E. IV.7. Ecuador

As in other Latin American countries, there was growing resistance in Ecuador in the 1990s and early 2000s to neo-liberal ‘structural adjustment’ programmes and to privatization – a threat to privatize communal lands led to road blocks across the country in 1994, and there was a popular rebellion (with support from sections of the armed forces) in 2000, with occupation of government buildings and popular assemblies, but it was co-opted by sections of the military. In 2005 a political revolt, the Rebellion of the Forajidos (outlaws), brought to an end the presidency of Lucio Gutierrez, who had reneged on electoral promises over privatization and was blatantly corrupt. The nonviolent revolt was triggered by the Supreme Court decision to drop charges against former President Abdala Bucaram, so permitting Bucaram’s return to Ecuador.