Everything You Need to Know About Ecuadorian Politics The essence of Ecuadorian politics is a seesaw battle between power However, over the past 15 years Ecuador has had a successions of clowns The seeds of the current absurdist political farce began, in an eerie Since then, Ecuador, a small, largely agricultural nation, has a track Sixto Duran Ballen (1992 – 1996), born in Boston, was the last Ecuadorian He was followed by Abdala Bucaram, popularly known El Loco was forced out of office for “mental incompetence” after six spectacular months of world-class At that point the president of the Congress, \t \tFabian Alarcon, decided In those elections, a young, idealistic reformer with an academic Unfortunately, it became increasingly clear, or at least almost universally Gutierrez was promptly thrown in jail, and \ta bland\told-line pol, Meanwhile, "El Loco" stewed and stormed in Panama, periodically flying Anyway, by 2003 Lucio had gotten out of jail and into politics, and By the end of last year it was clear he would not withstand a vote of The quid pro quo came due last month, when taking advantage of a legislative At which point all hell broke loose. Massive protests erupted We are fascinated and inspired. It is like watching a slow motion It But the over-riding fear and discomfort that we feel arises from the One is towards smooth, managed elections where slick "Democratic" Totalitarians This keeps young, aspiring democracies trapped in underdevelopment, QUITO, Ecuador-Apr 18, 2005 – Chanting "Lucio, get out," a from the Associated Press<\/a> <\/p>\n Local Spanish-language coverage (and photo) from El Universo<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Everything You Need to Know About Ecuadorian Politics According to the Dowbrigade No, that is not Saddam surfacing unscathed in South America – it is part of a massive street protest in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Once again, our adopted Latin American … Continue reading
\n According to the Dowbrigade<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/gyeprotest.jpg\")
No,
\n that is not Saddam surfacing unscathed in South America – it is part
\n of
\n a massive
\n street
\n protest<\/a> in
\n Guayaquil,
\n Ecuador.
\n Once
\n again, our adopted Latin American home is in turmoil, as protests against
\n the
\n President
\n du jour,
\n Lucio
\n Gutierrez,
\n have wracked both Quito, the capital, and Guayaquil, the main port
\n and business center.<\/p>\n
\n centers in Quito (aristocratic, reserved, old money, cultured cronyism)
\n and Guayaquil (hot, raucous, rapine capitalism and endemic corruption).
\n Usually, one group has the Presidency and the other has the Opposition.<\/p>\n
\n and frauds run into and out of office that make George Bush look like
\n a cross between FDR and Abraham Lincoln. They also make Ecuadorian politics
\n one of the most gripping and absurdist political shows on the face of
\n the planet, featuring world-class bombast, rhetoric and theatrical drama,
\n moments of transcendent triumph, and enough low comedy and cutthroat
\n treachery to entertain the most jaded political junkie. And all
\n with amazingly little loss of life or even severe suffering on the part
\n of innocents, other than the undeniable tragedy of underdevelopment that
\n limits the options and opportunities of 90% of the population.<\/p>\n
\n echo of the Kennedy saga, in the death of Jaime Roldos, a 40-year old
\n charismatic
\n reformer
\n who
\n was killed in a mysterious plane crash in the Ecuadorian Andes, near
\n the border with Peru, in 1981.<\/p>\n
\n record of holding relatively open, fair elections, and usually allowing
\n the winner’s to take office. However, the last 10 or so Presidents
\n have not managed to finish their terms, creating the longest string of
\n interrupted terms in the world today, as far as we can tell.<\/p>\n
\n president to serve out his term. A kindly, elderly man, he was an
\n old-line aristocrat.<\/p>\n
\n as "El Loco" a power-mad populist
\n absolutely
\n out of control and over the top, an eccentric egomaniac in the caudillo
\n mode the likes of whom we haven’t seen since Juan Peron and Papa Doc
\n left the stage. Bucaram said, "They call me Crazy Abdala,
\n but madmen speak from the heart and see with their soul". He named
\n his 20-year-old son head of customs and set him up in a street level
\n office on Calle
\n Victor Emilio Estrada<\/a>, where the going rate was $5,000 per shipping
\n container, irrespective of contents, cash money, US bills.<\/p>\n
\n political pillaging and massive protests from every level of society
\n and class. He fled to asylum in Panama and was succeed by a Romanesque
\n Triumvirate including the head of Congress and an Indigenous leader. They
\n lasted three days. At that point the Congress finally decided to check
\n the Constitution and elevated the sitting Vice President to the Presidency. Unfortunately,
\n she was a woman, and a rather mousy stooge of El Loco at that, so Rosalia
\n lasted all of three more days.<\/p>\n
\n to take matters into his own hands, and named himself "interim President"
\n until new elections could be organized 18 month later, in 1997.<\/p>\n
\n background, Jamil Mahauad, was elected. Like most Ecuadorian politicians,
\n he is from a Lebanese Christian family. Somehow, almost the entire political
\n ruling class of a small South American country comes from two
\n small villages in Lebanon<\/a>. Go figure.<\/p>\n
\n believed by the public, that their brilliant new leader was, well, gay.
