The strike was sponsored by a coalition of labor and political organizations known as the Patriotic Front, as well as the United Workers Front (FUT), Evangelical Federation of Peasants (FEINE), National Federation of Peasant, Indigenous, and Black Organizations (FENOCIN), and other groups.

Unionists and other protesters marched through the streets of Quito, and in provinces including Los Ríos, Esmeraldas, Zamora-Chinchipe, and Manabí. The government deployed a massive police and military presence to intimidate protesters, throwing tear gas and making numerous arrests.

Luis Villacís, president of the Patriotic Front, said the strike paralyzed public transportation in the provinces of Carchi, Imbabura, and Cotopaxi. The union action was less effective in major cities such as Quito and Guayaquil.

The leadership of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) endorsed the strike but did not actively participate in it. CONAIE and other Indian groups were the leading force in the January 21 uprising that toppled the government of Jamil Mahuad and briefly brought to power a three-person junta that included CONAIE president Antonio Vargas before the military handed the presidency to Vice president Gustavo Noboa.

The popular rebellion was detonated by Mahuad's moves to "dollarize" the economy by substituting the national currency, the sucre, with the U.S. dollar at a fixed rate of 25,000 sucres per dollar, a measure devastating to the living standards of working people and middle classes. After taking office, Noboa carried through the dollarization, fueling the ongoing protests.

The National Union of Educators (UNE) has 145,000 members on strike. They are demanding an increase in monthly wages to $100 over the next nine months, and the immediate release of their union president, Aracelly Moreno, who has been arrested and charged with "slandering" the president.

Carmela América Yépez, 70, one of the teachers on hunger strike, declared, "It's not fair that somebody who has dedicated 27 years of her life to education only gets paid 1,800,000 sucres [US$72] a month." Yépez provides for three orphaned grandchildren.

Meanwhile, 32,000 doctors in the Medical Federation of Ecuador launched a national strike June 2. They oppose moves to privatize the health-care system and are demanding increased government spending on health care, as well as a salary increase to $300 a month. Hospital workers have continued their strike in Guayaquil to demand wage increases, transportation subsidies, and increased health-care funding in the national budget.

According to a report by the Ministry of Social Welfare, the official poverty level in Ecuador doubled to 14 percent between 1998 and 1999. The official unemployment rate increased from 9 percent to 17 percent. The real figures are much higher.

As a substitute for resolving the economic crisis, the government pays many working people a "bonus" of 262,500 sucres--about US$10 a month. Eighty percent of those receiving these payments are peasants. To collect them some have to walk up to three hours, get a ride to the city, and then wait in lines of up to 700 people at a bank.

"If I get paid the bonus, I buy rice and shortening; the rest goes for gas and water," said María Chimbo, 30, a farmer standing in line with her five children at a bank in Riobamba.

An International Monetary Fund delegation arrived in Quito to make sure the austerity measures are being carried out as IMF officials demand. Their main concern is that the Ecuadoran government continue to make payments on its foreign debt, which now stands at $16 billion.  
 
 
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