BETWEEN discussions on the so-called Plan Patriota (Patriot Plan) and negotiations for a Free Trade Treaty with the United States, Ecuadorans are asking themselves what is to be the long-term direction the country, which is facing repeated internal crises over the mandate of President Lucio Gutiérrez.

The Plan Patriota is a controversial military operation that would deploy some 15,000 troops in the Colombian/Ecuadoran tropical forests as part of Plan Colombia, openly backed by the United States.

In the wake of Bogotá’s announcement regarding the application of this anti-drug and anti-insurgency project in Colombia and along its border with Ecuador, concern has mounted among various sectors of Ecuadoran society.

Thus, in Sucumbios, and specifically in Lago Agrio, Mayor Máximo Abad fears intensified violence in the adjacent areas. On April 4, he also refuted official versions from the Quito administration claiming that housing and human aid resources were prepared for an influx of Colombian refugees to the area. More than 1,200 such refugees have arrived since 2001.

According to the Ecuadoran daily El Universal, "there are not enough sources for jobs nor is there economic capacity for helping them, neither is there adequate migratory control." These judgements are a 180-degree turn from those expressed by Nelson Herrera, minister of defense, and Patricio Zuquilanda, minister of foreign affairs. The latter has been summoned to appear on May 18 before the unicameral Congress to make a statement on the issue.

For its part, the U.S. has invited – also for mid-May – Colombia, Peru and Ecuador to discuss possibilities for new trade agreements via a Free Trade Treaty.

Robert Zoellick, the U.S. State Department trade representative, stated on May 6 that the path had been smoothed out for a satisfactory agreement between the parties. In Zoellick’s own words, the supposedly thorny problems of employment and investments generated more common points than disagreement.

The announcement surprised almost no one, much less the Ecuadoran indigenous movement, which has denounced repeated violations by U.S. transnationals, particularly in terms of environmental contamination.

Several months ago, thousands of testimonies were presented to Lucio Gutiérrez on the negative impact of foreign operations on the health of entire communities. These reports were accompanied by demands for compensation and for severe measures within the context of the country’s environmental laws.

But as time went by, the demands remained a dead letter. And now, despite the general great stir that began with the unyielding indigenous position, Zoellick is claiming that solutions to the controversies with U.S. corporations, some of them in litigation, are going fine."

The current climate of Quito’s cozying-up to Washington was anticipated, experts consulted by Granma International affirmed. The neoliberal policies implemented by the Ecuadoran president soon after assuming his mandate set a precedent. By turning his back on the aspirations of the popular masses that elected him, the former military officer destroyed, with no return, the confidence of the voters. (See La Fogata-Latinoamérica)

Marcelo Larrea, a journalist and editor of the Ecuadoran El Sucre magazine, maintains that this set of circumstances – insecurity, tense relations with Colombia, the government’s credibility crisis and its formulas friendly to foreign and oligarchical capital – is a powder keg for medium-term action expressing discontent.

With that perspective, he adds, intensified hostilities on the part of the traditional parties is within the realm of possibility. Likewise, the groups that initially backed Gutiérrez have dwindled, starting with the indigenous Pachakutik group and the left, who are now openly opposing him.

In that sense, and taking advantage of the convergence of contradictions, the Social Christian Party (with the biggest parliamentary bloc), to cite one example, publicly stated that if the people believe (as was the case with Bucaram and Mahuad), that President Lucio Gutiérrez should resign, it would support that will. •

U.S. aid for Colombian Plan Patriota confirmed

The Ecuadoran daily El Universal confirmed on May 7 that the Plan Patriota, which involves Colombia and Ecuador, is receiving U.S. assessment, training and funding – as was the case with the armed forces participating in the anti-drug and anti-guerrilla Plan Colombia. The report affirms that, according to information obtained from an unidentified source in Washington’s embassy in Bogotá, the cost of the above-mentioned operation is included in the funds destined this year for Plan Colombia, which totals $700 million, part of the $2,700 million received by the Colombia since 2000. The newspaper article notes that in spite of these confirmations, spokespersons from the U.S. State Department insist on denying any direct participation in "Patriota."