Michael Pollak wrote:
> The lesson I come away with I compare Ecuador with Venezuela and Uruguay
> is that there is a vast populist disgust with long-ruling and completely
> corrupt two party systems, and a lot of push for any kind of solution that
> would throw out all presently acting politicians and start over again.
> In Ecuador and Uruguay it wasn't enough to stop the duopoly. In Venezuela
> it rather remarkably was. What will happen next there is a very
> interesting question.
>
Yes, there is a fairly strong left in Ecuador mainly based in the indigenous people (Ecuador is about 60-70% indigenous If I remember), students and oil workers. The indigenous people are well organized and radical. It is a dreadfully poor country comparable to Central America. I've been through it a couple times spending about a month each time, witnessing daily rioting in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil. Even among the tiny middle class, people are angry at the corruption and the very real sense that the oil wealth has not benefitted the majority. Bucaram was really crazy, getting elected on a populist platform then doing teh IMF's bidding. He did some stupid things too like instituting curfews in the cities (I got arrested once for being out past midnight) and giving Lorena Bobbitt (an Ecuadorean)the state medal of honor. Dollarization of the economy would mean rapid price increases which means starvation for most of the people. A lot of frustration and confusion on just what do, now that the political and economic system has failed completely and obviously.
Sam Pawlett