Ecuador: The Unraveling of a Presidency
Selverston, Melina
When Ecuador's Congress voted to impeach Presi- dent Abdalh Bucaram on the evening of February 6 by declar- ing him "mentally unfit to govern," it was responding to political pres- sures welling up...
...Banks were closed...
...The people of Ecuador won the impeachment of Bucaram, but for many, the struggle to defend their rights in the face of neoliberal economic reform has just begun...
...them blocked for the duration of the street protests...
...Not long after becoming president in August, 1996, Bucaram's popularity began to slip...
...The agreement also called for a scaling down of economic austerity measures, including a reduction of utility prices to their previous levels...
...Also participating were public and private trade unions, the national organization of teachers, women's groups, high school and university students, small business associations and even the Catholic and Anglican churches...
...t soon became clear, however, that this latter concession was less a commitment to rethinking the viability of neoliberal policies in Ecuador than an attempt to assuage angry protesters...
...Based on traditional indigenous law-"Do not lie...
...Some members of Congress wanted to impeach Bucaram on charges of financial misconduct, but that would have required a lengthy legal process...
...Unless a dramatic attack is rapidly made on the systematic corruption now afflicting this country," said U.S...
...Given the chaos surrounding Bucaram's ouster, and the tense competition between Arteaga and congressional leader Alarc6n to succeed him, some feared that the military would be tempted to take control and install its own brand of order...
...The media pitched the story as if it were complaints of corruption from the business sector that were the principal force leading to Congress' decision to rout Bucaram...
...After months of sporadic protests against neoliberal austerity measures, a broad spec- trum of social movements had called for a nation-wide 48-hour strike on February 5 and 6 to demand the President's impeachment...
...This was a dire warning for a country in which about two-thirds of all foreign investment comes from the United States...
...One of Bucaram's body guards, who sometimes collected "partytaxes," says that Bucaram pocketed up to $25,000 a day in this way for his personal use-mostly to buy votes...
...Do not be lazy"-the protesters also condemned the rampant corruption that had become pervasive under Bucaram's rule...
...Bucaram's populist antics-which included singing on television with scantily clad women-made him seem a refreshing alternative to traditional elite politicians and earned him the nickname, "El loco," "the crazy one...
...There was no public transportation...
...When he took office last August, Bucaram placed friends, allies and family members in key commerce and customs positions, especially in his native port city of Guayaquil...
...In addition to pressure from business as well as the popular sectors, Congress had received a letter from the country's three past presidents-Osvaldo Hurtado, Rodrigo Borja and Le6n Febres-Cordero-urging that Bucaram be impeached...
...On February 4, indigenous protesters had closed the main roads throughout the country in preparation for the strike, and they kept Melina Selverston is director of the Coalition in Support of Amazonian Peoples and Their Environment, a Washington D. C.-based nongovernmental organization...
...When Ecuador's Congress voted to impeach Presi- dent Abdalh Bucaram on the evening of February 6 by declar- ing him "mentally unfit to govern," it was responding to political pres- sures welling up from virtually all sectors of society...
...n what seems to be an emerging pattern in Latin American politics, Bucaram, former mayor of Guayaquil and prominent member of the Arab community of Ecuador's coastal region, got elected by proclaiming his rejection of neoliberalism only to abandon his populist promises in favor of economic austerity once in office...
...To the delight of international investors, Bucaram hired the former chief economist of Argentine President Carlos Menem, Domingo Cavallo, to assist in developing fiscal austerity measures...
...Instead, the military publicly withdrew its support for Bucaram late on February 8 and urged the country's political leaders to find a peaceful solution to the crisis...
...Complaints from some quarters that Congress' actions were unconstitutional because no medical evidence was provided to determine Bucaram's true mental state were overlooked given this sweeping mandate...
...Nor was this the first time that the majority of Ecuadorians rejected free-market oriented economic reforms...
...Bucaram dismissed the impeachment as a conspiracy orchestrated by the oligarchy and tried to rally the military around him by promising a 25% salary increase...
