I | INTRODUCTION |
Ecuador, country in northwestern South America,
bordering the Pacific Ocean. The country also includes the Galápagos Islands
(Colón Archipelago) in the Pacific, about 965 km (about 600 mi) west of the
mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator (Ecuador is the Spanish word for
“equator”). Quito, the country’s capital, is high in the Andes Mountains.
Guayaquil, a port along the Pacific coast, is the largest city.
Ecuador has a diverse population composed of
people of European, Native American, and African descent. The majority are
mestizos, individuals of mixed European and Native American ancestry.
Most of the Native Americans live in poverty in the highlands region, where a
small elite of European descent controls most of the land and wealth.
Ecuador was a Spanish colony until 1822, when
independence forces won a decisive victory over Spain. Since then the government
has alternated between civilian rule and military dictatorship. Most of
Ecuador’s political conflicts have involved squabbles among groups within the
upper classes who control the nation’s wealth.
Agriculture dominated the economy of Ecuador
until the 1970s, when the production of petroleum brought added income to the
nation. The money generated by the oil industry produced a decade of prosperity
and extensive government spending but eventually led to an economic crisis in
the 1990s as revenues fell, prices spiraled ever higher, the currency was
devalued, and the country’s foreign debt burden grew. Although successive
governments have tried to implement economic reforms, Ecuador’s economic footing
remains unsteady.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Ecuador is bounded by Colombia on the north,
by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. It has an
area of 272,045 sq km (105,037 sq mi). A highland region, the Sierra, crosses
the central part of Ecuador from north to south. The Sierra consists of two
parallel ranges (cordilleras) of the Andes and of upland basins, up to 65 km (40
mi) wide, that lie between the ranges. To the west of the Sierra is the Pacific
coastal zone, the Costa. To the east of the Sierra is a part of the upper Amazon
River basin, the Oriente or eastern jungle.
A | Sierra |
The cordilleras of the Sierra are highest
in the north, where 12 peaks rise more than 4,900 m (16,000 ft) above sea level;
in the south the highest peak is 4,820 m (15,800 ft). Many of the peaks are
cones of volcanoes, some still active. At night, fires in the craters of these
volcanoes cast a spectacular glow upon passing clouds, a glow that is reflected
back on the snow-covered slopes of the peaks. The highest cones are Chimborazo
(6,310 m/20,702 ft), Cotopaxi, and Cayambe. Cotopaxi (5,897 m/19,347 ft) is one
of the highest active volcanoes in the world. Earthquakes are also a serious
threat to farm villages in the highlands.
The narrow upland plateau that lies
between the crests of the cordilleras is deeply mantled with lava and ash
ejected from volcanoes that tower above. Mountain spurs and volcanic ridges
subdivide the plateau into self-contained basins at elevations of about 2,000 to
3,000 m (about 7,000 to 10,000 ft).
Many temperate-zone crops are grown in the
basins. In the highest of these, the basin of Tulcán at 2,900 mi (9,500 ft), it
is too cool to grow any grain, and potatoes are the staple crop. On the lowest
level, at 760 m (2,500 ft) in the basin of Ibarra, sugarcane, cotton, and other
tropical crops can be grown. Little can be grown on the ridges between the
basins, so that each highland community is effectively cut off from its
neighbors.
B | Costa |
At the western base of the mountains is a
zone of low plains and hills, about 100 km (60 mi) wide, along the Pacific
Ocean. This zone—the Costa or coastal plain—extends from the border with
Colombia southward to the border with Peru. The Guayas Valley lies between the
Andes and a hilly area that separates the valley from the coast. Where the land
in the Costa is not swampy, there is intensive cultivation of tropical crops on
fertile alluvial soils. The Costa covers a little more than one-quarter of the
area of Ecuador.
C | Oriente |
About half of Ecuador is in the Oriente,
consisting of the eastern foothills of the Sierra and flat or rolling plains to
the east of them. Much of the area is covered with tropical rain forest. The
Oriente is crossed by many rivers that flow into the Amazon. Oil is found in the
north. The region remains sparsely populated, with only about 4 percent of the
nation’s population. The development of oil fields in the Oriente from the 1970s
on increased the population of the region.
D | Galápagos Islands |
The Galápagos Islands are a group of rocky,
volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. They consist of 13 large and many small
islands. Some of the volcanoes are still active. The Galápagos archipelago was
incorporated into Ecuador in 1830 and became a province in 1973. In 1991 the
government ended a ban on migration from the Ecuadorian mainland, and people
have since moved to the islands.
E | Climate |
Although Ecuador lies on the equator, the
country has a wide range of climates because of the varying elevations. The
Costa has a tropical humid climate, with daily temperatures of 21°C to 29°C
(about 70°F to 85°F). Yearly rainfall exceeds 2,500 mm (100 in) in the Costa
north and west of Guayaquil and in the Oriente. Both sections support dense
tropical rain forests, separated in places by swamp grasslands bordering
sluggish rivers.
At Guayaquil, the temperature averages 25°C
(79°F), and 1,000 mm (39 in) of rain falls annually, mostly from January to May.
The rest of the year is very dry. Tall savanna grasses dotted with palms cover
the land, and the brackish waters of coastal lagoons support dense thickets of
mangrove trees and brush. In the Costa south of Guayaquil the climate is
semiarid or arid. Thorn thickets, scattered clumps of low deciduous trees, and
brush give way to giant cacti and other desert plants. Only 75 mm (3 in) of rain
is recorded annually at the Peruvian border.
