VOCES EN PODER: VOICES IN POWER
Movimientos Populares en America Latina
Popular Movements in Latin America

A Project of the Ecosolidarity Andes Network
 http://www.bluegreenearth.com/appeals_campaigns/ecosolidarity1.html

THE ISSUES:
US IMPOSED DRUG WARS - "ECO -WARS" - AND
THE WARS OF EXPLOITATION AND A CORRUPT NEOLIBERALISM

THE PEOPLE:
STUDENTS, WORKERS, ASAMBLEAS POPULARES, UNEMPLOYED AND THE LANDLESS

CONNECTING THE VOICES:
THE ECOSOLIDARITY NETWORK PROVIDES RESOURCES AND CAMPAIGNS OF MEDIA PROMOTION FOR POPULAR ORANIZATIONS: RESEARCH, WORKSHOPS, VIDEO PRESENTATIONS, TRANSLATION, AND PUBLICATION

Ecosolidarity Andes is a solutions oriented network of writers and researchers. WE investigate corporate crimes and government corruption in Latin America. We promote sustainable and equitable solutions – and we defend those solutions passionately with impeccable research.

*** UPDATES FROM “The Popular Movements in Latin America.””


PUERTO RICO:

January 14 – The Last US Bombing in Vieques – After 60 years of military training and bombing of this large island off the Puerto Rican coast, the US government has surrendered to the protesters and residents demands. A guard was killed in 1999 sparking large protests, invasions of the bombing range and mass arrests. US also threatening to close Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, the largest employer in region, with 4,800 employees and $300 million spending each year. [ ed. – A highly polluting and socially-toxic addiction: military spending in the US and in Puerto Rico.]

The US military is an unaccountable enterprise that wastes large amounts of fossil fuels and money. Wouldn’t Puerto Rico be better off if it closed toxic non-sustainable businesses like Roosevelt Roads and built parks and better neighborhoods. Market gardens subsidized by the state and poor neighborhood improvements would make life better for everyone and could be paid for from proportional taxes and reparations from the US Navy and multi-national businesses.


ECUADOR:

January 24 – Anti-corruption leader Lucio Gutierrez won the presidency of Ecuador in late 2002. The coalition that brought Gutierrez to power represents students, leftists, workers, several large indigenous organizations (CONAIE, Pachakutik, Coordinadora de Movimientos Sociales (CMS)) and the many poor people who live in the mountain areas. Gutierrez’s coalition did not do very well in Guayaquil – the second largest city – and in several other coastal and lowland regions.

The coalition that backs Gutierrez only controls some 19 percent of the national legislature. Political alliances and allegiance to political parties are volatile in Ecuador as elsewhere in Latin America. Gutierrez’s supporters and the poor and indigenous people who have been the victims of neoliberalism and the extreme corruption in Ecuador will not wait long for improvements. This situation is similar in Brazil, Peru and in Bolivia. In Bolivia tensions and demands have exploded into road blockades and violence. The border regions and the oil producing areas of Ecuador have a lot of problems that Gutierrez must address soon or else protests will arise across Ecuador too.

At the inauguration celebration for Gutierrez on January 15, Lula of Brazil announced his Friends of Venezuela Campaign under the auspices of the Organization of American State (OAS). Gutierrez gave a fiery speech to Latin American leaders about his plans for attacking the corrupt oligarchy in Ecuador and his intention to prioritize the poor and give power to the people: “Ecuador for Ecuadorans.” The new President. Showed some humor and his situation when he said, “If to oppose corruption makes me a leftist, then I am your leftist.” Chavez called the speech ”Revolutionary!”

In parts of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, one can find posters and grafitti expressing:
“Lucio = Chavez!”

