For those wondering abut what has been happening in Ecuador.
From: Michael Albert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Military-Indigenous Coup Aborted by Military High Command
By Jennifer N. Collins
Report from Ecuador
Quito, January 22, 2000: The coup carried out yesterday in Ecuador by
mid-level military officers together with leaders of the indigenous
movement lasted less than 24 hours. Actions taken by officers in the Joint
Command of the Armed Forces has given way to the destitution of President
Jamil Mahuad and his replacement by Vice President Gustavo Noboa, and
thereby the return to constitutionality, but the pressing problems of
social injustice and exclusion remain. The indigenous and popular
movements, which led the way to the coup have not been granted any
concessions or a seat at the negotiating table, this may lead to further
unrest.
A Single Day of Popular Power
After taking over the Congressional building, declaring a new government of
national salvation, and installing a new "popular parliament," the forces
supporting this rupture with the constitutional order and the installation
of a new popular government moved the center of their activity from the
Congress building slowly towards the National Palace, located in the
colonial center of the capital. At about 5pm that afternoon the protestors
and the military officers who had joined the rebellion began a march from
the Congressional building to the National Palace. At around the same time,
President Mahuad abandoned the seat of government after being informed by
the General in charge of the troops guarding the Palace, that he could no
longer assure the security of the building.
Later that night, after the leaders of the newly declared government had
installed themselves in the National Palace, it was announced that they
would meet with the leaders of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces. This
was clearly a crucial moment; up to that point the high level military
leadership had been very clear in their position of only supporting a
constitutional solution to the crisis. Earlier that day they had called
upon President Mahuad to resign, but had by no means given their support to
the mid-level officers who had joined together with the indigenous and
popular leaders. At about 7pm that night, the Chief of the Joint Command,
General Carlos Mendoza, arrived at the National Palace and began to
dialogue with the leaders of the coup in the middle of the plaza.
Eventually they went inside the National Palace and went into a closed
session meeting with leaders of the newly declared "Junta of National
Salvation." It was certainly quite surprising to see this representative of
the highest level of the military command entering into
peaceful negotiations with the leaders of the coup, who had in effect
subverted his authority.
In the meantime, the military cordon that had been blocking access to the
plaza in front of the National Palace was finally broken at 7pm and about
5,000 demonstrators, supporters of the new government flooded into
Independence Plaza. The balconies of the national palace were brimming with
people, a mixture of members of the military and the police together with
indigenous and popular leaders. Members of the military could be seen
speaking to the crowd below and leading them in chants of "Ecuador,
Ecuador." Below, illuminated by the light of TV cameras, the plaza was
filled with supporters of the new popular government.
Just before mid-night, after about three hours of negotiations behind
closed doors, Coronel Gutierrez, who had led the mid-level officers in the
coup announced that his mission had been completed and that he was handing
over power in this new government to General Carlos Mendoza. At that point
Mendoza announced the formation of a civil-military triumvirate, composed
of himself, the President of the National Indigenous Confederation
(CONAIE), Antonio Vargas, and Carlos Solorzano, a former President of the
Supreme Court. Mendoza announced that this triumvirate would "work for the
country, put an end to corruption, and assure that day by day Ecuadorians
would become less poor." In response to a barrage of questions from
journalists about what sort of policies this new government would
implement, Mendoza evaded any concrete answers, and instead explained that
the triumvirate would have to meet the next day and had not yet made these
crucial decisions.
Betrayal Comes at Night
Thus, last night the country went to bed with a new civilian-military
popular government, but it awoke to the surprising news that General
Mendoza had betrayed his promise to join this new government. Just three
hours after the midnight announcement, sometime around 3am, Mendoza
announced that he was withdrawing from the triumvirate, and that he would
give way to the assumption of power by Vice President Noboa. In his
declarations he basically admitted that he had purposefully deceived the
nation and had never had any intention of allowing this junta to remain in
power. He explained that he took this action in order to avoid bloodshed
and to bring about a peaceful return to constitutional order. By the time
he made this announcement, the demonstrators had abandoned the National
Palace. In other words, it was clear that he had made a show of support for
the popular government in order to deactivate the demonstrations. Once this
was done, he met with the high military command and informed them and the
press that he was not going to continue as a member of the junta.
