Ecuador, a country of 12 million people in South America, is saddled with a $13 billion debt owed primarily to banks in imperialist centers. The country's currency, the sucre, has dropped more than 70 percent against the dollar over the past 12 months.

After the currency slid another 20 percent in less than a week, Mahuad on January 10 called for replacing the sucre with the U.S. dollar. The president of Ecuador's Central Bank, Pablo Better, resigned in protest. His 15-member cabinet also tendered its resignation. The Social Christian Party, which has opposed Mahuad, announced it would support dollarization

A coalition of student, labor, Indian, and other political groups said that they would defy the president's ban on protests and begin a general strike January 15. At a news conference, the groups blasted the government's new currency policy as leading to "massive impoverishment."

"The government, the Parliament, the courts, they have all got to go," stated Antonio Vargas, a leader of one of the Indian groups. "Our decision is to pursue this to the final consequences, that all of them go and the Ecuadorean people save themselves."

The conversion rate suggested by the government of 25,000 sucres for one dollar will drastically slash wages. The minimum wage, for instance, would be under $30 a month, compared to more than double that amount in dollars only six months ago.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced it would be sending a mission to Ecuador to assist President Mahuad in adopting the dollar as the nation's currency. Last September, Ecuador's rulers defaulted on bond debt payments.

Around the same time, Mahuad promised more severe austerity moves in exchange for getting an IMF loan. Claiming he was undertaking a "modernization of the state," the president, with backing from Congress, plans to sell off state industries to capitalist concerns.

On January 7 workers, teachers, and students marched in Quito against the government austerity programs. The Patriotic Front (FP), an umbrella group that includes unions, students, and community organizations, have announced they will participate also in the general strike called for January 15. Protests took place in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca, with many people injured and dozens arrested by the police. Luis Villacís, president of the organization, said that they not only want the resignation of the president but the entire Congress and Supreme Court members.

Transportation in the province of Guayas was paralyzed as buses and taxi drivers stopped service, preventing many from traveling to Guayaquil, its capital city. Public transportation was not available in Guayaquil itself or to the other provinces. The transportation operators protested against the increase of fees for tolls.

In the meantime, the national police have beefed up their forces in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Ambato, utilizing students at their academies. Another 16,000 cops are kept as reserves in their headquarters, ready to intervene. At the same time, small merchants and the FP announced more protests in Guayaquil for January 12.

The indigenous organization CONAIE announced their participation in the days of protest. In Tungurahua, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi some have decided to block the highways and prevent transportation of agricultural products in preparation for the big mobilization. The indigenous organizations demand a new government and oppose dollarization of the currency. Students from the university in Ambato and peasants joined in blocking highways as part of the protest actions.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home