6 February 2001 PROTEST IN ECUADOR ESCALATES - INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CITIZENS' GROUPS CALL FOR REPEAL OF IMF-IMPOSED STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT POLICIES GOVERNMENT RESPONDS WITH REPRESSION - SEVERAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLE KILLED OR WOUNDED AND HUNDREDS ARRESTED Indigenous peoples in Ecuador have been mobilizing over the past month to demand the repeal of new IMF-backed economic measures announced by the Ecuadoran government in late December as part of an ongoing structural adjustment program. The measures involve the removal of subsidies on cooking fuel and gasoline, causing the former to double in price and the latter to increase by 25%, and a 75% increase in transportation costs. The IMF's insistence on the application of these measures -- as well as a 3% increase in the value-added tax which is still pending -- has put access to dignified living conditions even further beyond the reach of large segments of the Ecuadoran population. The escalating protests in recent days are not only in response to these economic measures but to the overall structural adjustment program that has intensified with Ecuador's conversion to the US dollar last year. Beginning on 21 January, indigenous groups led by CONAIE (Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador) organized marches and blockaded roads in the countryside and cities in half of the country's 22 provinces. Farmworkers, students and others also joined in supporting these protests. The government sent military forces to disperse many of these peaceful demonstrations with force, using teargas and weapons, that resulted in several indigenous people injured, some by bullets, and several hundred arrested. In response, on 26 January, indigenous organizations called for a national mobilization from communities across the country and a convergence on the nation's capital, Quito. The government responded with further repression. Quito was militarized when as many as 10,000 indigenous people arrived over the course of several days. After gathering on the grounds of the Polytechnic University, they were surrounded by military troops who have cut off water and electricity and have intermittently been stopping food and medicine from being brought in and indigenous people from leaving. Attempts at dialogue between indigenous leaders and the government have failed to produce any results, as the government has shown no willingness to discuss economic policy or refrain from using force against peaceful protest. Indigenous leaders have presented a series of demands, including an end to the repression and an open dialogue on economic policy, and insist on meeting directly with President Noboa. The government responded by declaring a state of national emergency on 2 February, suspending citizens' basic constitutional rights -- including freedom of association and mobilization, as well as protection from arbitrary search and seizure. Several dozen indigenous people then escalated their protest by beginning a hunger strike. While tensions have mounted in Quito, road blockades and marches have nearly paralyzed 12 provinces. The use of force by 300 troops to disburse the blockade of a bridge in the Amazon region on 5 February resulted in at least two indigenous people killed by gunfire, including a 14-year-old who was shot in the head, and some 20 wounded. Nevertheless, 5,000 indigenous people returned the next day to blockade the same bridge. Media censorship has made it difficult to ascertain the extent of the mobilization and protest, particularly outside the capital, and to be certain of the number of people killed or wounded by military gunfire or the number arrested. Human rights activists in Ecuador say they have not seen the current level of repression in their country in the last 20 years. Indigenous peoples have been joined by trade unionists, farmworkers, students, academics, environmentalists, small-scale producers, women's groups and others to resolutely demand the repeal of IMF-supported economic measures. They are putting their lives on the line to stop structural adjustment in Ecuador, affirming that this economic model is clearly neither politically nor economically viable. They want to open a policy dialogue with the government to formulate an alternative economic program. As the government has not shown willingness to enter into such a dialogue, a national strike has been called for 7 February by a coalition of trade unions, professional associations and others in support of the indigenous mobilization and to demand a repeal of the economic adjustment measures and an open dialogue on the national economic program. While the Ecuadoran government is repressing protest by large segments of society against economic adjustment measures, the IMF and World Bank, who are responsible for designing and promoting these policies, remain silent. Over nearly 20 years, the IMF and the World Bank have made the implementation of structural adjustment programs a condition of financial support to the government of Ecuador. These programs and the specific economic policies they embrace have placed the major burden of adjustment on the nation's poor and working people, its small farmers and businesses. This is clearly evidenced by the recently concluded SAPRI process in Ecuador -- a tripartite initiative to assess the impacts of structural adjustment policies in which the World Bank, government and SAPRIN civil-society network have been jointly involved. The SAPRI process of consultation and participatory research on the impact of adjustment in Ecuador since 1982 concluded that trade and financial-sector liberalization in Ecuador have led to a marked contraction in the national productive apparatus, particularly of small and medium-scale enterprises, as well as a greater concentration of productive resources. This, in turn, has increased unemployment and underemployment while, along with labor-market "flexibilization" policies, reducing job security. The lack of adequate, stable employment and the further concentration of wealth have generated an increase in poverty and a deterioration in the living conditions of a majority of the Ecuadoran population, conditions that have been extensively documented. Furthermore, the research reflected the belief held by a majority of citizens that a policy of universal subsidies on certain basic goods -- such as gasoline, electricity and cooking fuel -- is necessary until support for the reactivation of national production generates adequate employment and greater income for the poor and middle-income segments of society. Researchers concluded that targeted subsidies are unviable in Ecuador, where the target group is comprised of the majority of the population and continues to increase. They recommended a reorientation of macroeconomic policy to reactivate production, increase employment generation and substantially improve income levels before removing subsidies or applying measures that negatively affect the living conditions of large segments of Ecuadoran society. For more information in Spanish, see http://conaie.nativeweb.org
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SAPRIN
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE LETTER
