[A-List] Ecuador: Gutiérrez returns

["Sabri Oncu" <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nestor:

> Well, not "led" exactly.  In fact, he was taken by 
> the movement and put at the top.  Which explains many 
> of his mistakes afterwards.

More or less correct! I had followed the Ecuadorian uprising of Jan 2000 in
those days quite carefully: He did not lead the uprising since it was more
of a "leaderless" uprising but he was not exactly taken by the movement and
put at the top either. Below are three e-mails from the ground, that
appeared on the MAYDAY2K list in January 2000, that may help refresh the
memories. 

Best,

Sabri

++++++++++++++++

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mayday2k/message/689
Date: Fri Jan 21, 2000  10:20 am 
Subject: [ecuador] military support the movement ! 

dear all, 

according to the last news posted at www.amarc.org/pulsar and the website of
hoy (a newspaper) 

A sector of the military supported the movement of the indigenas and even
let them march into the Congress. 

According to hoy, a colonel of the army (Gutierrez), an ex magistrate and
indigena leader Vargas consitute a transitional  'paralell government'. The
situation is still unclear. The (ex?)president Jamil Mahuad is still in the
goverment palace protected by presidential military force. 

A confrontation resulting in a bloodbath could be possible, the indigenas
are totally unarmed. The country is completely paralysed. 

keep checking www.amarc.org/pulsar, www.ainfos.ca for news. 

support the uprising in Ecuador ! 

luciano


+++++++++++++++++

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mayday2k/message/590
Date: Mon Jan 17, 2000  4:50 am 
Subject: [ecuador] summary of the current situation 

Dear all, 

the following is a personal summary from the information I have been able to
get from Ecuador through a few emails and 2 phone calls. Like many of you
probably I knew very little about Ecuador before. It is difficult at this
stage to see what the real motivation of the uprising movement in Ecuador
is. The information is sometimes contradictory and unusual compared to what
we know from indigenas uprising like the zapatistas for instance. 

The following is from notes that I took during a phone call with a man
called marlon working for AMARC see www.amarc.org/pulsar 

Marlon first started describing me the current situation in Ecuador, because
the roots of the current crisis come from several years of neoliberal
exploitation. The external debt of Ecuador has increased 5 times since 1979.
?People are currently not living but surviving?, he said. The prices of
elementary products have risen dramatically. People are taking their
children out of school because they cannot afford it anymore. Social
services have been dismantled. In a hospital you will not even find an
aspirin, if you want to take someone to hospital, you need to bring all the
necessary medicines with you ! 

The current crisis started as the government froze all the bank accounts and
people weren?t able to withdraw money (which is a minority in the country). 

Since the beginning of the 90?s the movement of the indigenas gained
strength. Approximately 40% of the population is indigena. Most of the
unions have lost power and have corrupt leaders, so the movement is mostly
lead by the indigenas. The have been 8 uprisings already. The indigenas are
generally based around the cities and this is where there resistance start
from. Their form of resistance is not like going to a demo and back home
again and watch the news on tv. No. The mobilise in a progressive way,
community by community, making sure they have the necessary infrastructure
to secure food supply for example etc. They general block the access roads
to the Cities and in the past have successfully managed to paralyse the
country. They build barricades with trees, dig holes in the concrete etc. 

The new thing about the current uprising is that it is followed by other
sectors of society, like the unions of the oil industry, the students etc. 

The interesting thing marlon mentioned is that the army in the past has been
on the side of the indigenas. Many of the soldiers are of indigena origin.
About two weeks ago the statements of the army leaders were still backing up
the uprising, which gave confidence that it was possible to overthrow the
current government. 

However things have changed in the last couple of weeks, marlon said. The
government of president Mahuad started a big propaganda campaign in the
media, looking back on all the wonderful things that the neoliberal system
has achieved. The government announced a ?dollarisation? of the economy,
meaning that the dollar is the leading currency. The government backed this
law with massive propaganda which has confused now the population. In Quito
the capital, there is a broader middle class of people, which is likely not
to follow the protests he said. But the marginalised and poorer sectors of
society and students are likely to follow the mobilisation. The
dollarisation will not change anything, it?ll just stabilise the situation
for the rich 1% of the population. The movement is currently trying to
inform people about this. Since the ?dollarisation? was proposed the
momentum gathered by the movement dropped. 