The climate on the Sierra is determined by
elevation and by the degree of exposure of slopes to rain-bearing winds. For
every 300-m (1,000-ft) rise in elevation, temperatures drop about 2°C (3°F). The
Andean plateau basins are generally cool. Quito, which is some 2,850 m (9,350
ft) above sea level, has an average annual temperature of 13°C (55°F). Nighttime
temperatures at Quito frequently fall 17°C (30°F) from the daytime high. From
September to May daily showers brought by winds from the Oriente deposit most of
the city’s yearly rainfall of 1,120 mm (44 in).
F | Natural Resources |
Ecuador’s main mineral wealth is in
petroleum. Other mineral resources of the country include gold, silver, copper,
lead, and zinc. Forests cover 38.3 percent of the country.
G | Plants and Animals |
Along the northern part of the Ecuador
coast, and within the inner portion of the southern coast, tropical jungles
abound. In some places the jungles extend up the slopes of the Andes as wet,
mossy forests. Dense forests cover both flanks of the Cordilleras, as well as
the Oriente, up to about 3,050 m (about 10,000 ft). At higher elevations, paramo
grass predominates.
The animal life of Ecuador is varied. Large
mammals include the bear, jaguar, and wildcat, and among the smaller mammals are
the weasel, otter, and skunk. Reptiles, including the lizard, snake, and
crocodile, thrive on the slopes of the Andes and along the coastal lowlands.
Birds are the most varied group, and many North American birds migrate to
Ecuador during the northern winter. The Galápagos Islands, with many unusual
native animals, serve as a wildlife sanctuary.
III | PEOPLE |
Approximately 80 percent of the population of
Ecuador is composed of Native Americans and mestizos (persons of mixed Native
American and European ancestry); the remainder is equally divided between
Europeans (chiefly of Spanish descent) and blacks. Immigrants have also come to
Ecuador from countries such as Lebanon, China, Korea, Japan, Italy, and Germany.
The country’s population is 63 percent urban.
Ecuador had a population of 13,927,650 in
2008. The average population density is 50 persons per sq km (130 per sq mi). A
little less than half of the people live on the Sierra, where the population is
predominantly Native American. The other half, mostly mestizos and blacks, live
on the Costa. The remainder of the population is scattered within the Oriente
and Galápagos Islands. The only significant groups of people of predominantly
Spanish descent are in the cities of Quito, Cuenca, and Guayaquil.
Although the Sierra remains the
administrative center of the country, it is no longer the most densely populated
region, largely because of migration to the urban centers on the coast.
Population is growing fastest in the Costa. The population of Guayaquil, a
Pacific port on the Guayas River and the country’s largest commercial center,
jumped from some 250,000 in 1950 to almost 2 million by 2001.
Quechua-speaking people who live in the
Sierra are the most numerous of the Native American groups in Ecuador. They
refer to themselves as Runa (“people”) and increasingly affirm a strong sense of
Quechuan identity. The Shuar, Achuar, and other groups inhabit the Amazon
lowlands. Small indigenous groups also live along the Ecuadorian coast.
Ecuadorian blacks, who see themselves as a
distinct cultural group, are the descendents of African slaves. Ecuadorians of
African descent are concentrated in the province of Esmeraldas in the northeast
and in the Chota River valley in the northern Sierra.
A | Principal Cities |
Quito, the capital, is situated in the
central highlands and in 2001 had a population of 1,399,378. The oldest capital
in South America, Quito retains much of its Spanish colonial architecture and is
noted for its churches and for its art and culture. In 1978 Quito’s historic
center was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. South of Quito is the Avenue of
Volcanoes, a row of snow-capped mountains, 40 to 80 km (25 to 60 mi) apart, that
rise from the plateau to more than 4,900 m (16,000 ft) above sea level.
Guayaquil, in the southwest, with a
population of 1,990,000, is Ecuador’s largest city and its principal port and
commercial center. The port has many foreign residents, and most foreign
businesses are located there. Rivalry between the mountain and coastal regions
has long been centered on the cities of Quito and Guayaquil. Other cities
include Cuenca (277,374), an industrial and commercial center; Santo Domingo de
los Colorados (287,018 ), a farming and forestry center; Machala (204,578), a
commercial and farming center; and Ambato (154,095), a resort area and a
commercial and transportation center.
B | Language and Religion |
The official and most widely used language
in Ecuador is Spanish. Many rural Native Americans speak Quechua, the original
language of the Inca people.
Most Native Americans in Ecuador became
converts to the Roman Catholic faith during the years following the conquest of
Peru and Ecuador by the Spanish. Roman Catholicism became the state religion in
1863, but by 1889 a liberal movement resulted in a partial severance of church
from state. A decree of 1904 placed the church under state control; properties
of religious orders were confiscated, and absolute freedom of religion was
introduced. Today Roman Catholicism is the faith of about 96 percent of the
population. Native Americans of the Oriente maintain ancient religions; members
of various Protestant denominations make up about 2 percent of the
population.
C | Education |
A campaign to reduce the high illiteracy
rate in Ecuador was started in 1944; in 2005 some 93.1 percent of the people
aged 15 or older were literate. Education is free and compulsory for all
children between the ages of 5 and 14. All state schools are nondenominational,
but private nondenominational and religious schools also receive state funds.
Bilingual education in Quechua and other Native American languages is becoming
increasingly widespread.
C1 | Elementary and Secondary Schools |
In the 2000 school year 2 million
pupils were enrolled in 18,014 primary schools. While nearly all children
attended primary school, only 59 percent of secondary-school-aged children were
enrolled in school.
