ECUADOR The Lion's Den

...oil interests in Ecuador...

...The commandos, who on January 16 abducted the president along Lesley Gill, author of Peasants, Entrepreneurs and Social Change: Frontier Development in Lowland Bolivia, recently returned from Ecuador...

...Rise in Arbitrary Arrests Deteriorating living conditions in Ecuador have generated widespread discontent, and critics say the the government tends to view opponents as "subversive" and overreact to perceived threats...

...The government declared the strike illegal, and security officers broke up the demonstration with tear gas, injuring several people and arresting hundreds...

...According to Ecuadorean human rights organizations, there has been a "notable increase in civil and political rights violations, evidenced by a rise in the number of murders, cases of torture, break-ins and arbitrary arrests...

...Indian and peasant organizations are also highly critical of the govern- ment and its agrarian policies, which have strengthened the agro-export sector and encouraged foreign invest- ment in agribusiness while undercut- ting small-scale producers...

...Almost immediately, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused him of acting as Reagan's tool in undercutting Con- tadora, and Febres responded by ab- ruptly severing all ties...

...Welcome to Houston, Ecuador" Representatives of several indige- nous groups who took part in the Con- stitutional Congress of the National Confederation of Indian Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) in midNovember, called attention to the plight of indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin and Blacks of the coast, where the government has relo- cated entire groups to make way for petroleum exploration and the installation of massive African palm oil plantations...

...If the Febres Administration con- tinues on course, political tensions in Ecuador are bound to worsen...

...Pipeline repairs will cost $150 million and take four to five months...

...A controversial political-religious or- ganization...

...Ecuador's gross national product grew by only 1.7% in 1986, and ser- vicing the foreign debt consumed 28% of export earnings...

...As costs rise and ac- cess to credit is restricted, peasants must sell their crops at prices below the cost of production, resulting in growing rural poverty...

...In 1985 and 1986, the government signed agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), promising to limit wage increases and cut social spending...

...Reports of arbitrary arrests and unauthorized police raids have increased, peaceful demonstrators are met with tear gas and police batons and the territorial claims of Indians and peasants are ignored to make way for petroleum exploration and massive palm oil plantations...

...Although individuals within the armed forces criticized Febres for letting Vargas and the commandos off too easily, the military has generally stood behind the president...

...Named for 19th century liberal reformer President Eloy Alfaro, the group advocates the nationalization of U.S...

...But a gradual de- cline in the price of oil, culminating in the 1986 crash, curtailed the economic boom and produced a com- bination of stagnation and inflation...

...Indeed, the Administration's credibility at home is crumbling...

...In response to this generosity, Febres has become one of the most ar- dent supporters of Reagan's Nicaragua policy...

...It supports the efforts of a number of fundamentalist Protestant religious sects currently working in Ecuador and has invited the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) to renew its ac- tivities among indigenous peoples...

...Frank Vargas Pazzos, an Air Force commander who had been jailed for leading two abortive uprisings last March...

...Oil Crash and Earthquakes The political crackdown is closely related to the economic crisis...

...The millionaire businessman has been at the center of controversy since taking office in August 1984 not only for his pro-business approach, but also because of his aggressive governing style...

...The government's assault on the land claims of indigenous people and settlers has intensified while the agra- rian reform has ground almost to a standstill...

...Delegates Price hikes hit hard concluded that peasant producers have been pushed to the brink of disaster by the government's free-market eco- nomic strategies...

...The government has also insti- tuted a highly controversial forestry law, whereby untitled land or land un- occupied during the last 15 years will come under state control...

...But events show that Ecuador is still threatened by the possibility of military intervention...

...Police raids without warrants jumped to 33, an increase of 83% over the previous year...

...CEDHU also reported 58 cases of torture and five "disappearances...

...These policies earned the backing of the IMF, which responded with a $114 million loan in 1985 and a further $88 million in August 1986, 1 plus $46.5 million out of compensa- tory financing...

...Later, The Miami Herald reported that Febres also helped finance travel and other expenses of key contra leaders, and early this year, Ecuador's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) Rafael Garcia Velasco, iccused Contadora of creating South American "cliques" and debilitating Latin American unity...

