MILITARY
REGIME IN ECUADOR TOSSED OUT
The military junta that seized power in Quito through a coup d'état July 11, 1963, fell March 29 in the face of popular demonstrations. On the following day .a businessman, Clemente Yerovi Indaburu, » was sworn in as provisional president. The selection of Yerovi was an obvious attempt by the military to gain time by Placating the masses with a return to ostensible "civilian rule.
Originally the junta was made up of four military figures:. Rear-Admiral Ramon Castro Jijon, General Iuis Cabrera Sevilla, General Marcos Gandara Enriquez and Colonel Guillermo Freile Posso. Four months ago Colonel Freile was arrested by the other three in the junta on charges of getting involved in “politics. " The current unrest began about that time.
The background , however, goes back to the ‘unseating of José Maria Velasco Ibarra on November 8, 1961. Ecuador was shaken at the time by popular demonstrations throughout the country. Agitation | for a radical agrarian reform in the example of Cuba was particularly noticeable.
Velasco Ibarra was replaced by Carlos Julio Arosmena Monroy. Hopes were high that he would at least initiate an agrarian reforn. Arosemena. sought to temporize, offering a mild agrarian reform that never really got beyond pious words... Under pressure from American imperialism, Arosmena broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba, | still further weakening his position. The military then took over.
The charges levelled by the junta against Arosmena were rot exactly on a high political level. They accused him of making a public spectacle of himself. ‘by hitting the bottle.
The nonalcoholic junta, however, proved as incapable of solving the basic problems facing the Ecuadorian masses as the alcoholic Arosmena. Inflation continued to undercut the already abysmal standard of living. The United States continued to profit as the imperialist: buyer of -Ecuador'a banana crop. The dand still . remained in the hands of the oligarchy.
‘Students began staging demonstrations in late January. On February 7 the student federation issued a call to overthrow the junta. Students then met with representatives of the workérs and demonstrations broke out on:a massive scale in Quito and Guayaquil and other places. Recently small businessmen joined.in the demonstrations, pulling down the steel.shutters on their shops as the crowds stood up to the police and troops. The armed violence mobi-. . lized by the junta finally proved insufficient to put down the popular demonstrations.
Whether the sop of “Yerovi will prove sufficient to stem the unrest remains to be seen. As he took the oath of office, he was greeted with cries of "Oligarch's lackey!" and "Military stooge!"
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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT ON THE RISE IN THE U.S.
By Caroline Jenness
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