C2 | Universities and Colleges |
The main institutions of higher
education in Ecuador include the Central University of Ecuador (1826) and the
Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (1946), both in Quito; the University
of Cuenca (1868); and the University of Guayaquil (1867).
D | Culture |
Because the inhabited regions vary
greatly in their ethnic makeup, Ecuador is a country of contrasting cultural
patterns. The Native Americans of the highlands, the descendants of tribes
conquered by the Inca, still play traditional Native American songs on
ancient-style flutes and panpipes. The Oriente is populated almost entirely by
Native Americans whose ancestors escaped both Inca and Spanish rule and whose
customs resemble those of Native Americans of the Amazon Basin. Along the coast,
descendants of Spanish settlers and black African slaves have intermingled to
produce a culture that is a combination of Spanish and African
characteristics.
D1 | Painting and Sculpture |
Ecuador was a famous art center during
the colonial period. The first of a long line of colonial painters was Adrián
Sánchez Galque. He taught Miguel de Santiago, the most famous of all the
Ecuadorian colonial artists. Santiago, in turn, taught Nicolás Javier de
Goríbar. These three artists formed the “glorious trinity” of colonial
Ecuadorian painting. In 18th-century Quito, sculpture flourished through the
works of Manuel Chil Caspicara and Bernardo de Legarda. In the 20th century, a
generation of talented artists inspired by contemporary Mexican painters arose
in Ecuador, including Camilo Egas and Eduardo Kingman, both of whom are
muralists, engravers, and oil painters, and Oswaldo Guayasamín, a painter,
sculptor, and graphic artist. The works of these artists reflect a sense of
Ecuadorian history and a desire for social justice.
D2 | Literature |
Colonial literature in Ecuador, like
painting of the colonial period, was baroque in style. Baroque literature is
characterized by exuberant and often somber emotion presented in an elaborate
style rich in imagination and metaphorical imagery. By 1800 Ecuadorian
literature came under the influence of neoclassicism and later romanticism. The
neoclassical style emphasized common sense, moderation, reason over emotion, and
elegance over brevity. Romanticism stressed reliance on the imagination and
subjectivity of approach, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization
of nature. José Joaquín de Olmedo, one of the first neoclassic poets of Latin
America, was also active in Ecuador's struggle for independence. Juan Montalvo,
perhaps the most respected of all Ecuadorian authors, is known for his political
essays.
The best-known Ecuadorian writers of
the 20th century include Jorge Icaza Coronel, a scathing novelist with a leftist
political slant, whose most famous novel is Huasipungo (1934;
translated 1962); José de la Cuadra, a short-story writer; and Alfredo
Pareja Díez-Canseco, Demetrio Aguilera Malta, Enrique Gilbert, and Humberto
Salvador, all of whom were writers preoccupied with the struggle for social
justice.
Quito, the least changed of any of the
old colonial capitals of South America, is a fine example of early Spanish
architecture. All the arts in colonial days were inspired by the church and
reflected the baroque style prevalent in Europe. Many of the churches of Quito
are now art galleries as well as places of worship; they contain priceless
paintings, altarpieces, woodcarvings, statues, and adornments.
D3 | Libraries |
The National Library, founded in Quito
in 1792, is one of the oldest in the country and contains about 70,000 volumes.
The university libraries in Quito and Cuenca have less extensive collections.
Other libraries are maintained in the larger cities.
D4 | Museums |
Many museums in Ecuador preserve
artifacts and records of historic interest. Several historical and
archaeological museums are in Quito, including the School of Fine Arts; the
National Museum of Fine Arts in the Sucre Theater building; the Museum of
Colonial Art; the Museum of Natural History; the Franciscan and Santo Domingo
museums; and the Museum of the Central Bank of Ecuador. Guayaquil also has an
archaeological museum located in the Central Bank, and a municipal museum with
paintings. Museums in Cuenca include the Museum of the Central Bank, the Museum
of Aboriginal Cultures, and the Museum of Folk Arts.
IV | ECONOMY |
Agriculture has traditionally been the basis
of the Ecuadorian economy. For most of the century and a half after 1822, when
Ecuador won its independence from Spain, the Ecuadorian economy underwent only
sluggish development and remained predominantly agrarian. The highlands, where
most of the people lived, displayed a sharp social division between the masses
of Native American peasants and a small class of rich creole (individuals of
Spanish descent) landlords. The Indians generally farmed small plots, using
traditional methods, on latifundia (big estates) owned by the creole
elite. Ecuador’s main exports were cacao, coffee, and, later, bananas. Limited
commercial and industrial development occurred along the coastal area centering
on the country's commercial capital, Guayaquil.
In 1965, however, an industrial development
law was passed that brought about the establishment of factories manufacturing
textiles, electric appliances, pharmaceuticals, and other products. In the 1970s
substantial amounts of petroleum began to be produced and exported, with the
completion of the trans-Andean pipeline providing a line between oil fields and
the port of Esmeraldas. The profitable exploitation of petroleum produced rapid
economic growth. Substantial progress was made in education, public health,
irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, transportation, urban construction,
and industrialization. However, social inequalities increased, the highland
Native Americans remained impoverished, and foreign debt grew to high levels. In
addition, Ecuador experienced some of the highest inflation rates in Latin
America.
Today, Ecuador’s economy is based primarily
on exports of petroleum and of bananas and other agricultural products. It
remains one of the poorest countries in South America. Efforts to stabilize the
economy, in accord with International Monetary Fund recommendations, have
limited spending by the government and led to widespread labor unrest. In 2006
industrial production accounted for 35 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP) while agriculture, including fishing, accounted for only 7 percent. The
GDP was estimated at $41 billion in 2006.
