Ecuador's defense minister resigns amid protests over oil UPDATE

[bemildred]

QUITO (AFX) - Ecuador's defense minister, Solon Espinosa, resigned amid violent protests in two oil-rich provinces by workers and locals demanding a bigger share of oil revenues, officials said.

President Alfredo Palacio accepted Espinosa's resignation and appointed retired general Oswaldo Jarrin to replace him, a presidential spokesman said.

Espinosa took over the post on April 20, after President Lucio Gutierrez resigned.

Yesterday Ecuador's state oil firm, Petroecuador, had to suspend exports of crude oil because of protests that have cut production.

Forbes

[walkon]

1. Does anyone know

why there are violent protests over oil in Ecuador?

[54anickel]

2. They are tired of being "raped" by foreign oil companies

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ft/20050819/bs_ft/fto081920050400156758

Ecuadorean troops took control of government buildings in two Amazon provinces and reinforced security at oil wells on Thursday as they moved to quell protests that have slashed crude production and exports, a senior officer said. Acting after President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana late on Wednesday, security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the eastern jungle city of Lago Agrio, in images shown on local television. The disturbances, which are throttling the country's principal source of export income, are the worst faced by Palacio since he came to power in April. Ecuador's crude oil output has collapsed since protesters invaded oil camps, sabotaged equipment and blocked highways on Monday. The protesters are demanding foreign oil companies operating in the region provide financing for infrastructure projects and more job opportunities.

more...

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Things are heating up.

[NYC]

5. Thanks

for that information.

[1932]

7. John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man:

He was in the Peace Corps in Ecuador and used his experience and knowledge to ruin the country in order to make a few wealthy people very wealthy and many poor people even poorer.

Read his book if you want to know why people are rebelling there today.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Thanks for the recommendation. I've got the book already, haven't read it.

Reading your remarks will encourage me to get busy!

Have the Aleida Guevara & Chavez book I've been seeing in your posts, as well. Same situation.

So much is happening in this hemisphere now. Hope they get a chance to pull out of the control of our Republican tyrants and get their own countries organized safely with no interference from _Bush.

[goforit]

4. Top $ for barrel = high profits for corporation. People want slice of pie

[54anickel]

6. Ecuador seeks oil loan as defense minister quits

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19700938.htm

QUITO, Ecuador, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Ecuador's defense minister resigned on Friday during protests which have crippled oil production and forced the country to ask Venezuela for a loan of crude oil so it can keep up exports, officials said.

Ecuador will seek a $400 million emergency loan from the Latin American Reserve Fund to avoid balance of payments problems resulting from the protest in two provinces and import $140 million worth of fuel, Economy Minister Magdalena Barreiro said.

The protests pushed U.S. crude oil futures up $2 above $65 a barrel in New York on Friday. Ecuador is South America's fifth largest producer of crude oil and, after Venezuela, is the second-largest South American supplier of oil to the United States.

President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and ordered troops to restore order in Sucumbios and Orellana provinces where protesters began to invade oil camps, sabotage equipment and block highways on Monday.

But the worst crisis for Palacio since he took office in April worsened on Friday when one of the men in charge of the state of emergency, Defense Minister Solon Espinoza, resigned.

more...

[mountebank]

8. I'm in Ecuador right now and things look pretty chaotic....

The news is playing videos of the burning buildings, the protests, and the police repression.

Also we should consider that Palacio recently sacked the Minister of the Economy, Rafael Correa, over supposedly not telling him about a loan acquired from Venezuela (leading Correa to respond, "He was the only Ecuatorean that didn't know about the deal with Venezuela" and it was true - it was already reported and common knowledge). Correa was simply being too honest about the IMF, and his actions to redistribute the oil fund to social programs instead of foreign debt holders was too just. Hopefully he will run for President next year. But on what ticket?

Point is, the situation in Ecuador is certainly much calmer than before Sucio Lucio got booted - but it still seems pretty fluid. That's my impression, anyway.

[struggle4progress]

10. kick