...While his populist theatrics continued (such as the hero's welcome he gave Lorena Bobbit, the Ecuadorian American who cut off her husband's penis), he quickly ditched his campaign promises and began implementing classical neoliberal measures to reduce the state's role in the economy...
...His promise to make popular participation a core part of his government, moreover, seemed to challenge Ecuador's entrenched oligarchy, which was appealing to poor Ecuadorians...
...Bucaram won the broadest victory in Ecuadorian electoral history, capturing 20 out of 21 provinces...
...In November he raised gas and utility prices, and he planned to peg the local currency to the dollar, a move that would stabilize the currency at the expense of popular buying power...
...U.S...
...Perhaps most remarkable was the support of the Chamber of Commerce, which encouraged its members to close their doors during the 48-hour protest...
...A dramatic indigenous uprising in 1993 forced then-President Sixto Durdn to roll back his plans to privatize the agrarian sector...
...Civil society remains shut out of ongoing negotiations over economic reform...
...In the meantime, Vice President Rosalia Arteaga declared herself Bucaram's natural successor, while Congress named its president, Fabian Alarc6n, as Ecuador's new head of state...
...The election of Alarc6n, it seems, was a successful response to elite concerns over finding a status-quo leader who would support the structural-adjustment policies required by the international finance system...
...Indeed, since Alarc6n took over, he has focused his efforts on proving Bucaram's corruption, while the questioning of neoliberal policies that prompted the popular mobilizations against him has barely been addressed...
...The Chamber of Commerce said that the bribes importers were forced to pay to retrieve a shipment were often worth more than the shipment itself...
...Do not steal...
...Ironically, it was the military that brokered an agreement, which allowed Arteaga to run the country for a few short days until Congress modified the Constitution so that it could legally choose a new president until popular elections are held in May, 1998...
...media coverage of the events bypassed the months of popular protest against Bucaram's economic policies that led up to his ouster, focusing instead on this elite shuffling for power...
...As many as three million indigenous activists, organized by the Confed- eration of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), marched in protest of Bucaram, saying he betrayed the people who elected him last May by ignoring his promise to "put the poor first" and by implementing harsh austerity measures...
...Ambassador to Ecuador Leslie Alexander in a highly publicized speech in January, "it will be my duty to officially warn my fellow citizens of the dangers of investing here...
...And while Alarc6n ordered cuts in the price of gasoline and utilities, he is continuing with other austerity measures...
...Despite its initial enthusiasm, international business was soon dismayed by the blatant corruption that Bucaram seemed to condone...
...Alarc6n, who has been elected to his post three times with the backing of three different parties, seems more committed to power than to any particular ideology...
...Elite sectors of society were indeed enraged by Bucaram's corruption and the resulting flight of foreign investment...
...Quito was without gasoline...
...After the impeachment vote, it became clear that the Constitution had no process for naming a successor, and the ensuing power struggle left the country with three declared presidents for an entire day...
...Without the massive and sustained protests demanding Bucaram's removal, it is unlikely Congress would have impeached him given the questionable constitutionality of its actions...
...In presidential elections last May, he beat out leading candidates Jaime Nebot, who reeked of the traditional oligarchy, and Freddy Ehlers, a popular TV talk-show host who was endorsed by the country's powerful indigenous movement...
...As soon as the constitutional changes were made, Congress named Alarc6n president for the second time...
...Yet the routing of Bucaram had as much to do with the demands made by civil society against the implementation of neoliberal austerity measures as it did with the displeasure of big business over widespread corruption...
...Similar protests since then have stopped the planned privatization of other state enterprises such as utility companies, and the social-security system...
...Importers complained they were being charged several illegal taxes, including a Vol XXX, No 6 MAY/JUNE 199711 0 8 0 I o Vol XXX, No 6 MAY/JUNE 1997 11UPDATE / ECUADOR 15% "party tax...
Vol. 30 • May 1997 • No. 6
