Political Turmoil in Ecuador

Diane: I read a local paper, or at least the headlines, almost every day. My interactions with the newspaper are relaxed, since I know the newspaper will not get exasperated if I go back and re-read a sentence or if I skip one that contains some tough vocabulary. On the other hand, since I don't use a dictionary, there's a lot I miss.

Even with my incomplete reading of the paper, I know that there are some sinister political shenanigans afoot. A few weeks ago, Ecuadorian President Gutiérrez or his party ordered the Congress to hold a special session to review/rewrite the constitution. Evidently the majority of the Congress is in accordance with this, because they did not raise objections.

Then about a week ago, President Gutiérrez dismissed almost every member of the Supreme Court. He plans to appoint new members soon. Now as I understand it, traditionally, Supreme Court members receive lifetime appointments, similar to the United States.

And before dismissing the members of the highest court in the country, Congress had replaced judges on the Electoral and Constitutional Courts with their allies.

What do you think? Will they rewrite the constitution without a peep from the depopulated Supreme Court? Which party do you think will benefit? Hmmm.

Last weekend, I read an article in a Guayaquil newspaper. It named names and pointed fingers concerning a planned coup d'etat. The article went on to state that charges will be brought against all those involved. I did not see/hear this story repeated in the Cuencan press, so perhaps this is just sensationalism.

However, I do know that Ecuador's recent political landscape is littered with bizarre alliances, exiled politicians, corruption, lies, and more lies. Just looking at the last few years is enough to make you stop voting; luckily voting is mandatory here. Richard, the head of our Spanish school, first told us the following story, which I am going to retell in one condensed, humungo paragraph.

Bucaram, who was elected president in 1996, was nicknamed "El Loco" (The Madman) for his speeches full of curses and his predilection for playing at rock concerts. He promised to lower prices for basic staples and housing as well as to make medicine available free of charge. He abandoned those plans as soon as he took office. He devalued Ecuador's currency and caused the cost of living to increase. Meanwhile, he spent a fair amount of his time frequenting nightclubs. The price increases led to massive protests and strikes. Bucaram was also quoted as saying that you have to lie to get elected, so what did people expect. Congress finally came to the country's aid and declared Bucaram "mentally unfit". Bucaram fled to Panama. His Vice President became Ecuador's first female president. This lasted for less than two days, until Congress voted to replace her with Alarcón, who was - surprise, surprise - the head of Congress. In the next election cycle, with Ecuador in the midst of an economic crisis, the people voted Alarcón out. His successor, Mahuad, seen as an honest politician, suffered from both the economy he inherited as well as a banking scandal. In 1999, Mahuad announced the dollarization of the economy. The official currency of Ecuador was to be the U.S. dollar. This announcement led to a national strike, thousands of protesters, and finally a takeover of the Congress building in 2000. An unlikely triumvirate formed consisting of an indigenous leader, an army colonel, and a former Supreme Court president. A few hours later, Mahuad resigned and his Vice President assumed the Presidency, with the backing of the military. He soon announced that dollarization would continue. Although it did stabilize the runaway inflation, dollarization also resulted in huge price hikes. In early 2001, the country was effectively paralyzed by strikes. Several indigenous leaders, including the one who had formed part of the triumvirate to oust Mahuad, were arrested and eventually released. A national state of emergency was declared for a while. And the current president, President Gutiérrez, was the army colonel involved in the triumvirate that ousted Mahuad.

I, myself, don't remember hearing a word about any of this at the time, but that just goes to show my own isolation from the political affairs of Latin America. It's anyone's guess how the current situation will work itself out.

A comment from Cynthia, who lived in Ecuador for many years: I had to laugh about your description of the presidencies of Bucaram and Mahuad. There was very little in the US press about them, but it was very traumatic to my friends in Ecuador and I heard a lot about it over email. When I was living there in 86-87, Bucaram ran for president the first time. I remember that his platform was that he was the most manly candidate for the position. He stated that his semen was thicker than that of the other candidates. And his sister ran for mayor of Guayaquil in the same election. She was asked at a press conference what her plan was to feed the poor. She responded by unbuttoning her blouse, taking out her breast, and exclaiming, "With this breast I will feed the poor!"