[A-List] Ecuador Update

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Ecuador's Lucio Era Begins
Drug War, Plan Colombia, and US Air Base at Manta, Test the New President


By Ron Smith
Reporting from Quito, Ecuador
January 21, 2003


The new president, Lucio Gutierrez, was sworn in to the presidency
Wednesday, January 15th, and the country is ablaze with anticipation.
Unfortunately, the country may also become ablaze with exactly the kind of
anti-democratic activity currently gripping Venezuela. Additionally,
Lucio´s rhetoric has changed significantly since the days of the
congressional takeover by the indigenous and working class. The fact is
that after the inauguration, the future of Ecuador remains a question mark.



The hopes and fears of Lucio


Lucio Gutierrez is, much like his counterpart in Venezuela, a former member
of the armed forces in Ecuador. Like Chavez, he comes from the lower
classes and is of mixed ethnicity. In various places around Quito, one can
see the graffito, "Lucio = Chavez!" Lucio participated in the takeover of
congress initiated by progressive indigenous groups and enforced by the
grassroots concertacíon made up of labor and militant indigenous groups.
The revolutionary governing coalition was composed of three members,
including indigenous leader Antonio Vargas, General Carlos Mendoza, and
Carlos Solorzano, a former Supreme Court judge.

Lucio participated in the revolutionary uprising of January 2000, but
refused to join the ruling coalition. The revolutionary coalition soon
found itself in the impossible position of facing down the United States.

The US embassy here threatened a complete shut down of economic aid and an
economic blockade. Mendoza, representing the armed forces, backed down to
the demands of the United States, and the former vice-president, Gustavo
Noboa, was installed as the new president. Noboa is a classic
free-marketeer, has willingly aided the United States in the dubious Plan
Colombia, specifically by allowing the US special privileges in the Forward
Operating Location at Manta, and by increasing the Ecuadoran military
presence along the Colombian border.

The elections of 2002 found Ecuador in an extremely precarious situation:
The economy was recently dollarized, which produced drastic results for the
local population; Plan Colombia has been growing into the Andean Regional
Initiative, with accompanying escalations in violence. Lucio presented
himself as the rebels' choice in the Ecuadoran elections, and promised
major changes in the direction of the Ecuadoran state. The fact remains
that at this point, Lucio is a big question mark in terms of his loyalty to
the revolutionary forces that catapulted him to fame and then the
presidency.

At the time of the failing of the coup, local indigenous groups, angry at
the unilateral decision of armed forces to dissemble the governing
coalition and accede to US demands, stated that they felt that Mendoza and
the armed forces had betrayed the revolution. The fact is that progressive
groups all over the country are holding their collective breath to see if
Lucio will remain loyal to the needs of the common Ecuadorans.

Many see the current political environment as a triple threat to the
heavy-handed policies of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who is hell-bent
on complying with US military objectives in the region. Chavez in
Venezuela, Lula in Brazil, and Gutierrez in Ecuador surely make for
uncomfortable neighbors for the hard-line Uribe. To signify the importance
of this new coalition, both Lula and Chavez were present at the
inauguration in Quito on January 15th to celebrate Lucio's ascendency.


Lucio and the His Cabinet:
Tokenism or Real Change?


Perhaps the two most confusing parts of the inauguration were Lucio's
address and his selection of cabinet members for the new government. Many
progressive sectors are hailing the new government as being more open, and
in the words of a retired general, an example for Andean nations.

Lucio's cabinet includes two indigenous members, a first for Ecuador and
the other Andean nations. Luis Macas is the new agricultural minister, and
Nina Pacari is the new Foreign Relations minister, both are members of
CONAIE, the indigenous organization that participated in the events of
January 2001. While this shows real progress for the Ecuadoran government,
the fact that only two indigenous people out of a cabinet of 16 ministers
are indigenous shows that there is still far to come in a country with over
6 million indigenous citizens.

What's more disconcerting about the cabinet is the appointment of Ivonne
Baki and Mauricio Pozo. Ivonne Baki is descibed in the newspaper El
Comercio as a friend of Bill Clinton and advisor to Jamil Mahuad, deposed
former president. Baki has lived in Washington, D.C. for several years
before she was appointed as Foreign Commerce minister, and is a real
neo-liberal force for the new cabinet. She claims that her mandate is to
improve the competitiveness of Ecuadoran businesses and open the economy to
foreign investment. Many speculate that Baki was appointed as a means of
placating the neo-liberal right; Baki came in eighth in the Presidential
elections.

Mauricio Pozo is also quite worrisome, in his new role as Economy and
Finance Minister, he worked for the Association of Private Banks, and is an
ardent defender of dollarization and the neo-liberal model. How this
cabinet will play out with Nina Pacari and her populist anti-neo-liberal
model versus Mauricio and Ivonne remains to be seen. Already, on the fourth
day of the Gutierrez presidency, Lucio announced that he was, with much
regret, going to increase the cost of gasoline, up to $1.98 per gallon for
Extra, and around $1.50 for Regular. This cost increase was mandated by the
IMF, and may have some very serious repercussions for the country's poor.

Does this indicate that Lucio has abandoned the poor? Perhaps not, if we
reflect on some of the more conservative actions of Hugo Chavez at the
beginning of his presidency. Again, Gutierrez is still an unknown.


Lucio's Unlikely Address


Lucio addressed the national congress during his inauguration, with members
of congress and invited presidents from South American nations present. The
invited presidents included the notorious Colombian President Alvaro Uribe,
Lula da Silva from Brazil, Hugo Chavez, and Fidel Castro. Also present was
Peruvian President Toledo and his wife. Uribe looked quite uncomfortable
during the presentation, perhaps a symbol of his discomfort with the change
in power in the neighboring nations.