A | Agriculture |
Agriculture in Ecuador, especially along
the coast, is vulnerable to the effects of El Niño. The effects include years of
heavy rainfall and floods alternating with periods of drought, both of which can
cause severe damage to crops. Ecuador’s earnings from agricultural exports are
vulnerable to fluctuations in world prices.
The cultivated area (just 5 percent of
Ecuador) lies primarily on the Sierra and the Costa. Bananas are the chief crop,
and Ecuador grows more bananas than any other country in the world. Other
important export crops are coffee, cocoa, and cut flowers. Crops such as
sugarcane, rice, plantains, maize, and potatoes are grown mainly for home
consumption. Some 7.5 million metric tons of fruits, primarily bananas, were
produced in 2006.
B | Fishing |
The coastal waters off Ecuador’s coast are
rich in fish. The fish catch totaled 486,023 metric tons in 2005. Shrimp are the
most important export product supplied by Ecuador’s fishing industry. Other fish
found in abundance are tuna, sardines, mackerel, and anchovies.
C | Mining |
Petroleum resources were first uncovered
in Ecuador in the early 1920s, but they only became an important source of
export income in 1972 when a Texaco-Gulf consortium brought the rich oil fields
of the Oriente into production. The trans-Andean pipeline carries this oil to
the port of Esmeraldas and to a nearby refinery. Additional oil deposits were
discovered in the 1990s, and the completion of the trans-Ecuadorian pipeline in
2003 nearly doubled the country’s pipeline capacity. The deposits are the
property of the country, but large, taxable concessions have been made to
foreign concerns. Although the petroleum industry has grown slowly, the country
is heavily reliant on oil revenues. Petroleum production in 2004 totaled 150
million barrels. Ecuador also has deposits of natural gas, but they have not yet
been exploited. Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc are mined in Ecuador but do
not contribute greatly to the GDP.
D | Manufacturing |
Traditionally, Ecuadorian industry was
confined to the manufacture of goods for local consumption. Under the industrial
development law, production plants were established for the manufacture of food
products, petroleum products, textiles and clothing, metalworking, paper
products, wood products, chemicals, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Despite
government efforts to decentralize industrial production, Ecuador’s industry
remains concentrated in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil. In 2006 manufacturing
accounted for 9 percent of the GDP.
E | Energy |
Ecuador has great potential for producing
hydroelectricity, and 63 percent of its electricity is generated in
hydroelectric facilities. Almost all the rest is produced in thermal plants
burning coal or petroleum products.
F | Currency and Banking |
In March 2000 the government changed the
basic unit of currency in Ecuador from the sucre to the United States
dollar, with the exchange rate set at 25,000 sucres to the dollar. The change to
the dollar helped stabilize Ecuador’s economy and reduce the extremely high
inflation rates of the 1980s and 1990s. The Central Bank of Ecuador (1927) is
the bank of issue, and the country is served by several domestic commercial
banks as well as offices of foreign banks.
G | Foreign Trade |
The value of Ecuador’s yearly exports is
generally somewhat higher than the cost of its imports. In 2003 the country’s
exports earned $6 billion and its imports cost $6.5 billion. Export earnings
from food products such as shrimp, cacao, and coffee accounted for 41 percent of
the total, with 43 percent coming from sales of fuels, principally petroleum.
Major imports included transportation equipment, machinery, metal, chemicals,
and foodstuffs. The United States is by far the leading trade partner of
Ecuador; considerable commerce also is conducted with other countries in Central
and South America and several European countries.
Ecuador, along with Bolivia, Colombia,
Peru, and Venezuela, is a founding member of the Acuerdo de Cartagena
(Cartagena Agreement), also known as the Andean Group. The group works toward
common policies on energy, tariff reduction, industrial and agricultural
development, political cooperation, improved internal and international trade,
and the creation of a common market. Ecuador is also a founding member of the
Latin American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) which was replaced in 1980 by the
Latin American Integration Association (LAIA). The LAIA aims to improve the
economic and social conditions in member countries by improving trade within the
group, which includes most of the countries in South America. Ecuador was a
member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 1973 to
1992. It withdrew from OPEC to avoid limitations on production imposed by that
group.
H | Transportation |
Air transportation and highways have done
much to foster national integration and to help diminish Ecuador’s international
isolation. The road system of Ecuador comprises 43,197 km (26,841 mi) of roads,
of which only about one-sixth are paved. The Pan-American Highway runs through
the country from north to south. The road system was nearly doubled during the
1970s and early 1980s, opening new lands for agriculture and settlement in the
coastal regions. Today, the road system is best near the coast where major
roadwork followed flooding in the late 1990s. The nationalized railroads
transport freight and passengers over 960 km (600 mi) of track. The government
has introduced plans to privatize the railroads.
Ecuador has several seaports. Guayaquil,
the main port, is connected by air and rail to the major cities and handles much
of the country’s nonpetroleum trade. The port of Esmeraldas services the oil
industry. Other ports include Manta, important for coffee and cocoa exports;
Puerto Bolívar, important for banana exports; and La Libertad. Many rivers,
including the Guayas, Daule, and Vinces, have been dredged and are now
navigable. International airports are located near Quito and Guayaquil.
I | Communications |
The major cities and towns of Ecuador are
connected by telephone. Cellular telephones have helped to offset the lack of
telephone lines in rural areas. There are more than 300 commercial radio
stations and several television networks. Influential daily newspapers include
El Comercio and Ultimas Noticias in Quito, and El Universo
in Guayaquil.
