DATE=2/8/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=ECUADOR INDIANS, PART ONE
NUMBER=5-45404
BYLINE=BILL RODGERS
DATELINE=OTAVALO, ECUADOR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Ecuador's Indian movement scored an important
victory when its protests late last month triggered the
overthrow of an unpopular president. (In this first of
two reports,) V-O-A correspondent Bill Rodgers takes a
look at the plight of Ecuador's Indians, which led to
their historic uprising last month.
TEXT:
/// SFX: CART MOVING THROUGH COBBLED STREETS ///
In the cobbled streets of Otavalo, some 125 kilometers
north of Quito, Indians fill the main square -- selling
handicrafts, woven woolen goods and other wares to the
few foreign tourists visiting the Indian community for
the day. Estela Santillan, a 25-year-old Indian woman,
tries in vain to sell a few sweaters to the passing
foreigners -- holding them out in her hands as she
bargains over the prices.
/// SFX: SANTILLAN BARGAINING ///
But there are no takers, and she later complains that
times are hard for her and the other vendors at the
market.
/// 1st SANTILLAN ACT IN SPANISH-ESTABLISH, FADE
UNDER ///
"Prices are too high," she says, "and we can't sell.
We want the prices for the merchandise we buy to go
down so we can sell our goods." She says, "Three years
ago we used to sell a lot but now we can't." Ms.
Santillan says on a good week she can make up to 12
dollars for the seven days - but this seldom happens
now.
Her plight is shared by most of Ecuador's indigenous
people. Descendants of the vast Inca civilization that
once controlled much of what is now Ecuador, Peru and
Bolivia, Ecuador's Indians make up about one-fourth of
the country's 12-point-four million people. But they
are among the poorest members of society. Per-capita
income among Ecuadorians is 16-hundred dollars a year;
among Indians, it is 250 dollars.
Rampant inflation, the devaluation of Ecuador's
currency, and growing unemployment hit the country's
indigenous community especially hard over the past
year. Indians reacted by mounting increasingly
militant protests, demanding that the government of
President Jamil Mahuad implement policies to help
alleviate their endemic poverty. The protests
culminated in the week of January 16th, when thousands
of Indians gathered in Quito to press their cause.
At the beginning of the week, Indian leaders were
calling for farm credits to buy fertilizer, money for
health care and other basic demands. But soon, the
demands changed. Enrique Ayala, who is dean [rector]
of the University of Simon Bolivar and an expert on
Indian affairs, says the protesters began calling for a
change in government.
/// AYALA ACT ///
They decided to set up a movement oriented to
confront the whole political system -- not only
the president and the vice president, but the
Congress, the Supreme Court, and the whole
Ecuadorian system -- and they were demanding the
suppression of the current regime. In fact, they
were demanding a coup d'etat.
/// END ACT ///
Aided by elements of the military, thousands of Indian
protesters seized the Congress and other government
buildings on January 21st. Under pressure from the
military, President Mahuad was forced from power late
that day and replaced by a junta, which included an
Indian leader, a former Supreme Court justice and the
head of the armed forces. But the junta lasted only a
few hours, when the armed forces high command threw its
support behind the country's vice president, thereby
preserving a semblance of constitutional order.
But even though the junta collapsed, Ecuador's Indians
felt they had won a victory by forcing the ouster of
Mr. Mahuad. Estela Santillan of Otavalo was among the
protesters in Quito that week.
/// 2nd SANTILLAN ACT IN SPANISH-IN AND FADE UNDER
///
"We felt very powerful," she says. "We had clubs, and
we stood up tall and strong." She says, "We can do
anything now, stop anything whenever we want. We
managed to change the president. It's the maximum
thing we accomplished."
Ms. Santillan's feeling of empowerment is shared by the
country's indigenous leaders. Antonio Vargas, who
heads Ecuador's Indian federation called CONAIE [pron:
koh-`NIGH; Spanish acronym for the Confederation of
Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador] and was a member
of the short-lived junta, tells V-O-A he hopes
Ecuador's political leaders understand the significance
of their protest.
/// VARGAS ACT IN SPANISH-IN AND FADE UNDER ///
He says, "With all these actions we've taken -- seizing
the Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency --
maybe public opinion will change and Ecuador's
political leaders will begin to understand what has
happened." He said, "Our interest was not to take
power, because if we had wanted to take power there
would have been bloodshed and deaths. What we wanted
to show was that here is a problem that needs to be
resolved."
But while the problems of Ecuador's Indians may have
been brought to the fore, it is not yet clear what the
new government of President Gustavo Noboa will -- or
can -- do to resolve them. It is also unclear whether
the success of the indigenous protest helped the Indian
movement gain more support, or alienated other sectors
of Ecuadorian society.
// OPT // This will be the subject of our second and
final report in this series on the plight of Ecuador's
Indians. // END OPT // (Signed)
NEB/WFR/WTW/gm
08-Feb-2000 14:04 PM EDT (08-Feb-2000 1904 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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