Far from being intimidated, the indigenous movement and workers organizations have gained strength to continue their fight for justice and have reaffirmed they are ready to mobilize again. While the Noboa government announced its plans to proceed to replace the country's currency, the sucre, with the U.S. dollar, unions and popular organizations united under the Patriotic Front (FP) have scheduled demonstrations starting February 2 to voice their opposition to "dollarization" and the selling off of state enterprises to capitalist concerns, namely the oil and electricity companies.

The FP has also decided to oppose prosecution of the military colonels arrested for their actions in allowing protesters, led by indigenous organizations, to occupy Congress and bring down the Mahuad government. After the occupation, the military announced a three-person junta that included a leader of the indigenous people, but after Mahuad fled it quickly turned power over to Noboa, who was the vice-president.

So far 13 colonels are in custody awaiting trial on charges of sedition and conspiring against the constitutional order. Another 300 officers are under investigation. The president of the federation of courthouse employees, Juan José Castelló, and two other leaders of the Popular Democratic Movement (MFD)—an opposition political party—have also been charged for their participation in the revolt. Luis Villacís, the president of the FP, said demonstrations demanding the release of all the arrested, and for changes in the economy, will continue.

Antonio Vargas, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), was also summoned, but there have not been any other steps to arrest him so far. "I am here showing my face," said the indigenous leader. "If for fighting against corruption, against misery, and hunger they take me to prison, I will go."

The rebellion was fueled by the impact of the world capitalist economic crisis on the semicolonial country of Ecuador, and its devastating consequences for working people. Over the past several years the value of the sucre dropped by almost 300 percent and purchasing power shrank from $160 to $37, while wages increased no more than 10 percent.

The cost of public utilities skyrocketed. For example, the price of water went up 400 percent. Electricity and telephone services rose an equal amount. The banking system collapsed in 1998-99 as the largest banks in the country went bankrupt and were taken over by the state. Deposits in the banks, around $4 billion, were frozen after capitalists pulled some $6 billion from the country. At the same time, the country reached the highest inflation index in Latin America at 60 percent.

CONAIE president Vargas told reporters they were seeking alliances with other social sectors that may work out better than the betrayal they faced with the military. "We now have a much stronger alliance with other groups of civil society," he said. "We have created parliaments in all the provinces, which is what gives us unity." The parliaments are open to other social groups that want a change in the country.

In addition to the general economic crisis, the brutal treatment and pervasive discrimination faced by the indigenous population was a spur to the protests.

César Umajinga, president of the Cotopaxi Indigenous and Peasant Movement, voiced his opposition to years of government disregard for their communities. "If this system is not changed in the next five years, then you are going to see our people take up arms," he said.

Many indigenous people work 12-hour days tilling small plots of the worst land. Comprising one-third of the 12 million people in Ecuador, they are treated as second-class citizens and driven off their land to the cities. Eighty-three percent of Indians in rural areas, mainly in the highlands, live in poverty, compared to 46 percent of other Ecuadorans. Only 41 percent have access to potable water, 87 percent of Indian homes lack toilets, and 44 percent have no electricity.

According to a Cedatus-Gallup poll taken after the coup, 71 percent of the population is against prosecution of the indigenous and popular leaders who participated in the January 21 rebellion. The poll involved more than 270,000 people in Quito, Cuenca, Manta, Guayaquil, and Portoviejo.  
 
 
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