I wanted to tell them they are rich -- this nation, once a member of OPEC --sits on 2 billion barrels of oil and probably a lot more. However, according to the World Bank documents in my briefcase marked, "FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY," Ecuador is required to pay 70% of its new oil money to foreign bondholders.
Who ARE these guys who hold the mortgage on this once-upon-a-time Inca Empire? Inside the presidential palace, where we could barely hear the ladies telling him to get the hell out, the President told me, quietly, after the cameras were off, "We don't KNOW who they are (these guys who
own the country) and THAT'S TERRIBLE."
What's terrible is that everyone DOES know who they are -- it's understood, a UN official told me, the bonds are held by the old oligarchs who stripped the nation's banks of their cash and re-planted themselves and Ecuador's cash in Miami; and now they hold the nation ransom by manipulating its debt securities. And of course, there's the millions Ecuador has to pay a US power company (a payment which was imposed by the USA only after the company hired Henry Kissinger).
Anyway, the indigenous women in pastel shawls and dark trilbies wanted NO ONE as president, not 'Sucio Lucio' (Dirty Lucio Gutierrez) who fled
last week nor the nice Dr. Palacio, cardiologist and now accidental president. In office two days and he's already in hot water with George Bush for saying some of Ecuador's own oil money maybe should go for vaccinations before the Miami gang gets paid. ************************************************* Follow Greg Palast's reports from Ecuador -- film, photos, reportage --
including an exclusive interview with the President, at http://www.gregpalast.com/ecuador.html
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