Denoucing the dollar: Indians come out in force against foreign economics

New Internationalist, April, 2000

Betrayed by the military and ousted from parliament, Ecuador's indigenous insurgents may be in worse shape than before their short-lived coup on 21 January. On that day Antonio Vargas, President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), led hundreds of indigenous people who took over the national Congress. The leaders of the civil-military uprising disavowed the Congress, courts and bureaucracy, which they accused of corruption.

But it was the country's worst economic crisis that sparked the coup attempt. Earlier that week about 5,000 Indian protesters had arrived in Quito to demand the resignation of President Mahuad, Congress and the Courts. The protesters claim that a plan by Mahuad to adopt the US dollar as the country's currency will impoverish them further. Last year, inflation was over 60 per cent -- the highest in Latin America. Unemployment soared even higher and now only one in three workers has a job.

Just before midnight on 21 January, the insurgents announced the formation of a triumvirate joined by General Carlos Mendoza, chief of the armed forces joint command. But three hours later, Mendoza resigned from the struggle, asked to be released from military service, and called for Vice-President Noboa to assume the presidency. Congress opted for this constitutional end to the crisis, nearly unanimously agreeing that Mahuad -- who refused to resign -- had abandoned his post, and that the Vice-President could replace him.

Some political analysts attribute Mendoza's resignation to international pressure. Every country in Latin America with the exception of Venezuela publicly condemned the coup and called for a return to constitutional order. The United States went so far as to threaten that Ecuador would be cut off internationally in the way that Cuba has been.

Before this whole episode, indigenous groups had five representatives in the National Congress who had been elected on the Pachakutik ticket, which is a political movement with strong connections to CONAIE. In the midst of the uprising, three of the Pachakutik elected representatives resigned from Congress in order to support the new popular government. Two leaders of the Democratic Left Party did likewise. The small amount of representation that these movements had in the national Congress has now been substantially diminished.

Antonio Vargas says that the indigenous and social movement completely disagrees with the resolution of their uprising. `We do not accept that they have placed Noboa in the presidency. We are closely watching the measures that he will take,' he says. Meanwhile, Noboa claims that the programme to `dollarize' the economy will continue, accompanied by further tough economic measures.