(ECU) Protest against adjustment escalates in Ecuador

["glr" <glr_y@iol.it>]

To:             	bank-boycott@egroups.com,
a16-international-planning@yahoogroups.com
From:           	Neil Watkins <neil@econjustice.net>
Date sent:      	Tue, 06 Feb 2001 18:32:02 -0500
Subject:        	Protest against adjustment escalates in Ecuador

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PROTEST IN ECUADOR ESCALATES -
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CITIZENS' GROUPS CALL FOR
REPEAL OF IMF-IMPOSED STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT POLICIES

GOVERNMENT RESPONDS WITH REPRESSION -
SEVERAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLE KILLED OR WOUNDED
AND HUNDREDS ARRESTED

Indigenous peoples in Ecuador have been mobilizing over the past
month to demand the repeal of new IMF-backed economic measures
announced by the Ecuadoran government in late December as part of
an ongoing structural adjustment program.  The measures involve
the removal of subsidies on cooking fuel and gasoline, causing the
former to double in price and the latter to increase by 25%, and a
75% increase in transportation costs.

The IMF's insistence on the application of these measures -- as
well as a 3% increase in the value-added tax which is still
pending -- has put access to dignified living conditions even
further beyond the reach of large segments of the Ecuadoran
population.  The escalating protests in recent days are not only
in response to these economic measures but to the overall
structural adjustment program that has intensified with Ecuador's
conversion to the US dollar last year.

Beginning on 21 January, indigenous groups led by CONAIE
(Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador) organized marches
and blockaded roads in the countryside and cities in half of the
country's 22 provinces.  Farmworkers, students and others also
joined in supporting these protests.  The government sent military
forces to disperse many of these peaceful demonstrations with
force, using teargas and weapons, that resulted in several
indigenous people injured, some by bullets, and several hundred
arrested.

In response, on 26 January, indigenous organizations called for a
national mobilization from communities across the country and a
convergence on the nation's capital, Quito.  The government
responded with further repression. Quito was militarized when as
many as 10,000 indigenous people arrived over the course of
several days.  After gathering on the grounds of the Polytechnic
University, they were surrounded by military troops who have cut
off water and electricity and have intermittently been stopping
food and medicine from being brought in and indigenous people from
leaving.

Attempts at dialogue between indigenous leaders and the government
have failed to produce any results, as the government has shown no
willingness to discuss economic policy or refrain from using force
against peaceful protest.  Indigenous leaders have presented a
series of demands, including an end to the repression and an open
dialogue on economic policy, and insist on meeting directly with
President Noboa.  The government responded by declaring a state of
national emergency on 2 February, suspending citizens' basic
constitutional rights -- including freedom of association and
mobilization, as well as protection from arbitrary search and
seizure. Several dozen indigenous people then escalated their
protest by beginning a hunger strike.

While tensions have mounted in Quito, road blockades and marches
have nearly paralyzed 12 provinces.  The use of force by 300
troops to disburse the blockade of a bridge in the Amazon region
on 5 February resulted in at least two indigenous people killed by
gunfire, including a 14-year-old who was shot in the head, and
some 20 wounded.  Nevertheless, 5,000 indigenous people returned
the next day to blockade the same bridge.

Media censorship has made it difficult to ascertain the extent of
the mobilization and protest, particularly outside the capital,
and to be certain of the number of people killed or wounded by
military gunfire or the number arrested.  Human rights activists
in Ecuador say they have not seen the current level of repression
in their country in the last 20 years.

Indigenous peoples have been joined by trade unionists,
farmworkers, students, academics, environmentalists, small-scale
producers, women's groups and others to resolutely demand the
repeal of IMF-supported economic measures.  They are putting their
lives on the line to stop structural adjustment in Ecuador,
affirming that this economic model is clearly neither politically
nor economically viable.  They want to open a policy dialogue with
the government to formulate an alternative economic program.

As the government has not shown willingness to enter into such a
dialogue, a national strike has been called for 7 February by a
coalition of trade unions, professional associations and others in
support of the indigenous mobilization and to demand a repeal of
the economic adjustment measures and an open dialogue on the
national economic program.

While the Ecuadoran government is repressing protest by large
segments of society against economic adjustment measures, the IMF
and World Bank, who are responsible for designing and promoting
these policies, remain silent.

Over nearly 20 years, the IMF and the World Bank have made the
implementation of structural adjustment programs a condition of
financial support to the government of Ecuador.  These programs
and the specific economic policies they embrace have placed the
major burden of adjustment on the nation's poor and working
people, its small farmers and businesses. This is clearly
evidenced by the recently concluded SAPRI process in Ecuador -- a
tripartite initiative to assess the impacts of structural
adjustment policies in which the World Bank, government and SAPRIN
civil-society network have been jointly involved.

The SAPRI process of consultation and participatory research on
the impact of adjustment in Ecuador since 1982 concluded that
trade and financial-sector liberalization in Ecuador have led to a
marked contraction in the national productive apparatus,
particularly of small and medium-scale enterprises, as well as a
greater concentration of productive resources. This, in turn, has
increased unemployment and underemployment while, along with
labor-market "flexibilization" policies, reducing job security.
The lack of adequate, stable employment and the further
concentration of wealth have generated an increase in poverty and
a deterioration in the living conditions of a majority of the
Ecuadoran population, conditions that have been extensively
documented.

