Re: [A-List] Ecuador: Gutiérrez returns

["Nestor Gorojovsky" <nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well, "taken and put" is too brutal. Pls give me some slack for 
telegraphic mail and English not being my mother language.

Of course, anyone at a leading military position will _do_ something 
to get to President.  But from the point of view of the relation of 
forces and the political development of issues, this is what happened 
in the end.

In fact, the triunvirate was fooled by a most obvious gambit from the 
forces of reaction that nobody with about a dram of political 
experience would have accepted.

I met Gutiérrez at a private meeting organized by an Arg politician 
after he fell (Gutiérrez) and I must frankly say that he looked too 
naïf for me.  Even his going to such a meeting would be considered a 
display of naïveté. 

Respuesta a:"[A-List] Ecuador: Gutiérrez returns"
Enviado por:Sabri Oncu
Con fecha:6 Mar 2006, a las 14:10

> 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. 
> 
> 



Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[No necesariamente es su autor]
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"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
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