J | Labor |
The total labor force of Ecuador numbers
6.4 million people, of whom 8 percent are employed in agriculture, forestry, and
fishing; 21 percent work in manufacturing, mining, and construction; and the
remaining 70 percent engage in services. Skilled workers make up only a small
percentage of the labor force. The country has several trade union associations;
the largest is the Frente Unitario de Trabajadores, which comprises the
Confederación Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Clasistas, the Confederación
Ecuatoriana de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres, and the Confederación de
Trabajadores del Ecuador. There are also major unions representing manual
laborers, intellectuals, maritime and port workers, and railway workers.
K | Tourism |
Tourism contributes increasingly to
Ecuador’s economy. Many of the country’s tourists come to visit the Galapagos
Islands and see unusual plants and animals found nowhere else on Earth. The name
of the islands comes from the giant turtles there whose shells resemble saddles.
Galapago is Spanish for “riding saddle.” The other center of tourism in
Ecuador is Quito. The city’s historic center retains much of its Spanish
colonial architecture. Ecuador’s other tourist attractions include the
spectacular snowcapped Avenue of Volcanoes near Quito, palm-fringed beaches
along the Pacific coast, Inca ruins, colorful markets, and Cotopaxi National
Park on the slopes of a volcano.
V | GOVERNMENT |
Ecuador is governed under a constitution put
into effect in 1998, which revised the constitution of 1979. Ecuador has had
more than 15 constitutions since it achieved independence. Most have followed
the classic republican form, providing for a directly elected president, an
elected legislature, and a separate independent judiciary. In practice, however,
Ecuador's presidents and military leaders have frequently annulled constitutions
and canceled elections.
Ecuador is divided into 24 provinces, which
are subdivided into cantons and urban and rural parishes.
A | Executive |
The constitution of Ecuador vests executive
power in a president elected by direct popular vote for a single four-year term.
Voting is compulsory for every Ecuadorian who is literate and aged 18 to 65. The
president is assisted by a cabinet and appoints the governors of the provinces.
The chief executive is commander in chief of the armed forces and may declare a
state of emergency in the event of foreign invasion or internal
disturbance.
B | Health and Welfare |
Effective programs designed to check
communicable diseases have been instituted in Ecuador. The country has greatly
reduced the incidence of yellow fever, malaria, and tuberculosis. Malnutrition
and infant mortality, however, still pose serious problems. In 1991 an outbreak
of cholera spread to Ecuador from Peru. More than 35,000 cases were diagnosed
and 606 people died.
A government-sponsored social security
program, in existence since 1942, provides farmers, domestic workers, artisans,
and professional people with such benefits as health, accident, maternity, and
unemployment insurance, as well as old-age pensions. In 2004 the country had 1
physician for every 677 inhabitants.
C | Legislature |
Legislative power in Ecuador is vested in
the unicameral National Congress. Its 100 members are elected by province from
lists of candidates drawn up by political parties. All members of Congress serve
four-year terms. In addition to lawmaking, Congress ratifies treaties and
chooses judges for the country’s supreme and divisional courts.
D | Political Parties |
Traditionally, the important political
groups were the Conservative Party and the Liberals (officially the Liberal
Radical Party). The Conservatives spoke for the landed aristocracy and the
Catholic Church. Their stronghold was the capital, Quito. The Liberals
represented the country’s wealthy and anticlerical mercantile elite. Their base
was Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city and commercial center. Until the second
half of the 20th century, the great majority of the population had no political
voice. The real stakes of political conflicts, whether electoral or violent,
were the division of spoils among groups within the upper classes.
Since World War II (1939-1945) and
particularly since the transition to civilian rule in 1979, new political
parties and movements have emerged to challenge the dominance of the two
traditional parties. Although the social structure has not basically changed,
the vote has been vastly extended. Ecuadorian political life has become much
more varied and open, and the two traditional parties have dwindled into
relative insignificance. In the early 21st century Ecuador had more than ten
political parties, and they often formed coalitions to support candidates for
election. Some of the more important parties include the leftist People’s
Democracy Party, the populist Ecuadorian Roldosist Party, the centrist Party of
the Democratic Left, and the Native American Pachakutik Movement-New Country. In
the 1990s Native Americans gained increased influence over Ecuador’s politics
through both the Pachakutik party and the Ecuadorian Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities (Conaie), a group led by Native American farmers.
E | Local Government |
Each province of Ecuador is administered by
a governor, who is appointed by the country’s president, and a popularly elected
provincial council. Urban cantons popularly elect a municipal council, which, in
turn, elects the council officers. Each rural canton and each parish is
administered by an official who is appointed by the president.
F | Judiciary |
The court system of Ecuador includes a
supreme court, 15 divisional courts, and 40 provincial courts. Criminal cases
are heard before a “special jury,” consisting of one judge and three members of
the bar. Capital punishment is prohibited.
G | Defense |
Ecuador has a selective 12-month term of
conscription for male citizens. In 2004 the armed forces included an army of
37,000 members, a navy of 5,500, and an air force of 4,000.
VI | HISTORY |
Architectural remains of ancient
civilizations dating back thousands of years, and probably related to the Maya
civilization of Central America, have been discovered in Ecuador. The
present-day city of Quito served as the fortified capital of several Native
American groups and is one of three cities in the Americas that antedate the
coming of the Europeans. The other two are Mexico City, capital of the Aztec
Empire, and Cuzco, Peru, capital of the Inca Empire. Quito was the center of the
ancient Native American kingdom of Quito, which was conquered by the Inca Empire
in the late 15th century. None of these pre-European civilizations left written
records of their cultures. The Inca dominated the Native American tribes of
Ecuador and provided the major military obstacles to the early Spanish invaders,
who eventually conquered the region in the 16th century.
