U.S. Envoy Played Key Role In Ecuador's Latest Regime Change

by Kintto Lucas

(IPS) QUITO -- Middle and upper-middle class demonstrators played a central role in the week-long protests that preceded the downfall of former president Lucio Gutierrez.

So did U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Kristie Kenney -- as well as the armed forces, which withdrew their support from the government, and the Congress, which sacked Gutierrez Wednesday, Apr. 21 The beginning of the end of the Gutierrez administration, besieged by massive protests, was Kenney's visit to the government palace to discuss the crisis with the president.

After the meeting, the Embassy's press officer, Glenn Warren, said, "We are very concerned by what is happening in Ecuador. We want all the problems to be resolved well and for Ecuadorians to live in peace."

Observers in Ecuador saw the message as a strong hint that triggered the following events.

Shortly after Warren made his statements, police chief Jorge Poveda resigned, apologizing for Tuesday's crackdown on the protests, which led to the death of a photojournalist caused by the effects of tear gas, and saying "I can't see Ecuadorians fight other Ecuadorians."

Analysts say the police have provided support for the U.S.-financed Plan Colombia counterinsurgency and anti-drug strategy in the civil war-torn neighboring country.

They point out that the police took part in joint operations with U.S. and Colombian intelligence services, such as the capture of FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) leader Simon Trinidad.

The armed forces, however, have historically resisted any involvement in that war.

After Poveda resigned, Congress held a special session in the International Center for Higher Studies on Communication for Latin America (CIESPAL), attended by 60 of the 100 lawmakers, who unanimously voted in less than an hour to remove Gutierrez for abandoning his post, even though he was still in the presidential palace and had not resigned.

Immediately thereafter, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Victor Hugo Rosero, announced that the military had withdrawn their support for the government to protect the peace, and Gutierrez left the government palace in a helicopter.

This is not the first time the Ecuadorian Congress has come up with a controversial solution to a political crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1978.

In February 1997, the legislature sacked then president Abdala Bucaram (1996-1997) for "mental incapacity."

After his removal, he was not succeeded by vice-president Rosalia Arteaga, in keeping with the constitution, but by the president of Congress, who had called the extraordinary session.

The military brass withdrew their confidence in the president after massive protest demonstrations, but before Congress actually voted to fire him.

After Bucaram was toppled, the intermediary between Congress and vice-president Arteaga was the head of the armed forces, General Paco Moncayo, who is now mayor of Quito.

In January 2000, when Jamil Mahuad (1998-2000) was ousted, Congress once again acted in a legally questionable manner.

After an Native "uprising" that was supported by dissident junior army officers (including Gutierrez, a retired colonel), the armed forces refused to recognize the president.

However, they did not recognize the rebels, either, who installed a "triumvirate," which immediately collapsed as a result.

Vice-president Gustavo Noboa was named Mahuad's successor in the headquarters of the joint chiefs of staff.

Hours later, Congress met in the port city of Guayaquil to declare that Mahuad had abandoned his post and resigned, even though he had not done so.

But on Wednesday, according to military and legislative sources who spoke to IPS, the military commanders wanted Congress to dismiss the president before making their own announcement.

The sources confirmed that the military brass did not approve of the "U.S. meddling" through Ambassador Kenney, and demanded that Congress be the first to reach a decision on Gutierrez's removal.

But after vice-president Alfredo Palacio was sworn in as caretaker president in Congress, he was surrounded by crowds of protesters chanting "Out With Them All!" demanding the removal of the entire government.

And although the new president called several times to ask the military commanders, who were meeting at the time, to show up and express their support for him, they did not do so. Nor did they give an order for the troops to protect him from the demonstrators.

Instead, they issued a statement urging the protesters to go home because their demands had been met, and sent an emissary to help the president leave the building, in disguise. A few hours later, Palacio told the press that he felt "very much alone" at the time.

In the end, it was the new president who had to go to the Defense Ministry almost undercover, where he gave a press conference surrounded by the military commanders, because he was unable to make it to the government palace, which was still surrounded by enormous crowds demanding that the "people's will" be respected.

Only on Thursday was Palacio able to reach the presidential palace, to appoint the first members of his cabinet.

The protests that brought down Gutierrez rejected the political elites and called for the resignation of all representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, chanting "Lucio, Get Out!" and "Out With Them All!"

The protests broke out apparently spontaneously on Apr. 13, and thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, mainly in middle-class neighborhoods. They continued until bringing about Gutierrez's downfall.

Unlike on previous occasions, Ecuador's well-organized Native movement did not lead the protests, which mainly involved middle-class residents of Quito who mostly do not belong neither to political parties nor civil society organizations.

Some sectors have already begun to discuss a new way of organizing, in "people's assemblies," which would keep a close eye on the government and press for a referendum on whether or not to sign the free trade agreement that Ecuador, Colombia and Peru are negotiating with the United States, or to cancel the contract that loaned the Manta air base to the U.S. armed forces.

In an interview with IPS just after being sworn in, Palacio left open the possibility of a referendum.

"There has been a lot of talk here about the referendum," said the new president.

But the people must be asked questions "that will change their destiny, that serve some purpose for their future, such as: Do you believe the presidentialist system is finished?"

"The people must be asked what it is they need. Anything else would not be worth it," he argued.

Asked about whether Ecuador would continue to participate in the talks for a free trade deal with the United States, which are currently in their ninth round this week in the capital of Peru, Palacio said without much conviction that the question could also be put to a popular vote.

The popular pressure for compliance with the protesters' demands, and the continued clamour for the legislators to resign could convince the new leader to call a referendum, to gain the support that he apparently lacks today.