HISTORY
Advanced
indigenous cultures flourished in Ecuador long before the area
was conquered by the Inca Empire in the 15th century. In 1534,
the Spanish arrived and defeated the Inca armies, and Spanish
colonists became the new elite. The indigenous population was
decimated by disease in the first decades of Spanish rule--a time
when the natives also were forced into the "encomienda"
labor system for Spanish landlords. In 1563, Quito became the
seat of a royal "audiencia" (administrative district)
of Spain.
Independence
After independence forces defeated the royalist army in 1822, Ecuador joined Simon Bolivar's Republic of Gran Colombia, only to become a separate republic in 1830. The 19th century was marked by instability, with a rapid succession of rulers. The conservative Gabriel Garcia Moreno unified the country in the 1860s with the support of the Catholic Church. In the late 1800s, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast.
A coastal-based liberal revolution in 1895 under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and opened the way for capitalist development. The end of the cocoa boom produced renewed political instability and a military coup in 1925. The 1930s and 1940s were marked by populist politicians, such as five-time President Jose Velasco Ibarra. In January 1942, Ecuador signed the Rio Protocol to end a brief war with Peru the year before. Ecuador agreed to a border that conceded to Peru much territory Ecuador had previously claimed in the Amazon region. After World War II, a recovery in the market for agricultural commodities and the growth of the banana industry helped restore prosperity and political peace. From 1948-60, three presidents--beginning with Galo Plaza--were freely elected and completed their terms. Political turbulence returned in the 1960's, followed by a period of military dictatorship between 1972 and 1979. The 1980's and beginning of the 90's saw a return to democracy, but instability returned by the middle of the decade.
Recession
and popular unrest led to a return to populist politics and domestic
military interventions in the 1960s, while foreign companies developed
oil resources in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 1972, a nationalist
military regime seized power and used the new oil wealth and foreign
borrowing to pay for a program of industrialization, land reform,
and subsidies for urban consumers. With the oil boom fading, Ecuador
returned to democracy in 1979, but by 1982, the government faced
an economic crisis, characterized by inflation, budget deficits,
a falling currency, mounting debt service, and uncompetitive industries.
The 1984
presidential elections were narrowly won by Leon Febres-Cordero
of the Social Christian Party (PSC). During the first years of
his administration, Febres-Cordero introduced free-market economic
policies, took strong stands against drug trafficking and terrorism,
and pursued close relations with the United States. His tenure
was marred by bitter wrangling with other branches of government
and his own brief kidnapping by elements of the military. A devastating
earthquake in March 1987 interrupted oil exports and worsened
the country's economic problems.
Rodrigo
Borja of the Democratic Left (ID) party won the presidency in
1988. His government was committed to improving human rights protection
and carried out some reforms. Most notably, Borja opened Ecuador
up foreign trade. The Borja government concluded an accord leading
to the disbanding of the small terrorist group, "Alfaro Lives."
However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity
of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in
1990.
In 1992,
Sixto Duran-Ballen won in his third run for the presidency. His
government succeeded in pushing a limited number of modernization
initiatives through Congress. Duran-Ballen's Vice President, Alberto
Dahik, was the architect of the administration's economic policies,
but in 1995, Dahik fled the country to avoid prosecution on corruption
charges following a heated political battle with the opposition.
A war with Peru erupted in January-February 1995 in a small, remote
region where the boundary prescribed by the 1942 Rio Protocol
was in dispute.
Abdala
Bucaram, from the Guayaquil-based Ecuadorian Roldosista Party
(PRE), won the presidency in 1996 on a platform that promised
populist economic and social policies and the breaking of what
Bucaram termed as the power of the nation's oligarchy. During
his short term of office, Bucaram's administration drew criticism
for corruption. Bucaram was deposed by the Congress in February
1997 on grounds of alleged mental incompetence. In his place,
Congress named interim President Fabian Alarcon, who had been
president of Congress and head of the small Radical Alfarist Front
party. Alarcon's interim presidency was endorsed by a May 1997
popular referendum.
Congressional
and first-round presidential elections were held on May 31, 1998.
No presidential candidate obtained a majority, so a run-off election
between the top two candidates--Quito Mayor Jamil Mahuad of the
Popular Democracy party and Alvaro Noboa of the Ecuadorian Roldosista
Party (PRE)--was held on July 12, 1998. Mahuad won by a narrow
margin. He took office on August 10, 1998. On the same day, Ecuador's
new constitution came into effect. Mahuad concluded a well-received
peace with Peru on October 26, 1998, but increasing economic,
fiscal, and financial difficulties drove his popularity steadily
lower. On January 21, 2000, during demonstrations in Quito by
indigenous groups, the military and police refused to enforce
public order. Demonstrators entered the National Assembly building
and declared a three-person "junta" in charge of the
country. Field-grade military officers declared their support
for the concept. During a night of confusion and negotiations,
President Mahuad was obliged to flee the presidential palace.
Vice President Gustavo Noboa took charge and Mahuad went on national
television in the morning to endorse Noboa as his successor. Congress
met in emergency session in Guayaquil the same day, January 22,
and ratified Noboa as President of the Republic in constitutional
succession to Mahuad.
By completing
Mahuad’s term, Noboa restored some stability to Ecuador.
He implemented the dollarization that Mahuad had announced, and
he obtained congressional authorization for the construction of
Ecuador’s second major oil pipeline, this one financed by
a private consortium. Noboa turned over the government on January
15, 2003, to his successor, Lucio Gutierrez, a former army colonel
who first came to the public’s attention as a leader of
the January 2000 events that led to Mahuad’s departure from
the presidency. Anti-corruption was a main theme of Gutierrez’s
campaign. Gutierrez’s party has a small fraction of the
seats in Congress, and he therefore depends on the support of
other political parties to pass legislation. He has attempted
some economic reforms. On November 9, 2004, an opposition coalition
tried but failed to create a Special Congressional Commission
to impeach the president on various grounds.
.