New ministers are coming to power in Ecuador. They often represent groups who have never had mush of a voice in Ecuador’s politics. Gutierrez appointed two indigenous activists to his cabinet. Both Nina Pacari, the Minister of Foreign Relations (Secretary of State) and Luis Macas, the Agriculture Minister are members of CONAIE, the indigenous organization that has twice helped overthrow corrupt Ecuadoran presidents. The issues that will galvanize or polarize the national legislature are not yet clear. As with Lula’s situation, Gutierrez has had to build support for his programs by awarding cabinet positions to some cooperative right wing people.

Ivonne Baki is the new Foreign Commerce Minister. She has lived in Washington DC for years and was an advisor to the deposed and corrupt President Mahuad. The newspaper El Comercio describes her as a friend of Mr. “Plan Colombia” Bill Clinton.

Mario Pozo, the Economy and Finance Minister, is an ardent rightwing freemarket proponent and a friend of Ecuador’s bankers and the corrupt elite. Fireworks are possible.

The status of the military is not well known, though some clearly side with the new government. An explosion at a military base named Riobamba could have been a warning of future attacks. After calling the US military base at Manta a scar on the face of Ecuador and a covert center for staging a major invasion, Retired General Rene Pazos, former head of the Armed Forces and Gutierrez’s former professor received threatening information about his family by way of a computer diskette.

Gutierrez wants to kick the US out of Ecuador and support new drug and peace plans in Colombia, but the US is a dangerous negotiating “partner,” and the legality of the US military base at Manta, on Ecuador’s North Pacific coast, remains controversial. While some question the loyalty of Gutierrez to the revolution that Ecuador desperately needs, he will probably follow the same path as Lula: follow the people. The defense of the revolution in Venezuela is now also being led by the people – the poor and community groups – who as in Argentina and Bolivia have only recently learned that they have to take matters into their own hands and fight for change.

“If we review this year’s budget, twenty percent is to pay off debts of monies that have not reached the entire country except in droplets and at times with blackmail. We believe that is the matter that must be stopped and we are going to organize our own economy, because Ecuador has potential, natural resources, oil, mines and agriculture, diversity in every way.

The US talks a lot about democracy, but they only want it if it follows their model… If we are democratic, if there are other forms of democracy that enrich the cultural and political realms and the very same democracy, they must not prevent us from doing it. That’s why we speak of inclusive and multi-ethnic democracy, of a process of construction… as we have been excluded we are going to include ourselves. Democracy must be of flesh and bone, including in economic and social development.”
- Gutierrez’s Foreign Minister Nina Pacari in December, 2002.


Prognosis Ecuador:

Right wing resistance to Gutierrez’s reforms will be as strong as in Venezuela, but the wide diversity of popular movements and the strong indigenous presence in some border areas, oil producing zones and the highlands will forge a strong force of support for change. Unlike the Bolivian government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, Gutierrez will not abuse or kill the indigenous and student protesters – no matter what they do.

The most troubling fear in Ecuador is that the US is about to escalate the war in Colombia with devastating effects across the border. Already the toxic US herbicide spray program has harmed much of the border area and new reports suggest that the US is already spraying a dangerous genetically altered fungus in the area. Violence caused by US militarism and US drug abuse is spreading throughout the region. The failures of the US Drug War policies are a major embarrassment for the Bush Administration. So, the media and the US censure any reasonable discussion of these complex issues.


*NOTE: [ Final Version Will be Updated and have a section here on Popular
Movements in Ecuador (Please submit) – draft statements available in February]

Important Popular Movements and Political parties in Ecuador:
CONAIE
Sin Techos
Coordinadora de Movimientos Sociales (CMS), represents many groups.
Pachakutik, Pluri-national Pachakutik-New Country Movement, Gutierrez’s main support organization. It is led by Miguel Lluco (National Director).
CONFEUNASC, a national campesino group.
Assemblea Permanente, (Alex Ponce) an anti-Manta and anti-US militarization group.
Patriotic Society, the political party of Gutierrez.
Accion Ecologica


SOURCES:

Ecuador’s Lucio Era Begins
 http://www.narconews.com/issue27/article593.html

Andes Libre News Service correspondent, Cristo Rosen, Quito.