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Political Play

Interesting political times here in Ecuador. I'm not even sure I can explain it all, but I'll try. It will be very interesting to see what happens to the country as the month of April plays out.

The president has been less than popular of late. In November 2004, President Gutiérrez narrowly escaped impeachment for the alleged misuse of government funds. In December Congress fired 27 of 31 of the country's Supreme Court judges. That was done because President Gutieerrez accused those judges of being biased against him. That move was the cause of huge protests in the streets of Quito. A high-level United Nations legal expert recently visited Ecuador to assess the situation. Since then, U.N. officials say the situation could irreversibly affect the judiciary's independence.

Now, opposition groups have announced they are preparing for an indefinite period of protests against the government and the Supreme Court. Those protests are to begin April 12th, and the groups are planning paros, or strikes, that will block highways and city streets, stop traffic at airports, and suspend basic services. This is supposed to take place in the Pichincha province, which includes the city of Quito. It's possible that these pressure measures will spread to other parts of the country.

Yesterday, the mayor of Quito, a former head of the army, asked the Ecuador military not to recognize the Gutierrez government, saying it is "corrupt and unconstitutional". The Defense Minister said today at a press conference that the military would respect Ecuadorian law, and not allow anarchy to take over the nation.

Last Saturday saw the return of former President Abdala Bucaram who had been living in exile in Panama. Bucaram was in office for only six months when Congress removed him in February 1997 for "mental incapacity". Panama granted him political asylum when he was kicked out of office. He allegedly left with seven million dollars embezzeled from the government.

Bucaram was allowed to return to Ecuador this past weekend because the Supreme Court cleared him of corruption charges. Gutierrez's opponents are saying he cut a deal with Bucaram to stack the Supreme Court in his favor, and that it was done as payback for key votes Bucaram's political party provided last year, which blocked an impeachment drive in Congress against Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was elected in November 2002, and has remained in office far longer than most people thought possible. (He became Ecuador's sixth president in seven years if that tells you anything about how long Ecuadorian presidents stay in office. Between 1931 and 1940 there were twelve different presidents.) He campaigned as a populist and anti-corruption reformer. He soon lost support of the indigenous groups when he instituted austerity measures. He ended up having to cut subsidies on food and cooking fuel in order to satisfy the International Money Fund and other lenders.

Interestingly, Gutierrez was an army colonel, and served as Bucaram's military attache. He was jailed in 2000 for leading a rebellion that overthrew former President Mahuad.