A | Spanish Rule |
A Spanish scouting expedition first landed
on the coast of what is now Ecuador in 1526, led by Bartolomé Ruiz. Spanish
conquistadores under Francisco Pizarro invaded the country in 1532 and two years
later were in control of the area. Pizarro, acting in the name of the Spanish
crown, appointed his brother Gonzalo governor of Quito in 1540. A short time
later Francisco Pizarro was assassinated, and Gonzalo Pizarro led a rebellion
against Spain. His independent rule lasted until 1548, when forces of the Crown
defeated his army at Jaquijaguana and he was executed.
Colonial Ecuador was at first a territory
directly under the rule of the Viceroyalty of Peru, one of the two major
administrative divisions of 16th-century Spanish America. In 1563 Quito, as
Ecuador was then called, became a presidency, or a judicial district of the
viceroyalty. In 1717 administrative authority over the Quito presidency was
transferred to Bogotá, which was the seat of the new Viceroyalty of New Granada.
It was returned to Peru from 1723 until 1739, when it reverted to New
Granada.
B | Independence |
The first revolt of the colonists against
Spain took place in 1809, but it did not last long. A second attempt in 1810
resulted in a revolutionary government that was suppressed by Spanish troops in
1812. Revolutionary forces, led by General Antonio José de Sucre, chief
lieutenant of South American independence leader Simón Bolívar, did not win
final victory until 1822. Ecuador became the Department of the South, part of
the confederacy known as the Republic of Colombia, or Gran Colombia, which also
included Venezuela, Panama, and Colombia.
In 1830 Ecuador withdrew from Gran
Colombia and gained independence under its present name. The first century of
the republic is bound up with four remarkable men: General Juan José Flores,
Vicente Rocafuerte, Gabriel García Moreno, and General Flavio Eloy Alfaro.
C | Regimes of Flores and Rocafuerte |
Flores and Rocafuerte shared the
government of the new republic from 1830 to 1845. They alternated between
hostility and friendship, and likewise alternated in government. When Flores was
president, Rocafuerte was governor of Guayaquil; when Rocafuerte was president,
Flores was the commander of the army.
Flores was born in Venezuela and was an
officer in Bolívar’s army in the War of Independence. He was in command of
troops in Quito in 1830 and after Bolívar left Ecuador, Flores took advantage of
the division and anarchy in Gran Colombia to head the movement that withdrew
Ecuador from the federation. Flores was barely 30 years old when he first took
power. His repressive government angered the Liberals, led by Rocafuerte.
Rocafuerte, a member of Quito’s upper
class, was the first active opponent of the tyranny of Flores. Tolerant,
progressive, a man of travel and culture, Rocafuerte was educated in Europe.
Flores recognized his enemy as the kind of man he needed in the government,
invited Rocafuerte to join him, and helped Rocafuerte to become president in
1835.
Rocafuerte gave Ecuador a remarkable four
years of administration, with government reform, new schools and hospitals, and
friendly relations with neighboring countries. At the end of his term, he
returned to his position as governor of the port city of Guayaquil and left
Flores in the presidential mansion in Quito. In 1845 Flores was ousted and
exiled by the Liberals.
Flores fled to Spain, where he plotted
with Queen Isabella II to bring the west coast of South America under Spanish
rule. Ecuador's neighbors became so alarmed that they called a conference at
Lima, Peru, in 1847 to plan a mutual defense. Flores's plans were foiled, but
five years later he again menaced Guayaquil with ships obtained in Peru. No
welcome awaited him there, and he departed. In 1860, with Ecuador in the throes
of civil war, President García Moreno invited Flores back to command the army
and help restore order.
D | García Moreno and Eloy Alfaro |
García Moreno, a staunch Conservative,
dominated Ecuador from 1860 to 1875. García Moreno favored road building,
administrative reform, modernization of agriculture, and, above all, the
development of a school system under the complete control of the Catholic
clergy. In 1875 García Moreno was assassinated. His death was followed by two
more decades of Conservative rule—at first under the dictatorship of General
Ignacio de Vientimilla and then under a succession of civilian governments.
During this period, world demand for Ecuadorian farm products, especially
coffee, was high, and Ecuador was generally prosperous. Prosperity especially
benefited the port of Guayaquil, stronghold of the Liberal opposition.
In 1895 the Liberals seized power in a
coup led by their strongman Eloy Alfaro. After two years of dictatorial rule, he
was elected president in 1897. In 1901 he was succeeded by another Liberal
general, Leónidas Plaza Gutiérrez, but retained great influence. After a break
between the two Liberal generals, in 1906, Eloy Alfaro overthrew Plaza
Gutiérrez's chosen successor and returned to power. In 1907 he was again elected
president, and he held office until 1911, when he was overthrown. During his
years of political dominance, Eloy Alfaro put into effect the essential points
of the Liberal program—elimination of the privileged legal position of the Roman
Catholic Church, establishment of a system of public education, and construction
of a railroad between Guayaquil and Quito.
E | Instability |
The next half century was marked by both
economic and political instability. Starting in the 1920s, bananas were a major
export crop, and Ecuador eventually became the world's leading banana exporter.
Thus the collapse of world markets for farm products during the Great Depression
of the 1930s dealt Ecuador a hard blow. The country also suffered a military
disaster in 1941, when it was invaded and partly occupied by Peru. An
inter-American arbitration commission later awarded Peru sovereignty over a vast
stretch of land in the Amazon basin that had been in dispute between the two
countries ever since the breakup of Gran Colombia in 1830. Ecuador later
repudiated the arbitration award, and the border between the two countries
remained a point of contention until the end of the 20th century.
