Monday in this nation of 
12.4 million, with almost all main roads open and only small incidents 
reported in Ecuador's provinces. 

``Truck drivers tell us that some secondary roads are blocked in part, 
but the main highways are open,'' said Luis Tipon, a Quito fruit and 
vegetable wholesaler. 

In the city of Cuenca, a small bomb was set off at about 3 a.m. (0800 
GMT) on Monday at the door of the headquarters of Mahuad's Popular 
Democracy party, but damage was minimal and no injuries were reported, 
police said. 

In Guayaquil, Ecuador's main business city, union workers and small 
businessmen marched against Mahuad's dollar proposal and threw tomatoes 
at onlookers who refused to join them. 

But the protests failed to paralyse the country as the indigenous 
groups have promised. Indigenous groups, helped by transport workers, 
paralysed Quito for nearly two weeks last July after Mahuad proposed 
higher gasoline prices. 

Analysts say Mahuad's ``dollarization'' plan announced on Jan. 9 may 
have gained him the upper hand. Under the move, the dollar would be 
used for all large transactions. The beleaguered sucre, which has 
fallen to 25,000 sucres to the dollar from 7,000 a year ago, would be 
used only for small purchases. 

Mahuad, a Harvard-trained lawyer, says the move will slash inflation 
and boost investment for a country the size of Italy but whose economic 
output nearly equals its foreign debt load. 

Mahuad has had a tough 17 months in office as Ecuador's economy sank 
into crisis because of bad weather, poor export prices, international 
financial turmoil and a banking crisis. The economy shrank 7.5 percent 
in 1999. 

But although recent polls show Mahuad's popularity has rebounded from 
a low prior to his announcement, the 50-year-old leader must convince 
Ecuador's impoverished population that a dollar economy will improve 
their lives. 

``We're all going to protest against Mahuad,'' said Maria Sepeda, an 
Indian woman working in Quito's market. ``I don't known when, but we're 
going to go out on the streets.''

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