This morning (Saturday, January 22) the military officers who led the coup
were arrested and are currently in jail, and apparently the indigenous
leadership is in hiding. Also this morning, Mahuad announced on a national
television broadcast that he had been overthrown by a military coup, and
asked the country and the political elite to give their united support to
the new President, Gustavo Noboa. Also this morning the Ecuadorian Congress
met in session in Guayaquil, i.e. not in the National Congress building
into order to take the legal steps necessary for Noboa to assume the
presidency.
What Happened?
It is clear in hindsight that the military high command was never in favor
or willing to support this kind of a popular coup, and one can speculate,
either that the mid-level officers who helped lead the coup were simply
duped by the position of the representative of the Joint Command, or
instead that they began to realize that they might not have enough support
within the military to successfully carry out this coup, and so fairly
quickly gave in.
Certainly what must have been another important factor in the decisions
made by all factions within the military was the international reaction to
this coup. Every country in Latin America, with the exception of Venezuela,
publicly condemned the coup and called for a return to constitutional
order. The United States did likewise, and went so far as to threaten that
if this coup persisted that Ecuador would be cut off internationally the
way that Cuba has been. Certainly, this sort of threat would have weighed
heavily with the military leadership.
What is more of a quandary is the position and thinking of the indigenous
leadership. Clearly this action by Mendoza was a blatant betrayal of their
cause, and they appear to have come out of this whole episode in a weaker
position politically than before. Previous to this whole episode they had
five representatives in the National Congress; they had been elected on the
Pachakutik ticket, which is a political movement with strong connections to
the CONAIE and other social movements. In the midst of yesterday's events
three of the Pachakutik elected representatives resigned from Congress in
order to throw their support in with the new popular government. Two
leaders of the center-left Democratic Left Party (ID), also did likewise.
Thus, the small amount of representation that these movements had in the
national Congress has now been substantially reduced.
Vargas, the President of CONAIE, announced this morning that in view of
what had happened the indigenous uprising would continue. After this
statement this morning the press has not reported on any other statements
by the indigenous leadership. There are, however, rumors that all of the
leadership has gone into hiding in anticipation of retaliations against
them. The rank-and-file members of the movement, who came into Quito from
the provinces and have been camped out in a park, today have been preparing
to return to their homes. Again the rumor that I heard is that they are
planning to carry on the uprising in the provinces. Given what they
achieved, even if only for a day, and the level of betrayal that took place
on the part of the military, I can't believe that some sort of reaction is
not going to take place, and I would not be surprised if the reaction this
time takes a more violent turn than it has in the past.
What Future for Justice and Social-Political Change?
While I am a strong supporter of democracy and the importance therefore of
democratic processes and institutions, I have to say that my heart is heavy
today. It is clear to me that here in Ecuador formal democracy has not
worked to represent or safeguard the interests of the poor, which represent
the vast majority of this county, or even of the small middle class.
Instead, the vast majority of the political elite, from the President on
down, have acted with incredible callousness and irresponsibility towards
the bulk of the Ecuadorian people, in benefit of a very small, but
economically powerful segment of the population. Not only has the political
and economic elite that rule this country not taken seriously the need for
redistributive measures to ameliorate the high level of income inequality,
but they have not even been capable or willing to take the steps necessary
to construct an efficient and competitive economy that produces economic
growth. Instead a type of crony capitalism has taken root in this country
and is threatening to draw the whole country into chaos. The indigenous
movement has been valiant in its efforts to raise a united call for a new
type of democracy that can overcome this bias in favor of the wealthy and
powerful. Up umtil now they have worked through peaceful means, but in view
of this blatant and terrible betrayal it would not be at all surprising if
this was taken as a lesson that peaceful means are not very successful at
achieving change. Thus I am afraid that difficult and perhaps tragic days
lay ahead for Ecuador, but certainly the tragedy has been going on for a
long time as every day citizens are denied the means to live with dignity,
security, and with opportunities for bettering their lives.
--
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