Ecuador followed the United States into
World War II (1939-1945) against the Axis powers. At home, the end of the war
coincided with a waning of Liberal influence. In 1944 the Liberal president
Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río, formerly president of the Chamber of Deputies,
was forced from office and replaced by former President José María Velasco
Ibarra, who had held office in 1934 and 1935 and who was supported by the
Conservative faction. In 1945 Ecuador became a charter member of the United
Nations. A new constitution, promulgated in December 1945, remained in force
until 1967.
In 1947 Velasco was deposed by a military
group that was almost immediately ousted by counterrevolutionaries. After a
brief rule by a provisional government, Galo Plaza Lasso, a former ambassador to
the United States, was elected president in June 1948. In early 1948 Ecuador
attended the ninth Inter-American Conference in Bogotá, Colombia, and became a
signatory of the charter of the Organization of American States.
The long-standing border dispute with
Peru, which had been revived in 1941, cropped up again in 1950. Both times the
issue was submitted to arbitration. Most of the disputed area had been awarded
to Peru in 1942, and no boundaries were changed following the 1950 incident. (In
1960, reviving the dispute, Ecuador unilaterally nullified the 1942
settlement.)
F | Series of Short-Lived Administrations |
In 1952 Velasco, this time the candidate
of a coalition of left- and right-wing groups, was chosen president for the
third time, holding office until 1956. In the presidential elections that year,
the conservative candidate Camilo Ponce Enríquez won a close victory over a
liberal candidate. Velasco ran as an independent candidate in the elections of
1960. Sharply critical of the conservative economic policies of the Ponce
government, he promised widespread reforms and was elected by a wide margin.
Lacking any well-defined program, however, he did not last long; he was forced
to resign in 1961. Shortly before, he had signed the charter of the Alliance for
Progress, a document providing for extensive aid from the United States to
signatories over a ten-year period.
Velasco’s successor, Vice President Carlos
Arosemena Monroy, did not enjoy a long tenure either. He was overthrown in 1963
by a military junta, which implemented economic and social reforms in a series
of decrees, including one for agrarian reform. In 1964 the junta submitted a
ten-year national development plan to the Alliance for Progress commission, thus
opening the way for negotiation of loans to finance development projects. It
soon, however, faced mounting demands for a return to constitutional government,
and after two weeks of rioting in July 1965 it installed a cabinet more
acceptable to the opposition, but political unrest continued. In 1966 violent
antigovernment demonstrations that provoked harsh retaliation triggered a
countrywide upheaval. The junta was then forced out.
An interim government held power until
November of that year, when a newly elected constituent assembly chose Otto
Arosemena Gómez to head the state. His government survived a difficult initial
period of widespread opposition, and in May 1967 a new constitution was
promulgated. In the first elections under the new charter, in 1968, Velasco was
once more the winner. His fifth administration, however, was no more successful
than the previous ones. He assumed dictatorial powers in 1970 in order to
counter dwindling support, but in 1972 he was once again overthrown by the
military. The leader of the coup, General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara, chief of the
army, then assumed the presidency.
G | A New Prosperity |
Among the first acts of the new regime was
establishment of a five-year economic plan, stressing agriculture, housing, and
industry. In August 1972 the first exports of petroleum were made from new
fields developed and operated by U.S. companies. This made Ecuador, at the time,
the second largest exporter of petroleum in Latin America, after Venezuela. Oil
revenues provided Ecuador with badly needed foreign exchange and investment
funds, which produced a decade of nearly uninterrupted prosperity and rapid
economic growth, but also spurred inflation and increased the gap between rich
and poor. Increased incomes among the Ecuadorians also led to large imports of
consumer goods, which resulted in a foreign indebtedness that reached
dangerously high levels.
In 1976 President Rodríguez was replaced
by a junta of the chiefs of the three armed services, who oversaw a return to
constitutional government. In 1979 Jaime Roldós Aguilera, a lawyer, was elected
president to head a civilian government, and a new constitution took effect.
Roldós promised to initiate social and economic reforms, but conservatives in
the legislature blocked his program. In 1981 Roldós was killed in a plane crash,
and Vice President Osvaldo Hurtado Larrea succeeded to the presidency.
H | Economic Stagnation |
Ecuador's excessive burden of foreign
debt, falling demand for petroleum, and the broader effects of international
recession forced Hurtado to abandon the reformist and expansionary policies of
his predecessors and accept austerity measures and retrenchment. The 1980s
became a decade of stagnation, made worse by bad floods in 1983, the collapse of
world oil prices in 1985 and 1986, and a devastating earthquake in 1987.
In 1984 a conservative businessman, León
Febres Cordero Rivadeneira, won the presidency. He proposed to keep Ecuador from
defaulting on its foreign debt by devaluing the currency, cutting public
spending, lessening protection of domestic industries, and reducing real wages.
But these policies, which were resisted by Ecuador’s labor unions and opposition
parties, were no more successful in generating economic recovery than the
policies of preceding administrations. Not surprisingly, Febres Cordero’s Social
Christian Party was badly beaten in midterm parliamentary elections. In 1987
Ecuador was forced to suspend all payments on its foreign debt, which by then
had soared well beyond $9 billion.
Rodrigo Borja Cevallos of the Democratic
Left became president in 1988. Borja was no more adept at reducing inflation,
unemployment, and the foreign debt. Borja’s efforts, like those of his
predecessors, were stymied in part by repeated clashes between the executive and
legislative branches, a process that produced policy paralysis and served to
heighten popular disenchantment with the political process. In a
well-established pattern, Borja’s Democratic Left Party suffered major losses in
parliamentary elections in 1990 and 1992.