5 February 2001 Mr. James Wolfensohn Dear Mr. Wolfensohn: We, like our SAPRIN colleagues in Ecuador, are alarmed by the violent suppression by the Ecuadoran government of the legitimate public protests against the most recently implemented structural adjustment policies in that country. We join with SAPRIN/Ecuador in asking the World Bank to intercede with the government to terminate this repression and to launch a national dialogue that ideally can build upon the findings of the SAPRI process. Over nearly 20 years, the IMF and the World Bank have made the implementation of adjustment programs a condition of financial support to the government of Ecuador. These programs and the specific economic policies they embrace -- as evidenced by the recently concluded SAPRI process in Ecuador in which the Bank is directly involved -- have placed the major burden of adjustment on the nation's poor and working people, its small farmers and businesses. The IMF's insistence on the application of a new round of economic measures, to which the Bank also subscribes by conditioning lending on successful implementation of the IMF-supported economic program, has put access to dignified living conditions even further beyond the reach of large segments of the Ecuadoran population. Attempts at peaceful dialogue on this issue, including the SAPRI process, have not led to any meaningful change in the policy positions of the Bank and the Ecuadoran government. It is therefore understandable that, when the IMF-supported economic measures were announced in December, affected citizens and civil-society groups would organize themselves to find and use other non-violent means to express their dissent on the continuation of these policies. These peaceful protests have now been met with state violence and repression in order to fend off public opposition to adjustment policies. It has been reported that several indigenous people have been seriously wounded or killed by public security forces, while others have begun a hunger strike to demand a repeal of the recent economic adjustment measures. The Second National SAPRI Forum, held in Quito just days before these new measures were announced, validated the SAPRI research on the impact of adjustment policies in Ecuador since 1982. The process of consultation and participatory research concluded that trade and financial-sector liberalization in Ecuador have led to a marked contraction in the national productive apparatus, particularly of small and medium-scale enterprises, as well as a greater concentration of productive resources. This, in turn, has increased unemployment and underemployment while, along with labor-market "flexibilization" policies, reducing job security. The lack of adequate, stable employment and the further concentration of wealth have generated an increase in poverty and a deterioration in the living conditions of a majority of the Ecuadoran population, conditions that have been extensively documented. Furthermore, the research reflected a belief on the part of a majority of citizens that a policy of universal subsidies on certain basic goods -- such as gasoline, electricity and cooking fuel -- is necessary until support for the reactivation of national production generates adequate employment and greater income for the poor and middle-income segments of society. Researchers concluded that targeted subsidies are unviable in Ecuador, where the target group is comprised of the majority of the population and continues to increase. They recommended a reorientation of macroeconomic policy to reactivate production, increase employment generation and substantially improve income levels before removing subsidies or applying measures that negatively affect the living conditions of large segments of Ecuadoran society. It is very disturbing to hear that indigenous people have now been shot and killed, and others arrested, by public security forces for exercising their right to protest the same economic policies that the SAPRI process found to be detrimental to a majority of the population. Having been a party to SAPRI in Ecuador, we hope you and the Bank will take heed of the information, analysis and recommendations this process has yielded. More urgently, as defenders of the importance and rights of civil society around the globe and as promulgators of adjustment programs, you and the Bank have a unique responsibility and opportunity to urge the government to refrain from responding with repressive measures to peaceful protest against adjustment by affected citizens and to fully restore and respect citizens' rights. The way forward to a true and lasting solution to the economic problems in Ecuador will be found neither through military force and restriction of rights, nor through the imposition of adjustment measures that lead to further social exclusion. To meet the challenge of inclusion, which -- as you have clearly articulated in the past -- cannot be ignored, would require an open, national dialogue involving a broad range of social actors representative of the diversity of Ecuadoran society that can lead to meaningful policy changes and democratize the economic policymaking process. We urge you to play a role in encouraging
the Ecuadoran government to open such a dialogue, to cease the repression
and lift restrictions on citizens' rights. We look forward to hearing from
you as soon as possible so that SAPRIN can work with the Bank to help the
parties in conflict in Ecuador establish a peaceful resolution to the
current situation and create a more just and inclusive economic program in
that country. Sincerely, |
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| Gemma Adaba
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions |
Jenina Joy Chavez-Malaluan
FOCUS on the Global South Asia |
Yao Graham Third World Network - Africa Ghana |
| Douglas Hellinger
The Development GAP United States |
Lidy Nacpil
Freedom from Debt Coalition The Philippines |
Roberto Rubio
FUNDE El Salvado |
cc: World Bank
Executive Directors
Jan Piercy, U.S.
THE GOVERNMENT OF ECUADOR A 23-point agreement was reached on the afternoon of 7 February between the Ecuadoran government and the countrys indigenous movement. It was signed by the presidents of the three major indigenous organizations (CONAIE, FENOCIN and FEINE) and the country's President and Vice President. The agreement was celebrated with a march of nearly 5,000 indigenous people -- who had spent 10 days inside the Polytechnic University in Quito surrounded by the military -- who were cheered on by many supporters on the streets of the capital. With the agreement signed, the government moved to lift the state of emergency, release all those who had been arrested during the protests and suspend all legal actions against them, return all goods and documents confiscated during these actions, and compensate the families of those killed and wounded in the protests. During the two-and-a-half weeks of indigenous mobilization and protest, five indigenous people were killed, 50 were wounded (including some members of the military) and 930 were arrested. Among the agreements are provisions to:
While indigenous peoples and many others are celebrating these agreements as a victory, it is clear that much will depend on when and how the agreements on paper are carried out in practice. Some Ecuadorans have pointed out that certain agreements reflect actions that the government is obligated to carry out but has failed to implement in the past. Other agreements are similar to those made in the past as a result of previous protests, reflecting the fact that the government had not complied with past commitments. Most importantly, some agreements run counter to the adjustment program laid out by the IMF. It will therefore be important to ensure that the international financial institutions respect these national agreements reached in Ecuador instead of continuing to insist on the implementation of adjustment policies as the condition for future lending.
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