Ecuadoran Groups Speak Out After Winning Roll-Back of IMF Conditions
In January and February 2001, many sectors of Ecuadoran society, with
the indigenous groups in the lead, rose up against the oppressive
economic policies being implemented at the behest of the IMF.
At least four people were killed by government forces in
the course of the civil society actions, and several others injured
or detained. The 50
Years Is Enough Network organized a demonstration in support of
the actions outside the Ecuadoran embassy in Washington, and then
participated in a meeting with the Ambassador.
On February 7, the leading indigenous organizations, after
long negotiations, arrived at an agreement with the government for
a roll-back of some of the most damaging components of the IMF program.
Below is a statement from those groups and others active
in the struggle in Ecuador to progressive activists around the world.
Quito, 1 March 2001
To Our Friends Internationally:
We are writing to you in the wake of significant events in Ecuador
resulting from our government‚s insistence on continuing to apply
structural adjustment policies.
Those events culminated in an agreement signed by the Government
of Ecuador and the peasant and indigenous peoples‚ organizations
that had led a popular uprising.
We write to the international community at this time in order
to communicate the following points:
- We wish to express our profound gratitude to all organizations
and persons that became interested in and closely followed the
events that took place in Ecuador after the government imposed
a series of economic measures at the beginning of the year. International solidarity is the expression of the highest qualities
of human conscience.
- Precisely because we are aware of your solidarity, we would
like to request your strong support so that, with the weight
of international public opinion, the Government of Ecuador is
obliged to comply with the agreement it signed on 7 February
with peasant and indigenous peoples‚ organizations. Similarly,
it is important to ensure full respect for human rights in Ecuador,
which also makes it imperative that the government know that
it is being watched by the international community.
- We would also like to draw your attention to the problematic
relationship between Ecuador and the International Monetary
Fund. In determining
policies, they focus only on the macro economy, designing adjustment
measures that, while satisfying the interests of speculative
capital, leave aside such basic issues as economic and social
development. Even worse, this relationship is carried out under
conditions that undermine Ecuador‚s sovereignty.
- The imposition of IMF policies on the Ecuadoran people has
been facilitated by the support of a miniscule group of Ecuadorians
who, from the heights of economic and state power (which in
our country are one and the same), have found in those policies
the means to further concentrate wealth and income.
This is effectively an alliance between international
speculative capital, represented by the IMF, and local speculative
capital, represented by a small, well-established and exclusive
elite.
- There must be democratic openings in the functioning of the
state that allow for the active involvement of civil society
in the determination of strategic policies for the Ecuadorian
economy. Such participation
must go beyond the logic of sharing losses among the many and
concentrating profits among the few, and must instead involve
joining forces to foster development from the perspective of
social equity and human development rather than permitting hunger.
That is the struggle that we hope to win with the support
of your solidarity.
Signed:
Ricardo Ulcuango, Vice-President
CONAIE - Confederation of Indigenous Nations of Ecuador
Estuardo Remache, President
ECUARUNARI - Confederation of Quichua Peoples of Ecuador
Cesar Cabrera, President
CONFEUNASSC - National Confederation of Affiliates of the Peasant Social
Security System
Iván Cisneros
Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network (SAPRIN)
/ Ecuador
Patricio Pazmiño
CDES - Center for Economic and Social Rights
Freddy Congo, Executive Cmte.
FENOCIN - Federation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organizations
José Agualsaca, President
FEI - Ecuadorian Federation of Indigenous Peoples
Cesar Coque, Executive Cmte.
FENACLE - National Federation of Free Peasants and Indigenous Peoples
of Ecuador
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