Vol.64/No.19 May 15, 2000
Ecuador marches protest dollarization
BY HILDA CUZCO and JUAN VILLAGóMEZ
QUITO, Ecuador—In a high-spirited mobilization, some 50,000 workers, Indian peasants, and youth marched through the streets of this capital city May 1, the international working-class holiday. They protested government austerity policies that have squeezed the livelihoods of the big majority of this country's 12 million inhabitants.
Throughout the four-hour march, demonstrators loudly chanted their rejection of the government's move to replace the sucre with the U.S. dollar as the official currency of Ecuador, which is widely expected to have devastating consequences for the living standards of working people and middle classes.
They also protested a government austerity agreement with the International Monetary Fund, demanded amnesty for military officers and others facing prosecution in relation to their involvement in the January 21 popular rebellion in this country, and called for the removal of U.S. military bases from the coastal city of Manta.
The May Day demonstrations in Ecuador were marked by the confidence workers and peasants have won through the January rebellion, which, though short-lived, brought down the government of President Jamil Mahuad and took the wealthy rulers, at home and abroad, by surprise. The revolt was set off by the Mahuad regime's attempt to impose drastic austerity measures, above all the "dollarization" of the national economy, which has been demanded by imperialist investors and domestic capitalists.
Big business hopes that reliance on the U.S. dollar will stabilize the economy and attract foreign capitalist investment. Substituting the dollar for the sucre, however, will tend to raise prices to international levels, well out of reach for the big majority of the population. In past decades working people fought for and won government subsidies for many food products and services that are now under attack.
Mahuad was the second president driven from power in three years. In 1997, Abdalá Bucaram miscalculated by trying to ram through similarly drastic austerity measures. This sparked worker-peasant mobilizations of up to 2 million people that led the ruling class to quickly remove him from power.
On January 21, as insurgent Indian peasants and workers were joined by lower-level military officers in Quito, Mahuad was briefly replaced by a junta that included Antonio Vargas, president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) as well as the defense minister, Gen. Carlos Mendoza. In Guayaquil, unions and other mass organizations formed a Popular Assembly that ruled for a few hours before the military took over. The military brass handed the presidency to Vice president Gustavo Noboa, who has since sought to drive through the dollarization and other "free market reforms."
Rallies around the country
On May Day, marches were also held throughout the country. In the country's largest city, Guayaquil, 5,000 people marched. CONAIE president Vargas headed up the contingents of Indian organizations, which were accompanied by health-care workers and other union contingents. Also present were campaigners for the upcoming mayoral elections. Among these were supporters of Pachakutik, an indigenous political party, and of the People's Democratic Movement (MDP), an ultraleft group that prevented Vargas from speaking.
In Cuenca, the third-largest city, 6,000 people from 30 labor organizations and student groups marched through the streets. Demonstrators in the western cities of Manta and Portoviejo protested against the U.S. military bases. In Esmeraldas to the northwest, 1,000 oil, electrical, and municipal workers including teachers condemned the government's economic policies. Similar marches took place in the northern provinces of Imbabura and Carchi, where many Black small farmers live.
The large presence of youth gave the May Day action here an especially enthusiastic spirit. Demonstrators used mock coffins, giant puppet figures, colorful caricatures, and youth on stilts to express their rejection of the government's dollarization measures as a solution to the economic crisis. The signs and props condemned the government for the latest increases in prices of transportation, food, and tuition, as real wages shrink.
One of the puppets depicted George Washington holding dollar bills while chewing a big sucre coin, with an attached sign reading "And now we're going to learn English."
Among the most popular chants were "Dollarization no!" and "The people say it— they are right—we don't want the debt or dollarization!"
Opposition to U.S. military base
Part of the demonstrators in Quito, led by the Coordinating Committee of Social Movements, the Patriotic Front, and other labor, student, community, and human right organizations rallied and marched in front of the U.S embassy to protest against the U.S. military base in Manta.
Some signs in Quechua read "Llucshi caymanta gringos de Manta" (Americans out of Manta). One of chants repeated over and over throughout the march was, "We don't want to be a U.S. colony."