\n A still resolutely conservative and muy macho society was in no way shape
\n or form ready for that. Worse than Rosalia. Poor Jamil was forced
\n to resign and flee the country after an Indian and military revolt led
\n by one Coronel Lucio Gutierrez, who clearly saw himself as a messianic
\n figure saving the country from an ignominy worse than losing a war.<\/p>\n
\n Gustavo Noboa, finished out his term until yet another round of new election
\n could be arranged.<\/p>\n
\n the entire political leadership of his still popular populist party up
\n to Central America for conspiratorial meetings and party elections. When
\n last sighted Jamil was living in Cambridge, doing something at the Kennedy
\n School, and running some kind of queer government-in-exile, convinced
\n he was still the legitimate President of the country. We couldn’t make
\n this stuff up.<\/p>\n
\n somehow, although a relatively unsophisticated career military officer
\n with roots in the indigenous community, got himself elected, the ninth
\n President in 8 years, and immediately found himself in deep trouble.
\n Although he had managed to put together an electoral majority,
\n he had absolutely no support or power base in the halls of government. His
\n party was brand-spanking new, created just to propel him to the presidency. He
\n had no experience with or knack for executive authority in a democratic
\n context.<\/p>\n
\n confidence in Congress, so he cut a deal with the Devil, and with the
\n support of the populist loonies of the exiled El Loco, managed to survive
\n with 52 out of 100 votes.<\/p>\n
\n holiday, Lucio fired the entire Supreme Court and named a new one, which
\n promptly annulled all of the legal proceedings against El Loco Bucaram,
\n allowing his triumphant return from 8 years of Panamanian exile three
\n days later.<\/p>\n
\n in BOTH Quito and Guayaquil. It is starting to look more an more
\n likely that Lucio, whose name is already slang for "vain incompetence",
\n will join the proud tradition of truncated terms. Which is unfortunate,
\n because Ecuador, which five years ago ditched their own currency and
\n adopted the US dollar in a so far unsuccessful attempt to attract American
\n investment,
\n really needs to show some signs of political stability.<\/p>\n
\n train wreck with lots of posturing and emotional angst, but where nobody
\n really seems to get hurt, and everybody comes back for the next chapter.<\/p>\n
\n is a supremely sad question to even consider, but
\nif given the choice between the bumbling banality and eccentric street theater
\nof Ecuadorian politics and the silent but deadly, cancer-like certainty which
\ncurrently pervades the corridors in Washington, we think we’ll go with the steamy
\nLatin passions.<\/p>\n
\n suspicion that without a two century tradition of staid and ensconced
\n two-party politics and a first world economy, Democracy in the modern
\n world only has two ways to go.<\/p>\n
\n like General Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan regularly garner 94% of the
\n total vote. The
\n other, seen with increasing frequency in developing countries which buy
\n into American rhetoric and organize truly free and open elections, is
\n chaos. With a gullible electorate mesmerized by modern marketing techniques
\n applied to politics, any kind of zany sleazebag nutcase can one-off a
\n popular political movement and get elected, and then have no hope of
\n a stable government.<\/p>\n
\n political instability, and social chaos. It also produces some
\n of the most gripping political theater on the planet. We will try to
\n keep
\n our readers abreast of developments in Ecuador.<\/p>\n\n
\n river of demonstrators poured into the streets of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s
\n largest city, Monday night to demand that President Lucio Gutierrez
\n step down, as anti-government protests spread from Quito, the capital. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n