Gutiérrez becomes the sixth president in six years in this South American nation of 13 million. Two previous regimes were brought down by mass revolts against imperialist-dictated economic policies. Abdalá Bucaram was removed by Congress in 1997 after protests against government policies culminated in an outpouring of 2 million people in the streets of Quito, the capital. Then Jamil Mahuad, whose government had established the U.S. dollar as the official currency, was driven from power in January 2000 by an uprising that replaced him with a short-lived provisional government backed by mass indigenous organizations.

Because of the depth of the social crisis in Ecuador, most traditional capitalist parties and politicians have become widely discredited. Both Gutiérrez, whose January 21 Patriotic Movement is named for the January 2000 rebellion, and his opponent Alvaro Noboa built a following by claiming they would address the devastating conditions workers and farmers confront in Ecuador.

Noboa, a banana tycoon who inherited one of the richest fortunes in Latin America, demagogically portrayed himself as a man of the people. One of his main campaign promises was to build 200,000 homes that could be purchased for $48 each.  
 
Severe economic crisis
Workers and peasants in Ecuador face a severe economic crisis that has been aggravated by government policies that prioritize payments to imperialist creditors on the country’s $13 billion foreign debt, which accounts for half the annual budget. Unemployment is officially 14 percent, with the number of underemployed reaching much higher.

Land in this agricultural country is concentrated in the hands of a few rich landlords--less than 5 percent of the farmers control half the land. Conditions are worse in rural areas, especially where the Indian population is concentrated. Some 80 percent of peasant women have barely reached elementary school education or have had no education at all.

In addition to being exploited as rural producers, Indians in Ecuador, who make up some 40 percent of the population, are subjected to second-class status and racist discrimination fostered by the ruling rich. It was only in 1998 that the principal Indian language, Quechua, was officially recognized. Organizations such as the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) have mobilized indigenous communities to press for their rights.

A spiraling economic crisis sparked the January 2000 rebellion. The bottom of the economy fell out as the largest banks in Ecuador went bankrupt, while rising unemployment and 60 percent inflation fueled large street protests. At the peak of the upsurge, some 5,000 Indian farmers and workers marched into the parliament building in Quito after the final straw: when Mahuad announced his decision to replace the country’s currency, the sucre, with the U.S. dollar at a rate of 25,000 to 1, thereby slashing already meager wages overnight.

In Guayaquil, the country’s largest city, a body made up of representatives of Indian groups, unions, and other mass organizations briefly took power.

In Quito, lower-level military officers backed a provisional government after the ouster of Mahuad. That triumvirate was made up of Antonio Vargas, president of CONAIE; a former supreme court president; and Colonel Gutiérrez. The provisional regime, however, then ceded power to the army, which immediately turned over the government to Mahuad’s vice president, Gustavo Noboa.

Gutiérrez was jailed six months for his role in the revolt. After his release he formed the January 21 Patriotic Movement. Gutiérrez’s presidential campaign was backed by the three main indigenous organizations--including the party Pachakutik, linked to CONAIE--and the Popular Democratic Movement, a radical coalition.  
 
Imperialist interests
U.S. and European capitalists are driving to gain more control over South America’s vast natural resources, including the oil wealth of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. They are also concerned about the explosive conditions that have led to mass outpourings in countries such as Ecuador.

Nearly half the oil imported by Washington now comes from the Americas, with the three Andean nations providing more than 2 million barrels per day, about 20 percent of U.S. imports. A consortium of multinational oil companies is nearing completion of a new $1.3 billion heavy-crude oil pipeline in Ecuador, which was promoted by the Gustavo Noboa administration as a means to double oil production to 850,000 barrels.  
 
U.S. military intervention
Washington is stepping up its military intervention in the Andean region to protect its interests. Plan Colombia, a $1.3 billion program to fund the Colombian armed forces, was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000 under the guise of fighting drug trafficking. Last July, however, Washington shifted to what it describes as counter–insurgency operations, dropping the pretense that its military intervention in Colombia was aimed at uprooting drugs. U.S. troops will train some 4,000 Colombian soldiers as a rapid-reaction force stationed at key spots along Occidental Petroleum’s 500-mile oil pipeline in the northeastern part of the country.

In Ecuador, the U.S. government was allowed to set up a military base in the town of Manta in November 1999, signing a 10-year lease with Mahuad’s government. Gen. Charles Wilhelm, then head of the U.S. Southern Command, described the base as his "number one priority" because it "enables us to achieve full coverage of Peru, Colombia, and...areas of Bolivia."

This will be accomplished "through a pair of Awacs surveillance planes...and tankers to refuel them in the air," reported the New York Times, adding that "the planes will be also be able to monitor air and marine activity well into the Caribbean." Washington is upgrading the facility, including spending millions for the construction of living quarters for 200 U.S. military and civilian contract personnel.  
 
Gutiérrez’s election campaign
Gutiérrez, a mestizo who contrasted with the lily-white political establishment, campaigned in an olive green military uniform and built his campaign around the themes of stopping corruption and doing something about the economic crisis. He told a television interviewer on the night of the election, "Ecuador can start to become a more just country, a more honest country, a country that with better living standards, and a country that is authentically democratic."

The program of his January 21 Patriotic Movement questioned the continued use of the U.S. dollar as the official currency, and whether Ecuador would pay the $13 billion debt to imperialist financial institutions. Nina Pacari Vega, a leader of the Indian party Pachakutik, which is backed by CONAIE, announced that she would become a member of Gutiérrez’s cabinet, to be named on December 15.

After making gains in the first round of elections, Gutiérrez shifted to more conciliatory language, saying his government would make payments on the foreign debt, negotiate with the IMF, and allow Washington to maintain the Manta military base. After the elections he said, "I want to give the greatest of assurances to the national productive sector, the national financial sector, and the international financial sector."

U.S. president George Bush telephoned Gutiérrez to congratulate him on his victory. Nonetheless, the imperialists remain wary of the high expectations among workers and farmers produced by the election results.

Luis Olmedo Iza, a leader of CONAIE, emphasized that the indigenous peoples have been demanding a moratorium on the foreign debt, and that "Lucio Gutiérrez will understand that we are not just asking. We do not just want an electoral victory, but a social victory to change the country."  
 
 
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