[mobglob-discuss] President of Ecuador declared a state of emergency

[Claudio Ekdahl]

to the barricades
Saturday, April 16, 2005

Lucio Gutiérrez, president of Ecuador, has declared a state of
emergency, provoking an uprising of sorts. Gutiérrez came to power on
the strength of Educadorian revolutionary movements, peasants, and the
left in general only to pursue a conservative program with no trace of
progressive ideas. Here's my translation of an article from Ecuador
Indymedia:

A state of emergency has been declared in Quito

Lucio Gutiérrez explained that his decree will "limit civil liberties"
established by the Political Constitution of the State and will make
Quito, the metropolitan district, a "security zone" inside his
jurisdiction. 

The vende patria [one who sells out his country] Lucio Gutiérrez again
dissolved the Supreme Court of Justice and declared a state of emergency
in Quito where scores of thousands of people are concentrated for the
third consecutive revolutionary day, this time to challenge the
reactionary decree. The bourgeois vice-president Alfredo Palacio had
distanced himself from Gutiérrez and has rejected the "dictatorial
state" that the country lives. The army in service of imperialism has
given its support to Gutiérrez.

The boot licker [i.e, an obsequious person, often followed by "of the
gringos/yankees/imperialism/etc."] Lacio Gutiérrez explained that his
fascist decree will "limit civil liberties" established by the Political
Constitution of the State and will make Quito, the metropolitan
district, a "security zone" inside his jurisdiction. 

In addition, he dictated "the mobilization, the demobilization, and the
requisitions that are necessary" to attend to the emergency of the
bourgeoisie in the capital [?]. The decision of Gutiérrez was made after
three days of peaceful protests. The Armed Forces of Ecuador have
supported his decision under the recommendations of yankee imperialism. 

The vende patria leader of the State recognized that the political
tension in Ecuador had exploded last December 8th when a parliamentary
majority allied to his government dismissed the old judges of the
Supreme Court and nominated magistrates of allied formations to the
pro-government coalition, the administrators of bureaucratic capitalism.

One of the most controversial actions of the new court was the annulment
of pending judgments on bourgeois ex-Presidents such as Abdalá Bucaram,
Gustavo Noboa, as well as of the former vice president Alberto Dahik:
lying, lazy thieves, oppressors and exploiters of the Ecuadorian people.
Abdalá Bucaram also asked the reactionary head of state, Lacio
Gutiérrez, to close the bourgeois Congress and declare a national state
of emergency.

In the center of Quito, scores of thousands of people have gathered this
Friday night to challenge the state of emergency decreed by the vende
patria Lacio Gutiérrez. Calm reigned at dawn on Saturday. It is
uncertain what kind of demonstrations will develop on Saturday [?].

The leader of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, Víctor Hugo Rosero,
emphasized that the state of emergency applies only to Quito and that
"its only purpose is to recover the peace and the order lost in the last
few days," and that no outrages have been committed against any citizen.
The police and the military have carte blanche to repress any type of
meeting.

The demonstrations, called the "cacerolazo", the "serenatas", the
"reventón" and the "tablazo", that have followed day by day since
Wednesday, were announced as the start of a series of protests that
would only stop when Gutiérrez abandons power, according to the
organizers. 

The demonstrators assured themselves that in the night marches they were
not dabbling in petty politics [?] and refused even to be interviewed by
the bourgeois media during the protests. The population in general has
adopted an attitude of refusal toward the bourgeois politicians, whom
they accuse of being responsible for the political crisis.

After the presidential announcement, thousands of people gathered in the
center of Quito in defiance of the state of emergency. The people sang
the order "they must go" in reference to the government and the
bourgeois political establishment.