Indigenous Struggle in Ecuador Replaces Corrupt Government: U$ 
helps return imperialist puppets to power

by an HC

On January 21, 2000 a united group of indigenous people and 
military officials called "la Junta de Salvacion Nacional" forced 
President Jamil Mahuad of Ecuador out of office. The new 
government included a three-person council comprised of CONAIE 
(Confederacion de Nacionalidades Indigenas del Ecuador) President 
Antonio Vargas, an army colonel and a former Supreme Court 
president. Later, armed forces chief Gen. Carlos Mendoza replaced 
the army colonel. Mendoza then facilitated the return of power to 
Vice President Noboa, who assumed the presidency on January 22. 
This change in faces in the government will not result in 
substantial changes in the system that oppresses the majority of 
the Educadorian people. No alliance with the imperialist military 
will produce a government of the people. But the battle does 
demonstrate the potential strength of the indigenous people's 
movement in Ecuador.

The struggle to remove Jamil from office was led by CONAIE, which 
is a strong coalition of indigenous nations in Ecuador that 
represents over one-third of the population. CONAIE has built its 
forces struggling against the oil industry's invasion of the 
Ecuadorean Amazon, and fighting for the livelihoods of the 
peasants in the Andes. 

CONAIE has maintained strong criticisms of Jamil over the past 
year as inflation went up 60 percent and the economy shrank by 7 
percent, leaving Ecuador in its worst depression since the 1930's. 
The last straw came when Jamil announced his plan to dollarize 
Ecuador's economy. CONAIE denounced this plan because of the 
negative effects it will have on the incomes and savings of the 
average people in the country. 

This brought thousands of indigenous people to Quito to protest. 
Local students and workers soon joined the demonstrations as well. 
Though police used tear gas against protestors in at least one 
incident, the change in the government occurred peacefully as many 
members of the military sided with the indigenous people against 
Jamil. The goal of CONAIE included replacing the President with a 
'people's council.'

CONAIE was able to find allies in the 'militars' who come from 
mostly poor backgrounds and have faced large cuts in their funding 
under Jamil. But their trust of military leaders proved unwise, as 
power was quickly handed back to the former ruling party and 
participants in the occupation of the Congress and the Supreme 
Court where arrested. Many corrupt leaders have been kicked out of 
office in Ecuador only to be replaced by leaders with the same 
policies. Both CONAIE and the people of Quito recognize that the 
switch from Jamil to Noboa is no change at all. In fact, Noboa 
plans to continue where Jamil left off and dollarize the economy. 

The plan to dollarize Ecuador's economy was proposed to create a 
stable currency and to attract more foreign investment. Ecuador is 
already a large receiver of loans from the World Bank, the IMF and 
other imperialist banking systems. In fact, it was U.$. economic 
pressure that led the military heads to bring Noboa back into 
power. The Washington Post reported that, "Peter Romero, the 
assistant secretary of state for Latin America and Western 
Hemispheric Affairs, warned Mendoza by telephone that 'Ecuador 
will find itself isolated' if the junta did not relinquish 
power."(2)

The new Interior Minister of Ecuador, Francisco Huerta, said, "The 
most important issue is inflation," later adding, "We cannot deny 
that dollarization will have a terrible effect on the people."(4) 
This quote sums up well the policy of profits over people that is 
held by Ecuador's ruling class and kept in place by U$ 
imperialism.

While politicians in Ecuador are scrambling to bring foreign 
investment to the country to save the economy, it is their 
inability to pay back the ridiculous amount of money they "owe" in 
loans that has got them in so much trouble. One of the calls 
CONAIE is organizing around is the Jubilee 2000 campaign to end 
Third World debt this year. Meanwhile, they recognize the need for 
self-subsistence and self-determination; demanding indigenous 
nations' rights to their land and natural environment. They are 
working to preserve the nations that have not yet been wiped out 
in Ecuador. CONAIE is struggling to change the education system 
and is calling for an end to military involvement in communities 
for educational and social programs.

The situation in Ecuador following the 24-hour flip-flop of power 
is quite uncertain. Many indigenous leaders are calling for 
further actions. Meanwhile the government is making moves to crack 
down on leaders of the uprising. Ecuador has been through this 
process many times, yet very little progress, if any, has been 
made. 

It is clear that their strategy must be made stronger. MIM does 
not have current information on the Communist Party of Ecuador, 
the Maoist vanguard in Ecuador, but we know that without communist 
leadership the anti-imperialist United Front will be subverted by 
the liberal and bourgeois forces. This is what happened when 
CONAIE allied with the military. MIM sends our solidarity to the 
struggles of CONAIE and all the oppressed people of Ecuador, and 
we encourage them to build on an already strong foundation of a 
people's movement to throw out capitalist exploitation and 
corruption. 

Notes:

1. Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2000. p.A-13

2. Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2000. p.A-1

3. CONAIE webpage: <http://conaie.nativeweb.org/>

4. Washington Post, Jan. 24, 2000. p.A-15