A strike called for April 13th in Pichincha province took a completely unexpected turn. Citizens’ protest marches that took place in the morning were not large. But they were transformed into massive participation of the public in Quito in the afternoon and evening.

Radio La Luna called thousands of people out to demonstrate against the neoliberal government of Lucio Gutierrez. The demonstrators used the popular protest tools of pot banging, and headed to the Los Shyris Avenue. From there they spontaneously advanced towards the Supreme Court building where they sang the National Anthem. Whistles were blown, pots banged and hundreds of national flags were unfurled.

The march was then unceremoniously repressed by the police and hundreds of demonstrators headed to the private residence of Gutierrez himself. They took the street and "serenaded" the President with cries of "Lucio out!" and "El Pueblo, Unido, jamas sera vencido!" (The people united, will never be defeated!).

Lucio opts for repression and not dialogue

Whole families including children, women, senior citizens, fathers and mothers who did not belong to any political party, using their voices as their only weapon, called for the resignation of the government. They protested Gutierrez’ policies of submitting to the United States, of lying and permanently mocking the country as a whole and were brutally repressed by the national police force. In the face of the police repression, the demonstrators opted for peaceful civil disobedience by sitting down and singing songs and shouting slogans against the government.

During morning hours, social workers led protest marches and were attacked by the police. In the afternoon a youth march was also attacked by the police in the north of the capital. Many people were injured and some arrested.

In line with these events, it should be pointed out that indigenous demonstrators began arriving in Quito on Tuesday. They were called out by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE). Their arrival went unnoticed and their presence was not evident in Wednesday’s demonstrations. But there are great expectations about the action they will take in the coming hours as a progressive blockade of main routes has been announced.

Media manipulation is rife

Reports from other parts of Quito and the surrounding valleys spoke of night-time demonstrations and the same brutal repression. There was also information circulating which indicated that the telephones of the mass media and alternative media had been intervened to stop the flow of information getting out to the public.

It’s a familiar story. The main television channels, owned by the bankers have been geared to minimize the scale of the protests and classify them as a "failure". The work done by Radio La Luna allowed the population to take to the streets spontaneously after the lies peddled by the main media outlets were discovered. This is similar to what happened three years ago in Venezuela during the failed coup d’etat.

A Secret Agreement With the United States?

The inhabitants of Quito have concluded that there is a secret agreement between the bankers, the US Embassy, the U.S. Southern Command. General Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Bush regime, arrived in Quito on April 11, 2005 to give support to his best ally in the region, and powerful right wing sectors from Guayaquil, in order to keep the Gutierrez administration afloat.

The April 11 Press Conference

Raul Romero: "At this time the country is in the midst of a political and judicial crisis. As Ecuador is a strategic ally for you, what is the opinion the U.S. about what Ecuador is going through, beyond the military scene, in the political arena?"

Myers: "Well, as you know, this is obviously outside my military expertise. But there is one thing that I think we all know and that is that the U.S. supports democracy, supports democratic institutions here in Ecuador and we hope that you can solve the challenges you are facing in a democratic and constitutional manner."

Ambar de Perez: "My question is related to the previous one. Could your presence in Ecuador at this time of crisis be understood as a signal of support for the President of the Republic, Lucio Gutierrez? Was that addressed in the meeting that you held with him for about one hour?"

Myers: "My presence in the region is part of a regional tour that includes Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico. This trip has been planned for many months. It has absolutely nothing to do with the current political situation in Ecuador and we did not discuss this with President Gutierrez. We talked about security matters, about Ecuadorian security matters, and regional security matters."

Carlota Iniquez: In reference to Plan Colombia. In Colombia, for example, the U.S. identified farmers who were affected by fumigations. We want to know if our peasants along the border where fumigations take place are going to be indemnified? Thank you.

Myers: That is a technical question that is outside of my area of expertise. That is better handled by our State Department. So I better not answer that question.

Ruth Toque: Thanks. What are the definitions of national security and regional security?

Myers: I don’t know if we have enough time to go into that. But the definition of national security has to do with Ecuadorian security concerns and of course regional security has to do with, not only the efforts of the Andean region, but also the Western Hemisphere. Since the U.S. and South America share the same part of the globe, we are very tightly intertwined, especially today, with the type of threats we face that know no boundaries, either geographical or moral boundaries. So we talked about Ecuadorian security concerns, and we talked about regional Western Hemisphere security concerns.

Simply stated, the four questions asked are what are on the minds of the people of Ecuador and Myers did not answer them. Are we to believe that he only spoke to Gutierrez about drug trafficking? This is the same ruse by which the U.S. attempts to justify its participation in Plan Colombia the real purpose of which is to use the U.S. military to suppress indigenous opposition to President Uribe and to enforce what the U.S. has cynically named the "Free Trade Agreement".

In his answer to the 4^th question, Myers expanded his explanation of his meeting with Gutierrez, "So we talked about Ecuadorian security concerns, and we talked about regional Western Hemisphere security concerns." When he referred to "Ecuadorian security concerns" was he referring to the security of the presidency of Lucio Gutierrez and the so-called "Free Trade Agreement"?

The Awakening

The Free Trade Agreement with the US, the immunity granted to U.S. troops, the U.S. participation in Plan Colombia, the spiriting away of social security funds, the surplus generated by high oil prices and the privatization of Ecuador’s natural resources are all elements of this most unholy of alliances.

The popular mobilization and the determination shown by the populace in Quito took the political classes completely by surprise. Quito appears to have awakened at last - with this show of dignity in the streets. On April 14th more marches are planned in an effort to stop the overdose of neoliberal poison being injected into Ecuador and from leaving the country as another victim of the unbridled greed and ambitions of the global corporate empire.

The question now is how long can the government hold on in face of these escalating mobilizations of the people? President Gutierrez’s alignment with the US is diametrically opposed to his electoral promises and our analysis is that the Ecuadorean people are finally saying "enough is enough". Truly - "El Pueblo, Unido, jamas sera vencido!"

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