...Despite U.S...

...As Indians organize to protect their land claims and maintain their cultural identity, the government increasingly intimidates leaders and has supported a series of parallel organizations in an attempt to divide and weaken legiti- mate peasant and Indian groups...

...SIL was expelled by former president Jaime Rold6s for launching an aggressive campaign against indigenous customs and or- ganizations...

...Many detainees are presumed members of AVC, which claims responsibility for a number of bank robberies, armed assaults and kidnappings...

...The measures were met with widespread protests and threats of a general strike...

...The disaster, which cut off the entire Napo region and left 20,000 lomeless, will seriously disrupt the Ecuadorean economy, as the nation expects to lose $700 million in export earnings...

...Peaceful demonstra- tions and strikes by students and workers in susbsequent months to pro- test transportation increases and the rising cost of living have also been disrupted by the police...

...It eased import restrictions, reduced duties protecting national in- dustries and curtailed certain produc- tion subsidies...

...The Confederation of Indian Nation- alities of the Ecuadorean Amazon (CONFENIA) claimed in an open let- ter that IERAC "has paralyzed all steps in delimiting and legalizing In- dian lands, favoring and assisting the hand-over of [land] concessions to Af- rican palm and petroleum transnationals...

...Although Vargas' rebellions had aimed to topple Defense Minister Gen...

...While in the eyes of President Reagan and international bankers, Ecuador has been a "model debtor nation" struggling to develop a fledgling democracy while punctually paying its bills, opposition parties and peasant, Indian and labor organizations have long known a very different reality...

...And the pinch of radical free market policies have benefitted a handful of agro-exporters and multinational corporations while undermining national industry and eroding living standards...

...Nevertheless, the group's activities have provided an excuse to suppress domestic opposition...

...The crash moved the government to indefinitely suspend interest payments on the $8.3 billion debt, excluding the revenues generated by the private sec- tor...

...Embassy in Quito, maintains that "the minimum wage in sucres is just too high for foreign companies to invest...

...The Inter-American Development Bank also loaned $50.4 million last October to support voca- tional education, and a consortium of international banks agreed to lend the country up to $220 million to over- come the shortfall in oil revenues, marking Ecuador's return to the vol- untary money market...

...This exceeded an earlier presidential decree authorizing an - increase to 12,000 sucres, and aggra- vated the ongoing confrontation be- tween Congress and the president...

...Medardo Salazar, they received support from many disillusioned with the government, and Vargas became a popular hero...

...Ecuador's principal trade union federations-the United Workers' Front (FUT), the Popular Front (FP) and the National Workers' Coordi- nator (CNT)-called a national strike on September 17, 1986 to protest aus- terity measures and demand wage in- creases amidst what CNT president Germln Barrag6n called "the worst crisis in Ecuadorean history...

...The January kidnapping of Ecuadorean President Le6n Febres Cordero by Air Force commandos plunged Ecuador into political turmoil, exposing the growing problems of his conservative government to international scrutiny and heightening social tensions...

...It has also taken measures to prosecute the 74 commandos who held him hostage...

...In the face of impending shortages, the government decreed an 80% gasoline price hike on March 18 along with an "iron fist" policy to prevent speculation...

...He broke diploma- tic relations with Managua in 1985, an impulsive move characterized by the same angry bluster that he directs against domestic critics...

...Tensions with Congress Opposition congressional leaders charged that the government acted arbitrarily and usurped the powers of Congress by instituting its unpopular economic program last August...

...with the defense minister and other senior military officials, demanded the release of Lt...

...They accused Finance Minister Alberto Dahik of violating the constitution by approving the economic package, and ordered his dismissal following a con- gressional vote...

...For the first time since the end of military rule eight years ago, Amnesty International dedicated a chapter of its yearly report to Ecuador...

...The government maintained that its wage law would prevail and defiantly entered it in the Official Register...

...Ecuador's current difficulties were exacerbated by devastating earthquakes that rocked the country on March 4 and 5. Falling prices for important agricultural exports like bananas and cocoa have reduced foreign exchange earnings...

