On August 8 and 9, Ecuadorians converged on key cities, the capital Quito, the port of Guayaquil, and Esmeraldas in the west, using diverse tactics
such as blockading roads and marching in front of government buildings, in order to voice their opposition to…IMF-backed structural adjustment policies.
On August 8 and 9, Ecuadorians converged on key cities, the capital Quito, the port of Guayaquil, and Esmeraldas in the west, using diverse tactics
such as blockading roads and marching in front of government buildings, in order to voice their opposition to Noboa regime policies.
Activists expressed opposition to the government’s: IMF-backed structural adjustment policies; bailout of the corrupt banking sector; privatization of
the electricity sector; "restructuring" of the social security system; building of a new oil pipeline despite the opposition of local communities and environmentalists; impoverishment of the population; cooperation with the US-backed "Plan Colombia"; dollarisation of the Ecuadorian economy; neglect of native peoples; and, the US military presence in Manta.
The mass-mobilization followed weeks of civil disobedience actions, protest marches, and work stoppages across this small Andean country of 13-million people during which doctors, teachers, farmers, natives, environmentalists, leftists, labour unions, students, women, the retired, the poor and the oppressed sectors of the country marched to press their demands against the government.
On July 28, as police attempted to disperse a doctor’s march, security forces fired tear-gas near a hospital maternity ward which resulted in the
deaths of 2 infants.
In February, four unarmed native protesters were gunned down while staging a roadblock during a nation-wide mobilization aimed at bringing down prices for fuel and transportation.
Ecuadorians continued their opposition with a National People’s Assembly of Ecuador on August 18, 2001 in Quito.
Author: Global IMC
News Service: IMC Weekly Print
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