The mobilisation to Quito for Saturday started little by little. As
mentioned before the indigenas are blocking the roads, creating
infrastructures etc. They expect that by Tuesday the country will be
paralysed. And that they will march into Quito for a occupation of the
capital. Marlon considered this occupation as mostly symbolic. They expect
40-50.000 indigenas. But it was difficult to predict what the attitude of
the other sectors of society would be like the unions and other groups of
?civil society?. 

Repression: 

The country is militarised. There are 30.000 soldiers deployed, mostly
dealing with the indigenas. In cities like Quito things are quiet for the
moment, no military, only police. The indigenas have had confrontations
around their barricades with the military. the military response has been
tear gas, charging, gunshots in the air and trying to avoid damages, no
massacres, but there have been people shot to death in the past and things
could escalate very quickly. 

Marlon said the army?s position is still unclear. In the last two weeks they
announced that they wouldn?t tolerate violence and that violence would
result in more violence. The attitude of the army may be very decisive for
the uprising. 

There are some sectors and industrial lobby groups pushing the government to
go ahead with tough repression against the indigenas, it is therefore
important to create international solidarity and avoid a possible massacre
of the indigenas and the uprising in general. 

Parliament: 

According to marlon, the movement of the indigenas, unions, civil groups,
students etc organise in a Peoples Parliament (Parlamento Nacional de los
Pueblos Ecuador = National Parliament of the people from Ecuador). It?s a
system of plenaries. There are many regional plenaries in which things are
discussed and then brought back into the Peoples Parliament which gathers
all the representatives of the smaller plenaries. They are up to 1500 people
meeting and discussing the following steps. There is also a press commission
which is currently setting an infrastructure to communicate to the outside.
I hope we?ll get the contact address soon. 

The important characteristic of this Parliament is that it rejects the
current form of State and calls for civil disobedience. When I asked if this
was a movement trying to overthrow one government and change it by another
one , marlon pointed that this ?new government? was a peoples government and
that it was more democratic, more horizontal. 

Late last night I then received several documents which are written by this
alternative parliament. To my astonishing I found several contradictory
statements and was surprised, I leave it up to you to judge for yourself... 

*first of all the so called peoples parliament has a president, a vice
president and a secretary... 
*there is a clear rejection of the current form of State, a call for civil
disobedience, but also a clear call to a new government based on a new
ethic, a strong and efficient decentralised State maintaining the current
form of peoples plenaries. The Spanish version has been posted at
www.ainfos.ca translation into English are on the way (if you can help
contact me : desaparecido@...) 

The language and the demands are very different from what we know from other
struggles, the zapatistas for instance. No mention of self determination,
dignity, land reforms or things like that. But judge for yourself once the
translation is done. 

ok that?s all I can say for now 

Anyone having direct contacts to Ecuador please let us know ! It would be
great to have information from other sources like libertarian groups,
indigenas groups directly etc. I think we should use the email lists
generated by the global days of action J18, N30 and the caravans to spread
information. Let us use ainfos also: www.ainfos.ca 

Prepare for solidarity actions, international support will probably be
crucial ! 

stay tuned in solidarity Luciano 

for updated information in spanish:
http://conjuntos.es.fortunecity.com/social/6

+++++++++++++++++

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mayday2k/message/536 
Date: Sat Jan 15, 2000  3:52 pm 
Subject: (en) URGENT: support the struggle in Ecuador 

dear all, 

I just received this fwd message coming from Ecuador saying that there are
currently mass protests going on against the dramatic situation in a country
that has suffered neoliberal exploitation and that "the revolution is
starting". 

