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Thursday, September 02, 2010 20:11
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/Int'l Day of Indigenous People/ECUADOR
Indians Pull Out of Alliance, Leaving Gov't Weak
Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Aug 7 (IPS) - Ecuador's indigenous movement made good on
its threat to pull out of the government of President Lucio
Gutiérrez, accusing him of turning his back on the leftist
alliance that brought him to power, and of seeking support from
the right.
The fragile political alliance that put Gutiérrez in office in
January, which also included leftist groups, former military
officers, and representatives of social movements, finally
collapsed after the powerful Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) decided to cut off its channels
of communication with the government.
Gutiérrez ''betrayed the mandate he was handed by the
Ecuadorian people in the last elections, which committed him to
defending national sovereignty and the country's natural
resources, adopting measures to revive production while bolstering
equality, and demonstrating a strong commitment to peace,'' CONAIE
president Leonidas Iza told IPS.
The split has placed the indigenous movement and other social
movements in opposition to Gutiérrez, whose 21 de Enero Patriotic
Society Party (PSP) holds just six seats in the 100-member single-
chamber Congress.
His only other source of support - albeit circumstantial -
are the 25 lawmakers of the right-wing Social Christian Party
(PSC). Although the PSC is the largest group in parliament, the
president still falls far short of a majority.
The alliance began to crumble a month ago, when the Popular
Democratic Movement (MPD), a Marxist party, withdrew on the
grounds that Gutiérrez was turning more and more to the right, and
that he had failed to live up to the agreements on which the
alliance was based.
But the final straw occurred on Tuesday, when the president
pressured the legislators of the Pachakutik-New Country Movement
of Multinational Unity - the political arm of CONAIE - to vote
for a labour reform bill.
The lawmakers responded that they would not yield to pressure,
and would vote against the bill, arguing that the more flexible
labour laws it was designed to usher in would undermine workers'
rights.
The bill, which was voted down by parliament Wednesday, would
have expanded the 40-hour work-week to 48 hours, made it easier to
fire public sector workers, and frozen the salaries of public
employees.
The adoption of the proposed labour reforms was among the
commitments that the government assumed in a loan agreement that
Gutiérrez signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
shortly after he took office on Jan. 15.
''Gutiérrez's recent statements have demonstrated his
increasing authoritarianism,'' Pachakutik legislator Ricardo
Ulcuango told IPS. ''This is not a dictatorship in which he can
impose his will and issue orders to representatives of other
branches of the state.''
The president ''can sack his ministers and friends and
relatives who are government officials, but he is wrong if he
thinks that he can silence our lawmakers with threats,'' he added.
In the end, 54 legislators, including the members of
Pachakutik, voted against the bill. That led PSP Deputy Gilmar
Gutiérrez, the president's brother, to call for the removal of the
indigenous movement's government ministers.
But before the president asked the ministers to resign, the
leaders of the indigenous movement decided to instruct Pachakutik
to break off all ties with the government.
Gutiérrez won the second round of elections in November with
54.4 percent of the vote, defeating banana industry tycoon Alvaro
Noboa, who took 45.6 percent.
CONAIE and the Pachakutik Movement represent Ecuador's Indians,
who make up around 30 percent of a total population of 12.5
million.
Although the poorest of the poor in this Andean nation,
indigenous people have found strength in numbers, and have played
a key role in bringing down governments in recent years, like the
administration of Jamil Mahuad in 2000.
Gutiérrez, a former army colonel, backed that indigenous
uprising.
The Pachakutik Movement also comprises environmentalists,
women's groups and other civil society organisations.
Humberto Cholango, the president of Ecuarunari, the biggest
CONAIE member organisation, which represents the Kichwa people -
the largest of the country's 12 distinct indigenous groups -
argued that it was necessary to break up the alliance because
Gutiérrez was governing in a way that ran counter to the country's
interests.
''In the past six months, he has signed a letter of intent with
the IMF, stating his willingness to privatise the oil and power
industries, the telephone company, and other natural resources
like water, and to make the labour market more flexible with
measures that destroy the guarantees and rights won by workers,''
he said.
CONAIE has ordered all Pachakutik members holding government
posts to immediately resign, and has called on ''all of the
national indigenous movement's grassroots organisations to remain
on the alert and to mobilise.''
''CONAIE had instructed the Pachakutik Movement to attempt to
guide the government of Lucio Gutiérrez in another direction, and
to create a political alternative for the country from the spaces
it had legitimately won in the government,'' the group stated in
its communique.
From the ministries and other public spaces held by Pachakutik
members, the indigenous movement has shown ''its profound
commitment and responsibility towards the country, as well as
honest, transparent and upright handling of the public
responsibilities entrusted to the indigenous movement,'' the
statement added.
Pachakutik members in the government included Agriculture
Minister Luis Macas, Foreign Minister Nina Pacari, and Education
Minister Rosa María Torres, as well as Tourism Secretary Doris
Solís, several assistant secretaries, and public office-holders in
provincial administrations.
Shortly after CONAIE ordered its ministers to resign, the
president's spokesman, Marcelo Cevallos, announced at a press
conference late Wednesday that the alliance had fallen apart, and
that the president had asked all Pachakutik members holding posts
in the government to step down.
''Pachakutik has lost this great opportunity to co-govern the
country,'' he said.
For his part, Iza underlined that as foreign minister, Pacari
had emphasised Ecuador's image of a peace-loving country that
respected the self-determination of all nations, while Macas in
the Agriculture Ministry had underlined the need for a policy of
food sovereignty.
Gutiérrez had already removed Torres from her post as education
minister two weeks ago, arguing that she had criticised him in
remarks to the press.
At that time, CONAIE slammed the president's decision as
''unilateral and arbitrary,'' cut off its direct dialogue with
Gutiérrez, demanded that Pachakutik do the same, and convened an
ongoing assembly to discuss a proposal for pulling out of the
governing alliance.
Analysts say the collapse of the alliance reflected a shake-up
of the leadership within the Pachakutik Movement, after the
group's leaders drew harsh criticism for supporting the
government's ''neo-liberal'' economic policies.
For example, Fernando Buendía, Pachakutik's economic adviser in
the Finance Ministry, was berated for backing the loan agreement
signed with the IMF and for stating that the multilateral body had
taken a ''sensitive'' stance towards Ecuador.
The indigenous movement also complained that Augusto Barrera,
in the Secretariat of Planning and Dialogue, a body with
ministerial rank that answers directly to the president, had
promoted talks aimed at bringing about the privatisation of the
country's state-owned power companies.
(END/2003)
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