Ecuadoran president Gustavo Noboa made the proposal to Congress to change the currency, the sucre, to the dollar, a step initiated by his predecessor, who was thrown out of office after a mass upsurge by workers, peasants, and students threatened to topple the government.

Determined to implement austerity programs against working people, Noboa accused the labor leaders of disrupting measures needed to make the country attractive to foreign investors.

Labor, student, peasant, and indigenous organizations have voiced opposition to the new "dollarization" law, which sets the rate of exchange at 25,000 sucres to the dollar.

CONAIE, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, is holding meetings to discuss what actions to take in response. "The president made a mistake with the dollarization and has begun to dig his own grave," said Salvador Quishpe, one of the CONAIE leaders. In a telephone interview from Quito, CONAIE official Blanca Chancoso said that mobilizations continue against the economic policies of the government in the cities of Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Quito.

The dollarization "will have a negative impact on working people in Ecuador," said Chancoso. "It will only benefit the big entrepreneurs. Poverty will increase and the small farmers will go bankrupt."

Hospital workers in the province of Guayas went on strike as well. They are protesting the privatization of the Social Security system that covers hospitals and dispensaries, the doubling of insurance payments by individuals, and the lack of medicines and supplies needed to take care of patients.

Oil workers held a 13-hour stoppage March 3 against infringements by the dollarization law on their union rights. What started as a halt in production for technical adjustments ended in a labor protest.

Along with dollarization and austerity moves, the government plans to step up sales of key national industries to capitalists, including the power and phone companies. Responding to threats of labor actions, Noboa said, "I am not going to allow illegal walkouts and boycott actions that block progress of the country. Let the country understand this."

To advise the government on its course, Washington sent a high-level delegation to Quito at the end of February. Another delegation from Washington visited Quito in mid-February headed by Thomas Pickering, under secretary for political affairs in the State Department. Coinciding with the U.S. government's delegation, César Gaviria, general secretary of the Organization of American States, was in Quito. Approval of the austerity measures will open the road for another package of $900 million in loans and further credit lines from imperialist governments and banks.

IMF acting director Stanley Fischer confirmed that there may be an agreement for a financial loan package to Ecuador in a "matter of days," according to a March 4 Reuters report. Fischer said the loan will come from the IMF, the World Bank, and other lending institutions. The proposal to adopt the dollar "seems to be working," said Fischer.  
 
 
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