I was sceptic, so I picked up the phone and phoned an organisation called
"Accion Ecologica" whose phone number I had just received recently. I had
the chance to speak to someone who is the representative of this
organisation at the alternative parliament who is currently debating a
strategy for the coming days. He said that the mobilisations have started
progressively in the last days already and that several cities are already
"taken". He said the large mobilisation for Quito (the capital) is going to
be for monday and tuesday. He said at least 40.000 indigenas are expected to
come into the city, but the mobilisation involve many sectors of society. He
said also that international observers are expected to come in the next days
and that they hope that from then on the news will be spread internationaly.
So far the state controlled media has been promoting non stop lies about how
wonderful the neoliberal policies have been in the last years. Nobody
believes it anymore. As I asked him if this was a struggle for power, for
taking control of the governement, he said no, it's a Poeples Power, there
is a Poeples assembly who works in a complicated system of representation [I
didn't understand everything in this short phone call]. 

Infrastructure for communication is being set up, there is a press
commission that has been created (comision de prensa) by the Peoples
Assembly. 

I asked him also if they were afraid of repression and he said he hoped the
international support would be able to avoid it. 

We are likely to get more information in the next days and clarification on
what kind of "revolution" this is. So stay tuned ! 

Most of the information is likely to be in Spanish, so if there are people
willing to help doing spanish-english translations (or spanish to any other
language) please contact me: desaparecido@... and also
e7888@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Hasta la victoria !! Our resistance is as transnational as capital !! 

Luciano 

the following is - a fwd letter sent by Spanish students currently in
Ecuador. This is a rough translation I did, feel free to correct the
English. - an pasted article from August 99 which gives a good insight into
the situation in Ecuador 



To everyone getting this information: 

This is a text that was fwd by companher@s from Barcelona which are
currently in Ecuador for motives related to their studies and are currently
assisting to probably one of the most encouraging news of the millennium. 

Please distribute this message as wide as you can and organise yourself to
find ways of supporting peoples struggle in Ecuador. 

REVOLUTION BEGINS IN ECUADOR ! 

Dear companher@s 

Ecuador is very close to a national revolution y it is currently necessary
to do solidarity actions in support of this peoples movement who aims to put
an end to neoliberal economic exploitation which has lead to the current
crisis. 

We are some students from UAB (university) in the country y we see the
urgent necessity to create a platform of international support in order to
prevent a indiscriminated repression of this popular movement. 

We ask you: 

1.- to spread this information through as many ways as possible 
2.- that you send us contacts for the spreading of further communiques to:
e7888@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
3.- That people take initiative to coordinate platforms at continental o
national level 
4.- it is necessary to create a network that will reach mass media and
alternative media. It is possible that United States may react with
repression in case this popular movement succeeds in his attempt to
overthrow the power. 
5.- We are currently waiting for a document with the strategy that is
discussed at the Parlament of Ecuatorian People (a rebel parlament), which
will be a document of international strategy addressed to all movements of
the world, NGOs etc. We ask you to create the necessary conditions for such
a network to function. 

General Situation in the Country 

The economic, social and political crisis that Ecuador has been going
through in the last years has been worsening dramatically in the last
months. 

As a matter of fact since Jamil Mahuad came into power, the sucre (national
currency) has only been losing acquisition power compared to the dollar: the
price of the dollar has doubled since 1999 (is it 25000 sucres for a dollar
now) 

For the minority of people, those who have acquisition power and a bank
account, this means that their bank accounts have been frozen. They cannot
withdraw money from their accounts for the banks not to collapse. 

And for the majority of people who live in misery, this means that basic
good of consumption have become very expensive. Besides that the social
conditions have never been so restricted, there is basicaly no kind of
social service. 

As a response to this situation the government of president Mahuad opted for
a dollarisation of the economy. 

Peoples reaction is lead by the movement of the indigenous people and
several unions [and students - editor] that want a total change in the
structure of the State. They want to get rid of the three powers of the
State and put a Peoples Governement in place (Gobierno Popular). 

There has been a call to popular insurrecion and a national strike which
will start on the 15th  January with a take over of Quito (the capital). 

Meetings in the Parliament of Ecuadorian Peoples have been going on for
three days. 

This alternative parliament includes representatives of many (not all)
social movements of the country (indigenous movement, church, unions, etc.)
and is currently defining a new policy for the country in all fields. 