Lucio covered all the big topics, including his position on the economy and
poverty in a nation with 80 percent of the population in poverty. Lucio
claimed that his goals included the alleviation of poverty and the
development of Ecuador for Ecuadorans, and decried the role of developed
nations in demanding payment of the external debt. At the same time, he
claimed that Ecuador needs to open its borders to more foreign investment
and eliminate taxes for foreign companies. These two goals seem fairly
incompatible, as the opening of the Ecuadoran economy is one of the root
causes of poverty in the nation and for the poor, the dollarization has
been a catastrophe.

At one point in the speech, Lucio claimed that "if to oppose corruption
makes me a leftist, then I am your leftist". He subsequently claimed that
he will not govern for the left or for the right, but for Ecuador, and that
he has no ideology. This last statement caused quite a bit of
consternation. As Colombian professor, Lilia Solano, stated in a
post-inauguration interview, "to claim not to have an ideology is to claim
an ideology."

Lucio's speech indicated some of the deep divisions in Ecuadoran society
and in his cabinet. According to Coronel Jorge Brito, another progressive
armed forces member and former professor at the School of the Americas,
Lucio changed dramatically from the initial presidential campaign to the
current one. Coronel Brito also participated in the uprising and like
Lucio, spent several months in prison. One thing that is certain is that
Lucio's presidency will not be an easy one, as many of the most reactionary
forces in the country will not allow the changes that his electoral base is
demanding.


Lucio and the Drug War


Ecuador plays a significant role in the US Andean Initiative; more than
being a neighbor to Colombia, Ecuador is the site of the US Forward
Operating Location at Manta, on the coast. Manta is considered a disgrace
to many Ecuadorans, a result of the Mahuad presidency.

One of the many actions that caused President Mahuad's removal in 2000 was
his signing of the treaty with the United States. Alexis Ponce, of the
local group Assemblea Permanente por Derechos Humanos, describes the base
at Manta as a step towards the Hondurization of Ecuador, referring to the
major role Honduras played in the Central American wars of the 1980´s.
Ponce speculates that the claims by the United States that "Andean
intelligence agencies need to improve their capacity and their
coordination" could be a preamble to another Operation Condor, the
notorious US-supported intelligence plan of South American dictatorships in
the 1980´s. Following this logic, Manta plays a central role in this
intelligence coordination. Ponce has first-hand knowledge of these
intelligence operations, as he recently received a disk from an unnamed
source including transcripts of telephone calls and computer images of his
family members, all originating from the Ecuadoran Police.

According to retired General Rene Vargas Pazzos, former head of the
Ecuadoran Armed Forces and Lucio's former professor, Manta is a scar on the
face of Ecuador and is being used for all manner of covert and grey
activities by the US military and their notorious contractors, Dyncorp.
Pazzos noted that Manta is large enough for the largest US troop carrier
airplanes, such as the C-5 Galaxy, the C-130, and the C-140, an indication
that the base is intended to be used not just for drug interdiction, but
for staging a major invasion. According to Pazzos, the United States is far
overstepping the limits of the agreement, and is making Manta a staging
area for future US interventions in the Andes and beyond. Pazzos indicated
that Lucio is stuck with Manta, for the agreement that allowed for the US
base has a duration of 10 years. What Pazzos claims is that Lucio can push
the United States to abide by the agreement to the letter and only use the
base for anti-drug operations and pre!
vent any more expansions of the base.


Along the Ecuador-Colombia Border


Remember Fusarium Oxysporum? You know, the nasty genetically-engineered
fungus that supposedly only affects coca and poppy (much like the
Glyphosate Fumigations were supposed to only affect large-scale coca
growers) that the US and Colombia claim is not being used against
campesinos? Recently, Adolfo Maldonado, a doctor working with the local
group, Accion Ecologica, conducted several tests in the Sucumbios region of
Ecuador, which borders Putumayo in Colombia where the heaviest fumigations
are taking place. The results of these tests showed the heightened presence
of Fusarium fungus in soil and plant samples. According to Maldonado, this
does not necessarily mean the US and Dyncorp are spraying fusarium, but he
attributes it to two possibilities; an unforeseen side effect of intensive
fumigation with the deadly Glyphosate cocktail, or someone is spraying
fusarium fungus. The Glyphosate side effect hypothesis seems unlikely. At
this point, the results are inconclusive, but s!
everal campesinos have reported a coffee-colored powder emanating from the
very same planes that fumigate with Glyphosate. The seriousness of this
possibility cannot be overestimated and could have serious unforeseen
ecological and medical ramifications.

A recent interview with an Afro-Ecuadoran mother from a community on the
border with Colombia illustrated that the supposed war on drugs in Colombia
knows no borders and affects the poor from all the surrounding nations. She
was kind enough to show this reporter the sores and burns covering much of
her 3-year-old son's body, the result of bathing in the San Miguel River
that forms part of the border between Colombia and Ecuador. A lawsuit is
currently being tried in the United States of Ecuadoran citizens against
the Dyncorp Corporation for illegal sprayings across the Ecuadoran border.
According to a treaty between the Ecuadoran and Colombian governments, no
Colombian fumigations may take place within 10 kilometers of the border,
but Maldonado claimed that he checked spaying damage and overflights with a
GPS monitor, and not only were the sprayings taking place close the border,
he also witnessed planes crossing the border to dump their load of
Glyphosate.


The World Social Forum and Beyond


Many of the progressive groups operating here in Ecuador are participating
in the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Many groups from all the
Andean nations will be attending the Forum, and the forum has devoted a day
to Colombia and the issues regarding the current Andean conflict. These
groups see this as a way of continuing the internationalization of
resistance to the US plans in Colombia and beyond. Look for reports from
yours truly as I head for the Forum on January 23rd.


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