>X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Status: > >NY Times, January 27, 2000 > >Bitter Indians Let Ecuador Know Fight Isn't Over > >By LARRY ROHTER > >LATACUNGA, Ecuador, Jan. 25 -- Last week, the Indians marched by the >thousands from this Andean market town to overthrow the government in >Quito. This week, with a new president in place but all their other demands >unmet, those same protesters have been drifting back to the farms here, >feeling defeated, angry and bitter and warning of the fire next time. > >"We were betrayed by a treacherous clique of generals and admirals," >Antonio Vargas, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities >of Ecuador, the country's principal Indian group, said after the rapid >collapse during the weekend of the three-man military-led junta of which he >was also a member. "But our struggle is not over, and we may have to be >even tougher when we mobilize again." > >To this country's largely white and Spanish-speaking elite, those are >powerful and disturbing words. Though the Indians here constitute about >one-third of the country's 12.5 million people, they have been treated as >second-class citizens, deprived of economic and educational opportunities, >with their languages and culture ridiculed, for even longer than Ecuador >has been a nation. > >Ra�l L�pez, the Roman Catholic bishop in this commercial center at the foot >of the towering Cotopaxi volcano, points out that not too long ago >newspaper advertisements "offered haciendas for sale with Indians included, >as if they were cattle or horses." But in recent years, with financial >support and advice from groups in Western Europe and North America, >indigneous peoples have coalesced around demands for what they call "a >plurinational and multi-ethnic state" here. > >Though last week's uprising was the largest and most dramatic and ambitious >that Ecuadorean Indians have ever staged, it was by no means their first. >Such protests have been an effective and favorite tactic of the >increasingly better organized indigenous movement since 1990, when what >began as a civil rights protest soon took on broader political dimensions. > >"We were tired of bus drivers insulting indigenous passengers, refusing to >allow them to board or telling them to take off their hats," said C�sar >Umajinga, president of the Cotopaxi Indigenous and Peasant Movement, the >leading Indian group here. "After several of our people died from being >thrown off buses, we decided it was time to demand respect and an end to >such abuses." > >At a news conference with foreign reporters on Monday, Gustavo Noboa, the >new president, who took power on Saturday after the collapse of the >Indian-military junta, acknowledged past injustices to indigenous peoples. >He promised a "dialogue" with Indian groups and expressed sympathy for many >of their goals. > >"The indigenous theme is longstanding and hereditary, the result of a lack >of confidence," he said. "The fact is that they have been deceived for >centuries and their demands are right in part." > >Indians rose up last week, he said, because governments "have not kept >their word" after making promises to and signing agreements with indigenous >leaders like Mr. Vargas. > >Other nations throughout the Andes, as well as Central America and Mexico, >must also contend with restive Indian populations demanding social equality >and economic opportunity. But experts on the region say that the situation >here is probably worse than elsewhere precisely because of government >neglect. > >"Ecuador is a country that has basically forgotten about its agricultural >and rural base, so conditions in the countryside have deteriorated in the >last decade," said Eduardo Gamarra, director of the Latin American and >Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami. The >resulting "process of pauperization in the countryside," he added, >"marginalizes indigenous people almost by definition" because of their >strong links to the land. > >That trend has only been accentuated by an economic crisis worse than any >other this country has faced in 70 years. Inflation, at 60 percent for each >of the past two years, is the highest in Latin America, the government >defaulted on half its $13 billion in foreign debt four months ago, and the >country's currency, the sucre, lost 67 percent of its value against the >dollar in 1999 and 20 percent this month. > >"The price of seed, fertilizer and insecticide is tied to the exchange rate >of the dollar and has risen so high that some of us can no longer afford to >plant our crops," complained Gregorio Chiguano, a 54-year-old farmer here >who took part in the march on the capital last week. "But we get paid in >sucres for the potatoes and other products that we grow, and so we are >suffering terrible deprivation." > >In an effort to address inequities, Ecuadorean governments have carried out >agrarian reform programs since the 1960's. But Indians have not only ended >up with most of the least fertile plots of land, many of which have now >been divided up as a result of population growth to the point they are >barely productive, but have also received little in the way of credit and >technical help from the government. > >In addition, Indian leaders from the countryside who were here today to >sell their wares at a weekly market all complained that their villages were >the last to receive electricity, water, telephones and sewers. Struggling >to fulfill the austerity measures they have had to agree to in order to >secure loans abroad, successive administrations have also reduced support >for bilingual education programs for speakers of Quechua and other Indian >languages. > >"The situation is truly tragic," Bishop L�pez said. "The government has cut >the budget for everything in the social sector in order to satisfy the >demands of the International Monetary Fund and to make payments on our >foreign debt." > >The government's decision this month to make the American dollar the >country's new currency has further fed the discontent. Indian farmers here >are vehemently opposed, seeing the measure as just another scheme by >bankers and businessmen to further impoverish them. > >"The dollar may be fine for mestizos and the big folks, but we are peasants >and do not know how to manage dollars," said Apolinario Quishpe, 51, a >farmer who was another of those who made the 55-mile march on Quito. "Many >of us do not know how to read and write and do not understand what this is >about. We feel cheated." > >Indian leaders and their supporters emphasize that their uprisings and >campaigns of civil disobedience also reflect frustration with the nature of >the political process here. Though candidates on the right as well as the >left say they are concerned about advancing Indian interests and rights, no >Indian has ever held a cabinet post, they complained, and until very >recently few had been elected to Congress. > >"One thing about Ecuador that has always struck me is that the Indians are >not treated very well by white society," Dr. Gamarra said. "Political >parties spend very little effort to work with them, and whatever >representation occurs is usually done in a very patrimonial way. They don't >really have a voice or a party of their own." > >Indian leaders here say that their unexpected alliance with the military, >though temporarily unsuccessful, has gained them new respect as a political >force. But Bishop L�pez argues that last week's coup and its chaotic >aftermath are better seen as a setback for the indigenous cause. > >"By trying to achieve an unreachable utopia, they have deeply angered and >frightened the Ecuadorean population, which had been sympathetic to many of >their demands," he said. "They broke with the rules of the Constitution, >and that has cost them a lot of support." > >The Indigenous Parliament that represents the country's Indian peoples is >to meet here this week to try to draw lessons from the failed uprising, >devise a new strategy and prepare an agenda for the next round of >negotiations with the government, scheduled to begin next week. But Mr. >Umajinga warned that "we are tired of being marginalized and treated as >orphans by the government" and said the day might soon come when the >talking would have to end. > >"This was not an armed uprising, and that may have been a mistake that will >have to rectified in the future," he said. "We do not even have weapons, >and this is not the time to take up arms. But I want to tell you clearly >and emphatically that if this system is not changed in the next five years, >then you are going to see our people take up arms." > > >Louis Proyect > >(The Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org) __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