They pretend to reinitiate national production, cancelling the external debt
and stop the neoliberal exploitation of the resources, etc.. 

end of message 

the following website willbe available for more information
http://conjuntos.es.fortunecity.com/social/6 


********************** 

04-AUG-1999 

Four Hundred Arrested, Thirteen Shot: IMF and Ecuadorian government provoke
violent reaction 

Four months after a crisis provoked by an IMF inspired structural adjustment
plan, the country is again in the grips of the multi-lateral organisation.
This time the social convulsions, which were provoked by a another rise in
fuel prices, have been confronted in repressive fashion. Five more people
were shot yesterday as they tried to march from Guallabamba, a small town 40
kilometres north of Quito, to the capital to protest the impacts of the
economic measures introduced during the past six months. In Latacunga, a
town of about 500,000 one hour to the south of the capital, indigenous
groups which had been closing roads, charged a military vehicle full of
troops on Saturday night. The vehicle turned tail and fled. On Sunday the
native people were not so lucky, eight were shot as they confronted the
military attempting to keep the road open. One later died. The protests and
the indigenous uprising have been brought about by the severity of the
economic measures taken to supposedly pull Ecuador out of its economic
plight. The now discredited IMF recipe of provoking inflation and removing
subsidies in order to balance the budget has been applied without relief
since the effects of the global economic crisis hit Latin America late last
year. The dollar has risen by almost 100% against the local currency, the
Sucre, since beginning of the year, food costs have risen by about 70%, gas,
electricity, gasoline, diesel, and water costs have all risen substantially,
and all this before the latest round of transport fuel cost rises, provoked
by indexation to the dollar. In the meantime the basic salary (a form of
minimum wage) has been raised by an insulting 30%. 

The taxi drivers hit back first, blocking roads and demanding that fuel
prices be reduced to their pre- June levels and frozen for two years. They
blocked roads and brought the cities to a standstill. Indigenous groups
throughout the central mountain region have joined them in an uprising which
has blocked roads, occupied state electricity offices and taken control of
communications towers. Indigenous areas are amongst the poorest in the
country and the native population, which has been badly affected by the
privatisation and globalisation agenda, is calling their actions a fight for
life, and against hunger. Meanwhile, teachers and medical workers who have
not been paid in months have also joined the strike, along with banana
workers, bus and transport workers and even informal sellers. Whole
neighbourhoods have taken over roads in an attempt to convince the
government to change course. And in the latest of a series of actions, the
offices of the Catholic Church, criticised as pro-government, have been
occupied by a number of social groups intent on emphasising their demands
that the neoliberal policies being applied to the country be changed.
Ironically, the police, charged with repressing the demonstrations, also
find themselves unpaid and without funds to ward off their own creditors. 

Part of the government's answer has been to declare a general state of
emergency, endowing the President with extraordinary powers to control the
state budget, and to order military intervention wherever and whenever he
pleases. Congress, in which the government does not have the majority, is
outspokenly opposed and will probably fight the measure, although it should
be pointed out that the majority of members are also neo-liberals (or at
best the more apologetic Blair style third wayers) and simply jockeying for
power. The other part of the strategy has been to create diversionary
tactics. Jailing a corrupt banker and paying the people whose savings were
locked up in the now officially bankrupt bank (one of Ecuador's largest). On
the other hand an overwhelming silence has surrounded the accusation that
the majority of high government officials took their money out of the
country 
(apparently some $200 million) a little while before all bank accounts were
frozen in March of this year. 

Whether these officials, and other corrupt bankers, will ever be
investigated and brought to trial is a major question. But perhaps more
important in the long run, both for Ecuador and other countries in the
region, is whether it will be possible to find a  way out of the neoliberal
export lead growth trap in which Ecuador finds itself, given that this model
favours the governing elite which controls almost all political parties. The
fact that it needs to is not in question. The country has only gone
backwards in economic terms since the debt crisis of the early eighties, and
finds itself porting increasing amounts of primary material, only to watch
prices fall or at best fluctuate wildly on markets over which it has no
control. The cost in terms of concentration of land, power and wealth is
huge. The cost in terms of the environmental and social impacts related to
finding and pumping more oil, growing more flowers, farming more shrimp, and
growing more bananas are devastating a country which is defined by its
cultural and natural diversity.