Coup in Ecuador in 2000
The coup d'état in Ecuador in 2000 was a coup that took place from January 21-22, 2000 during which President Jamil Mahuad was banished and then Vice-President Gustavo Noboa took office. The coup was initiated by CONAIE , Carlos Solórzano Constantine and a group of middle and low military leaders led by Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez .
Banking, currency and sovereign debt crisis
Until 1992, the central bank had a monopoly on currency and foreign exchange activities. Private banking was freed from control mechanisms in 1994 by the government of Sixto Durán Ballén and his deputy until 1995, Alberto Dahik Garzoni, including the free reconciliation of interest.
The Cenepa war with Peru led to high armament costs from 1995 onwards.
Bad loans made banks insolvent. The credit practice was notorious and in 1999 savers wanted to withdraw their money from the banks and the government imposed a bank vacation.
Feriado bancario
On March 8, 1999, a 24-hour holiday was declared, which ultimately lasted 5 days. All financial operations have been suspended. In the meantime, Mahuad ordered the freezing of deposits from the accounts of more than 2 million sucres for a year. Nevertheless banks went "bankrupt" and costs were borne by the state, which passed this burden on the budget to the population. For example, by reducing social spending and increasing service fees.
In March 1999, the indigenous people protested against the blocking of private accounts as part of the feriado bancario , with over a million indigenous people in ten provinces in the highlands and six in the Amazon region blocking the thoroughfares for four days.
Unforeseen expenditures that drained liquidity from the Ecuadorian economy ended in the 1998–1999 banking crisis and 60% of the budget cuts by the Fuerzas Armadas del Ecuador .
Then there are the serious corruption cases of the Mahuad government.
President Mahuad's popularity fell from 60% in 1998 to 6% in January 2000 during his tenure.
In the last days of 1999, Mahuad announced the dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy and several measures agreed with the International Monetary Fund .
The coup
In response to Mahuad's economic policies: economic plans, bank holidays and the 1999 financial crisis, indigenous peoples moved from the Amazon and northern Ecuador and gathered in Quito on January 21, 2000 demanding Mahuad's resignation. Lucio Gutiérrez and other military officials joined their eventful gathering along the way . Around noon, the tumultuous assembly occupied Parliament and the Supreme Court, with the police withdrawing. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solórzano and the chairman of CONAIE, Antonio Vargas proclaimed themselves as a triumvirate to the government of national salvation and occupied the parliament. This led to consultations between generals, politicians and US diplomats.
In the afternoon and evening hours, the eventful gathering of indigenous peoples marched in front of the official residence of the president, the general staff refused to support Mahuad, whereupon he received asylum in the Chilean embassy.
Consejo Supremo de Estado
In the evening the Triumvirate took the seat of government. The General Staff replaced Gutierrez with General Carlos Mendoza Poveda, Mahuad's defense minister in the triumvirate. In the early morning of January 22, 2000, the General Staff forced Mendoza to resign and Vice President Gustavo Noboa became President by the grace of the General Staff. The constitution provides for the vice-president to take over the office of president at the initiative of parliament. The coup plotters were arrested and given amnesty by parliament during Noboa's tenure. Mahuad went into exile in the United States after his de facto deposition.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Government crisis : after the Vice President Alberto Dahik Garzoni had to answer before the Supreme Court of the country for "alleged corruption" and "misappropriation of state funds", the parliament decided on August 31, 1996 an impeachment procedure cf. Fischer Weltalmanach, 1997 p. 1997
- ↑ Philipp Altmann, The Indigenous Movement in Ecuador: Discourse and Decoloniality, 2014, p. 146
- ^ Reformas y desarrollo en el Ecuador contemporáneo, [1]
- ↑ 21 de enero del 2000 ¿Golpe de estado o revueltaindia en el Ecuador? , Alejandra Ciriza, Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencieas Sociales, [2]
- ^ Simón Espinoza (2000) Presidentes de Ecuador. Editorial Vistazo