Indicative of the fragmentation of the
political system, 12 candidates competed for office in the 1992 presidential
election. Conservative candidate Sixto Durán Ballén, who was born and educated
in the United States, won the runoff election. Durán’s government instituted
privatization measures, resulting in the breakup of Petroecuador, the
state-owned oil company. Other measures included land-reform efforts requiring
that unused land be sold rather than given to poor farmers. Various sectors of
society mobilized against the privatization plans. The indigenous community,
organized under the umbrella organization the Ecuadorian Confederation of
Indigenous Nationalities, protested against the land-reform policy and plans to
grant petroleum exploration rights on native lands.
Also in early 1995 Ecuador became involved
in skirmishes with Peru in the border region claimed by both countries. The
two-month war dealt a further blow to the Ecuadorian economy and aggravated the
social crisis provoked by the process of economic reform. By the end of Durán’s
term, the government had failed to enact its privatization program. However, a
peace treaty signed in 1998 finally ended the long-standing border dispute
between Ecuador and Peru.
I | Presidential Crisis |
In 1996 voters elected Abdalá Bucaram,
from the populist Ecuadorian Roldosista Party, as president. Bucaram, who
campaigned on a promise of government aid for the poor, retreated from this
position after the election and introduced an economic plan that bore a striking
resemblance to that of preceding administrations. The removal of government
subsidies on basic consumer goods and subsequent price increases triggered
massive demonstrations. The business community, along with those who had voted
for Bucaram, also expressed outrage at the rampant corruption and wild antics of
the president.
In February 1997 the National Congress
voted to remove Bucaram from office by declaring him “mentally unfit to govern.”
Congress voted to replace Bucaram with Fabián Alarcón, president of the
Congress. Later in 1997 a Constitutional Assembly was elected and charged with
writing a new constitution.
J | Recent Developments |
In 1998 Jamil Mahuad, the mayor of Quito
and the candidate of the People’s Democracy Party, was elected president. In
addition to an enormous foreign debt, Mahuad faced massive inflation, an
economic downturn, and crop failures due to El Niño flooding.
Mahuad announced a series of austerity
measures designed to get the nation’s unsteady economy back on its feet. The
government eliminated gasoline and electricity subsidies, announced plans to
reduce the number of government employees, and began plans to sell state-owned
companies, including the government-run oil company, to private businesses.
Widespread strikes and public demonstrations followed the announcement. In
response, Mahuad reinstated the gasoline subsidy and said he would reevaluate
his austerity program. The economy continued to worsen, however, with inflation
remaining high and the currency, the sucre, losing much of its value.
On January 21, 2000, junior military
officers led a bloodless coup. Vice President Gustavo Noboa Bejarano took office
as president the following day, after the United States threatened to cut aid to
Ecuador. In March 2000 the U.S. dollar replaced the sucre as Ecuador’s official
currency. The government also opened Ecuador’s oil, electricity, and
telecommunications industries to more foreign investment. The International
Monetary Fund (IMF) then announced a $2-billion aid package for Ecuador.
In 2002 Lucio Gutiérrez, a former army
colonel who participated in the coup that ousted Mahuad, won the presidency of
Ecuador. Gutiérrez had received the support of many indigenous organizations and
left-wing political parties. But he soon proposed economic austerity measures
along the lines of his predecessors to pave the way for further IMF loans. In
the process he lost political support.
In mid-April 2005 Gutiérrez dissolved the
Supreme Court, reportedly with the aim of placating protesters who had accused
him of stacking the court with his political supporters. But the move backfired
and led to violent street protests. On April 20 the National Congress removed
Gutiérrez from office and replaced him with the elected vice president, Alfredo
Palacio, who was sworn in to complete Gutiérrez’s term.
The 2006 presidential elections led to a
November runoff between Rafael Correa, a leftist economist who ran as the
candidate of the Alianza País, and Álvaro Noboa, a billionaire businessman who
helped found the Prian Political Party. Correa easily won the runoff with about
57 percent of the vote. The Alianza País was the name given to the coalition
that supported Correa. But the alliance was not set up as a political party and
did not run any candidates for Congress.
The election attracted international
attention because Correa’s victory continued the trend of leftist electoral
victories in Latin America, following on the heels of similar electoral wins for
the left in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Nicaragua. Correa proclaimed
himself an admirer of Venezuela’s socialist president Hugo Chávez. He campaigned
against IMF austerity measures and promised to renegotiate Ecuador’s foreign
debt. Correa also raised the possibility that Ecuador would rejoin the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and would not renew a lease
for a U.S. military base.
In the months following Correa’s
election, Ecuador’s Congress blocked many of the reform measures he sought to
implement. In response, Correa called for the election of a special assembly to
rewrite Ecuador’s constitution, a measure that he said would open up the
democratic process in Ecuador and give more rights to its indigenous population.
Resentment toward corruption in Congress was reportedly one of the major reasons
for Correa’s presidential victory in 2006.
In the elections for the special assembly
on September 30, 2007, Correa’s Alianza País reportedly won more than 70 of the
130 seats. Correa went outside the traditional parties to recruit candidates for
the Alianza País, drawing from trade unions and human rights and farmers’
organizations. The assembly was to convene in November and begin drafting a
constitution, which is to be submitted for approval in a nationwide referendum.
The assembly may also vote to dissolve Congress and call for elections to a new
legislative body.
No comments:
Post a Comment