SWEPT BY CIVIL STRIFE
Civil strife has again risen to a high pitch in Ecuador, The military junta, which seized power July 11, 1963, ousting President Carlos Julio Arosemena Monroy, is seeking to stand firm with the assistance of the U.S. against the popular clamor for return to a constitutional government. On July 9 and 10 some 20,000 persons
participated in demonstrations in Guayaquil. The police sought to disperse them with tear-gas grenades, Eleven police and an undetermined number of demonstrators were injured. In addition, three police were reported "missing."
Mass arrests, mounting into the hundreds, were made in Guayaquil and Quito, Sixteen leaders of the "National Patriotic Junta," which is in opposition to the ruling military junta, wore put aboard a military plane July 11 and deported to Paraguay.
These repressive measures failed, however, to prevent the demonstrations from continuing. On July 13 the Quito police tried again, charging with their clubs into crowds led by students. They were answered with stones. Four people were reported killed in the fighting in Quito and Guayaquil.
The government declared a curfew in Guayaquil and moved tanks and truckloads of soldiers into the city. The unions, student organizations and political parties all said they would continue in action until the junta agreed to hold elections.
In face of fresh demonstrations the following day, the junta sent an armed patrol into the offices of the Guayaquil university. They arrested Gonzalo Caamano, dean of the faculty of political economy, the president of the student union and fifteen students,
Casualties in Guayaquil up to this point were listed at two students killed, and thirty civilians and eighteen police wounded, Colonel Gonzalez, civil and military governor of Guayaquil, said that martial law would be applied with "implacable" severity. But the turmoil appeared to be spreading into every town in Ecuador. The pressure could reach explosive proportions if the junta sought to hang on too long.
STROESSNER