[Nasional-e] Colonel on white charger rides to aid of poor

[Ambon]

Colonel on white charger rides to aid of poor

Gutierrez victory adds to leftist gains in Latin America

Duncan Campbell in Quito

Two years ago Colonel Lucio Gutierrez was in jail; now he is president-elect
of Ecuador, after the nation was enthused by his promises to fight
corruption and poverty. He will be yet another Latin American president with
a leftwing agenda.
His victory in the presidential run-off came a few weeks after Lula da
Silva's landslide in Brazil and leftist gains in Peru and Bolivia. It was a
further indication that Latin American voters, especially the indigenous
population, are turning away from conservative, US-approved candidates and
neoliberal policies.
At his pre-election rally in Quito, after pop singers in hot pants, boy
bands in white suits and comedians in Indian costume warmed up the crowd,
Col Gutierrez, in his trademark military uniform, addressed the throng in a
voice hoarse from intense campaigning and the dust that had drifted through
the city after a volcanic eruption. He was bathed in floodlights, throwing
roses to an adoring crowd. Massive posters showed him astride a white
charger and he promised the crowd revolution. But this was not a revolution
to cause panic in the US embassy down the road. It was "spiritual,
intellectual revolution".
The electorate in this country of 12 million people chose between Col
Gutierrez, a career soldier accused by his opponents of being a communist,
and Alvaro Noboa, a banana billionaire. Col Gutierrez is from a lower
middle-class family in the Amazon region and came to public attention in
2000 when the president, Jamil Mahuad, decided to change the currency to the
US dollar. This led to demonstrations and the replacement of Mr Mahuad with
a triumvirate that included Col Gutierrez, with the backing of indigenous
groups and junior army officers. Their rule was short-lived; the
vice-president, Gustavo Noboa, took over and Col Gutierrez was sent to
military prison for six months.
Alvaro Noboa (no relation to the current president) came from Guayaquil, the
largest city, and is part of the Bonita banana empire started by his father.
He spent heavily on television commercials, campaigning with his glamorous
wife.
Significantly, both candidates came with their own new parties and defeated
the traditional parties of government. With 97% of the votes counted, Col
Gutierrez had 54.3% and Mr Noboa 45.7% in an election with a significance
far beyond the boundaries of a small nation tucked between powerful Colombia
and Peru. Col Gutierrez will be the latest new-style Latin American leftist
politician who pursues social reforms while avoiding confrontation with the
US and the IMF.
He ran on an anti-corruption platform with promises to help the poor; half
the population are below the poverty line. Leaflets showed him in combat
gear with a clenched fist beneath the slogan "Smash the oligarchy!" But he
had been at pains to reassure Washington and the IMF that he is no Marxist
and that all existing contracts and treaties, specifically those connected
to
 Ecuador's vital oil industry, would be honoured and the US's anti-drugs
base in Manta could remain.
He was so anxious to avoid alienating the US that he took three days off
from campaigning to visit Washington, New York and Miami and talk to US and
IMF officials. The strategy seems to have paid off: the Wall Street Journal
declared that the US had nothing to fear from him, and the State Department
later congratulated him on his victory in "a free and fair election". He was
keen to distance himself from Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, another
leftwing army officer briefly jailed for plotting a coup before being
elected, whom Col
 Gutierrez declared as a role model in 2000. "I haven't even spoken to
Chavez on the telephone," he told the foreign press. Col Gutierrez dismissed
claims that he was communist and that capital would flee from Ecuador.
He said that his election, following Lula's win, would send a signal
throughout Latin America "for the poor people, for the marginal people". He
describes himself as "centre left" and "pragmatic". Like Lula, he is
preaching reform rather than revolution, focusing on corruption within
government and the courts. "People try to stigmatise Lucio Gutierrez," he
said at the start of the campaign. "My
 only ideology is for my country." Significantly, he had the backing of
Pachakutik, the indigenous party. Traditionally the poorest sectors of Latin
American society, indigenous groups had already flexed their electoral
muscles in Bolivia and Peru. Indigenous Ecuadorians, about 40% of the
population, did much the same.
Mr Noboa, 52, had pledged "employment, employment, employment" and offered
concessions to foreign investors to stimulate the economy.
Outside Ecuador, the Gutierrez victory was seen as significant. "Gutierrez
represents part of a democratic left movement taking place throughout Latin
America," said Larry
 Birns, of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington. "While he
speaks an anti-neoliberal line, he is much more in the mainstream than
Chavez and has far greater strength. The US administration had concluded the
age of ideology in Latin America was over and the region was more concerned
with trade, but protest never dies, it just takes different forms."
Col Gutierrez said that Ecuadorians would find him "tolerant and respectful
of human rights, and the right to private property", and gave "the greatest
of assurances" to the international finance sector.

The Guardian Weekly 28-11-2002, page 5