Furthermore, the research reflected the belief held by a majority
of citizens that a policy of universal subsidies on certain basic
goods -- such as gasoline, electricity and cooking fuel -- is
necessary until support for the reactivation of national
production generates adequate employment and greater income for
the poor and middle-income segments of society. Researchers
concluded that targeted subsidies are unviable in Ecuador, where
the target group is  comprised of the majority of the population
and continues to increase.  They recommended a reorientation of
macroeconomic policy to reactivate production, increase employment
generation and substantially improve income levels before removing
subsidies or applying measures that negatively affect the living
conditions of large segments of Ecuadoran society.

6 February 2001

(For information in Spanish, see the web site of CONAIE
http://conaie.nativeweb.org)

=======================================

SAPRIN Secretariat / The Development GAP
927 Fifteenth Street, NW - 4th floor
Washington, DC  20005 - USA
Tel: 202/898-1566
Fax: 202/898-1612
E-mail:  Stephanie Weinberg <sweinberg@developmentgap.org>
SAPRIN Secretariat <secretariat@saprin.org>
Web: http://www.saprin.org

=======================================

Neil Watkins <neil@econjustice.net>
World Bank bonds boycott campaign
Center for Economic Justice
1830 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009
phone: (202) 299-0020   fax: (202) 299-0021
web: www.worldbankboycott.org

To stay updated on the World Bank bonds boycott, join our
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------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	"contracorriente" <vallseca@arrakis.es>
To:             	<vallseca@arrakis.es>
Subject:        	ECUADOR: represión criminal contra los indígenas
Date sent:      	Tue, 6 Feb 2001 07:09:38 +0100


Contracorriente: vallseca@arrakis.es

COMUNISTES de CATALUNYA difunde
de Agencia PULSAR:  http://www.pulsar.org.ec

Ecuador: Indígenas denuncian fuerte represión militar, heridos y
muertos en el país.
Desde Quito, Marlon Carrión C.
_______________________________________________________

La comunidad indígena Salasaca, en al provincia central de
Tungurahua a unos 380 kilómetros al sur de la capital ecuatoriana, hizo un
llamado de auxilio ya que en la tarde de este lunes llegaron a ella 8
camiones de militares que procedieron a disparar sus armas y arrojaron
bombas lacrimógenas por toda la comunidad.
Resultado de esto 19 indígenas, hombres y mujeres resultaron
heridos. Dos de ellos están de gravedad ya que fueron alcanzados por las
balas de los militares. Unos 8 indígenas fueron detenidos y fueron
golpeados mientras los llevaban con rumbo desconocido en los camiones.
Dos señoras indígenas están con sus piernas fracturadas pues
cayeron en un hueco al huir del ataque de los militares. Varios niños
debieron ser atendidos de urgencia pues presentaban signos de asfixia por 
el abundante gas lacrimógeno.
Testigos de este ataque aseguraron ver al gobernador de la
provincia dirigiendo, desde un carro con vidrios polarizados, la acción de
los militares.
Horas antes, cientos de policías a pie y otros a caballo
intentaron desalojar a los casi 5000 indígenas que se encuentran en las 
instalaciones de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana en la capital
ecuatoriana. El desalojo fuer rechazado por los indígenas que hacían
guardia. Se contabilizó varios heridos de bomba, algunos recibieron el
impacto directamente en el rostro, pues los policías dispararon contra el
cuerpo.
En la mañana, un grupo de militares aerotransportados procedieron
a desalojar violentamente a un grupo de indígenas y campesinos afiliados al


Seguro Social, que acatando con el levantamiento indígena procedieron a 
bloquear un puente en la amazónica provincia de Napo. Se informó de la
muerte de 4 campesinos, entre ellos un niño de 14 años de edad.
Radio Fuego, ubicada en esta provincia, hizo público este ataque,
por lo que un comando militar procedió a tomar las instalaciones de la
radio y la silenció. Inmediatamente, los pobladores se tomaron el pequeño
aeropuerto para evitar la llegada de más militares.
La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador, CONAIE,
procedió hace 7 días a decretar un levantamiento indígena, como respuesta a
las últimas medidas económicas que dictara el gobierno y que significó el
incremento de los combustibles en un 100% y la elevación de las tarifas de
transporte en un 75%, a parte de otros puntos.
En varias ocasiones, durante esta semana, se ha roto el diálogo
entre los indígenas y el gobierno, por lo que el Presidente Gustavo Noboa
decretó el Estado de Emergencia Nacional, suspendiendo las garantías
ciudadanas. A las 17 horas locales, el mandatario llamó al palacio a todo
su gabinete, las autoridades eclesiales, del Congreso Nacional y de las
fuerzas armadas. Aún no se conoce los resultados de esta reunión.
(Ec/QR/Au-Po/Cs-Dh-Vi/mc)


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