...The 1986 report outlines a new system of arbitrary arrests unheard of during previous governments of Osvaldo Hurtado and Jaime Rold6s...

...Although oil prices are now slowly recovering, the earthquakes destroyed 25 miles of pipelines connecting pro- duction centers in the eastern low- lands to coastal export terminals, forcing the government to suspend ex- ports...

...It also devalued the sucre by 33% to cheapen exports and make Ecuadorean commodities more competitive on the international mar- ket...

...Oil-the country's primary export-brought fabulous wealth to a few Ecuadoreans 6African palm plantations jeopardize Indian land claims during the 1970s and generated rapid economic growth...

...He then criticized OAS General Secretary Joao Baena Soares for accepting an invitation from Contadora to visit five Central American countries in a new peace effort...

...The president continually disregards the decisions of Congress and consistently seeks to weaken its authority...

...Inflation, which averaged 27%, eroded the value of wages, and by the end of 1986, an av- erage worker's salary was covering only slightly more than half of a fam- ily's basic needs...

...Just days after Ecuador had joined the Lima Group to support the Contadora peace initiative, Febres condemned the Nicaraguan electoral process...

...The Ecuadorean Institute of Agrarian Reform and Colonization (IERAC) will adjudicate titles to only 75,970 hectares of land in 1987, com- pared to 630,000 hectares in 1986...

...Congress also passed a new minimum monthly wage law in October, raising the minimum wage from 10,000 sucres ($65) to 16,000 sucres ($105...

...enthusiasm for Febres, his policies have generated in- tense domestic debate, and grappling with the earthquake disaster will test him further...

...Despite this bleak picture, Zachery Teach, economic attach6 at the U.S...

...The police detain without warrants, and frequently subject prisoners to beatings and electric shock...

...This, in turn, could threaten the democratic process that Ecuadoreans have been struggling to implement over the last eight years...

...Vargas in September, but when the president refused to bow to congressional will, Vargas remained in jail...

...The Febres Administration justifies police abuses on the grounds that the only armed underground group, improbably named Alfaro Vive, Carajo (Alfaro Lives, Dammit) is bringing terrorism to the country...

...A Damaged Image The kidnapping crisis had its roots in these troubles and badly damaged Febres' image as the "lion" of the Andes...

...This law threatens the previous claims of indig- enous groups and settlers, and many fear that the government will eventu- ally cede the land to the oil companies and palm plantations...

...Looking for Allies In office since 1984, Febres Cor- dero has tried to make Ecuador more attractive to foreign corporations and solve the nation's economic woes by adopting conservative laissez-faire strategies, although current political instability and the new stand on debt repayment could damage his image among international bankers...

...The opposition-controlled Congress subsequently granted amnesty to Gen...

...The organization is reportedly small and without extensive popular support and has suffered the loss of several key leaders in the last five months...

...With this important support and divisions within the opposition, Febres ignored a congressional resolution calling for his resignation, and the military warned Congress against any attempt to impeach the president...

...The Sixth Congress of the National Federation of Peasant Organizations (FENOC) brought together 2,190 delegates last October in the largest peasant gather- ing in Ecuadorean history...

...The General Secretary of the Perma- nent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights charged that police in the coastal city of Guayaquil re- sponded with excessive violence, en- tering hospitals to beat and arrest strike leaders...

...Salazar attributed the kidnapping to "internal problems in the Air Force...

...Students and union REPORT ON THE AMERICAS activists, members of leftist opposition parties, Colombian political refugees and others who have the misfortune to arouse official suspicion are targeted by security forces...

...A founder, Arturo Jarrin Jarrin, was shot by police in Quito last October...

...Febres ordered Vargas' release and signed an amnesty only under pressure from the kidnappers, who eventually freed the president unharmed...

...According to the Ecumenical Human Rights Commission (CEDHU), arbitrary arrests rose from 61 in 1985 to 165 in 1986...

...Total damage to the coun- tryside and the oil industry is calcu- lated at nearly $1 billion...

...A road sign reading "Welcome to Houston, Ecuador" in the lowland province of Napo points to the arrogance with which the oil multinationals have invaded the jungle...