After burning some fake dollar bills, the marchers join the rest of the demonstrators, who headed to the San Francisco square near the government palace, where a platform was set up to hear speeches from a range of labor and Indian organizations.
High school and university students from various youth organizations danced, chanted, and waved colorful flags and homemade signs denouncing the government. The most prominent contingents included the Federation of High School Students of Ecuador (FESE), Federation of University Students of Ecuador (FEUE), Revolutionary Youth of Ecuador (JRE), human rights groups, and a group of anarchists with black T-shirts and flags called Action for Change. Many youth were not affiliated to any group. All of them, though, chanted at the top of their lungs against dollarization.
High school and university students in Quito, mostly from working-class and impoverished middle-class families, have been involved in protests against the recent hikes in transportation fares. The students have stood up to the police, who have assaulted them with tear gas and in some cases shooting live bullets, they reported. They have defended themselves by pelting the cops with rocks.
"The government is making it impossible for young people from low-income families to have an education. " said Diego Valencia, 19, a first-year law student at the Central University. "Tuition is going up, and many just cannot go to school. We need a change, a change in this system."
Luis Reinoso, 22, a student at the Central Universidad and president of the FEUE in Quito, said of the May Day rally, "Workers, teachers, indigenous people, and students have demonstrated our unity. We all took part in the actions of January 21. Youth are in a more political and combative frame of mind. We believe that working people have the power to change history and to develop their history."
Many of the protesters expressed their opposition to the U.S. military base in Manta. This base has been operating fully since last year, according to Fabián Zurita, a leader of the National Federation of Peasant, Indian, and Black Organizations (FENOCIN). She reported that the base is projected to expand its airport to bring war planes.
Julián Arteaga, 23, a geology student, said the U.S. base in Manta "is there to dominate us and attack our brothers and sisters in Colombia," referring to Washington's growing intervention in that country under the guise of fighting so-called narco terrorism.
Black struggle
Another feisty group in the May Day march was a contingent of Blacks. They marched chanting "Down with the dollar" and "Long live the Black peoples." Estuardo Delgado of the Afro-Ecuadoran Consciousness Movement explained, "We fight for democratic rights for Black people, both as a group and as individuals. Because there is racism against Blacks, we have to struggle for jobs both in public or private companies. Blacks constitute between 8 and 12 percent of the Ecuadoran population." His group is affiliated to FENOCIN, which in turn is part of the National Confederation of Blacks in Ecuador
Freddy Congo, 21, leader of FENOCIN's youth section and also a Black farmer, grows tomatoes when he goes back to his region in Carchi province, north of Quito. He pointed out that Blacks in Ecuador are subject to racist discrimination. "Our organization has addressed this problem through protest actions and cultural activities. In the Chota Valley, north of Quito, we have made progress in Black people recognizing themselves and having others see them as Blacks." They must combat the racist prejudice that "Blacks are burglars or criminals," Congo said.
Gov't austerity drive
Meanwhile, IMF officials met the previous week with President Gustavo Noboa to discuss a loan agreement. The "standby" loan of $304 million would open other international loans totaling $2 billion, provided the Ecuadoran government succeeds in implementing the austerity measures that have ignited the irate protests by working people.
These plans include increases in gasoline prices to 35,000 sucres a gallon (US$1 = 25,000 sucres) and electrical rate hikes of 200 percent. Public transportation fares have more than doubled, and food prices have also skyrocketed. Inflation is 89 percent over the last 12 months, and 49 percent the first four months of this year. An average family's "food basket" in March cost $245 but the minimum income for a family of five was only $113.
A delegation headed by finance minister Jorge Guzmán traveled to Washington May 1 to renegotiate the standby loan agreement with the IMF. By 1997 the debt was equal to 69 percent of the gross domestic product, and by 1999 it was up to 118 percent of the GDP.
Speaking at the rally, CONAIE leader Salvador Quishpe called for organizing a national strike, including labor unions, students, indigenous and Black organizations, in the coming months to protest the austerity moves.
Many working people expect protests to flare up in June, when gasoline and domestic gas subsidies are to be ended.