International

Crisis in Ecuador

By Bill Jordan - General Secretary ICFTU

An urgent appeal for solidarity with the popular uprising in Ecuador.

For the past week, Ecuador has been shaken by demonstrations, strikes and other forms of protest action by trade union, peasant, indigenous, student and community organisations following President Jamil Mahuad's announcement of an increase in petrol prices as from July as part of a series of neo-liberal economic measures to reduce the enormous fiscal deficit that threatens to lead the country to bankruptcy and has worsened the poverty and social crisis of the Ecuadorian people.

Trade union leaders warned that there could be more widespread protest if the government did not cancel the price rises. The strike has the support of the powerful United Workers' Front (FUT) to which our affiliate, the Confederaci�n Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres (CEOSL) belongs.

The protests began on Monday 5 July 1999, when 50,000 taxi drivers, public transport workers and lorry drivers rebelled against the measures announced by the government. On the same day, the government declared a 60-day state of emergency, giving the police special powers to arrest demonstrators and clear the streets by force. Eight people were killed on Sunday 11 July, in Latacunga, 145 kilometres south of Quito, when Ecuadorian soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on the demonstrators.

This is the second time this year that the government has decreed a state of emergency, the first being in March when the government used troops to end a two-day general strike which ended with the partial freezing of bank accounts throughout the country.

The crisis has grown deeper at all levels, while human rights activists and trade unionists have suffered persecution at the hands of the government authorities, including health workers and notably brother Jos� Ch�vez Ch�vez, President of the CEOSL (Appeal no. 7-1999). Furthermore, those responsible for the deaths of brother Sa�l Ca�ar (leader of the CEDOCUT who disappeared on 26 November 1998 and was found dead on 3 December this year), Jaime Hurtado, Pablo Tapia and Wellington Borja have still not been identified.

The CEOSL also informs us that "Following the assassination of the lawyer Jaime Hurtado Gon�lez, a member of parliament for the People's Democratic Movement, and his companions, the following people: Monsignor Alberto Luna Tobar, Archbishop of Cuenca; Alexis Ponce, spokesperson for the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights; Dr. Hernan Rivadeneira, General Secretary of the Ecuadorian Socialist Party and advisor to the CEOSL; Nela Martinez, writer, Belen Andrade, leader-writer for the daily newspaper "El Mercurio" in the city of Cuenca and brother Edgar Ponce Iturriaga, Executive Secretary of the electricians' trade union network, "Enlace", were informed by official and/or police sources that the intelligence services of the national police force did not discount possible threats or attacks against them, supposedly by the head of the Colombian paramilitary forces, Carlos Casta�o. This theory was supported by the fact that some of those threatened had been invited to an international public meeting which opened the Dialogue for Peace between the Colombian government, chaired by Dr. Andr�s Pastrana and the FARC, in San Vicente de Caguan, on 7 January last."

We have also been informed that in view of the alleged threats by foreign paramilitaries against the above mentioned people, the police asked them to agree to be permanently accompanied by police officers. They have had police protection since March of this year.

Given the time that has lapsed since the alleged threats, the National Police has not provided a report on the investigations which identifies those presumed responsible for such acts and the reasons for these attacks on their lives, as well as the legal response to such a situation. Paradoxically, the political authorities and the police deny that paramilitary groups exist or operate in Ecuador.

One of those threatened, Alexis Ponce, has sent a letter to the Commission investigating the death of Jaime Hurtado, asking it to request a report from the Colombian Security Department (DAS) saying whether the Ecuadorian police requested information on paramilitary threats against the people mentioned above, and whether or not the DAS provided the Ecuadorian police with information on this matter. It should also urge the State not to ignore its obligation to respect the safety of its citizens. The authorities cannot falsify the truth and afterwards threaten to withdraw police protection, unless they wish to be denounced internationally for their blatant failings.

Please write to President Jamil Mahuad, Fax: 00593-2-58.07.35 and to the Ecuadorian Embassy in your country, with a copy to the CEOSL ([email protected]) protesting at the brutality of the police and army in repressing demonstrations by Ecuadorian workers and citizens. We also urge you to protest strongly against and demand an immediate end to the harassment of trade union and community leaders, call for the court cases against brother Jos� Ch�vez, Mar�a Eugenia Lima and the health workers' leaders to be dismissed, and to ask for the immediate release of those detained during the recent demonstrations.

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  Issue 22 contents

»	Workers' Rights Butchered
»	Unions Back Shaw Plan
»	Buddy�s Buddy Still Singing Blues
»	Labour Calls Labor to Account
»	Olympic Gear - Labor Standards Should Apply
»	Ship of Shame into Darling Harbour
»	Cardboard King Seeks Warehouse Showdown
»	Nurses Enter New Years Fray
»	University Under Fire For Union-Busting Tactics
»	Inquiry to Lift the Lid on Public Service Bargaining
»	Currawong Back on Agenda
»	APHEDA Seeks Campaign and Marketting Officer

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Youth Wages Campaign a Must for the Union Movement
»	Cheers for Piers
»	Cheers from Geneva

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