| |
| | ECUADOR: President walks a tightrope |
 | | His replacement, former vice-president Alfredo Palacio, came to power promising to hold a referendum on the trade agreement, increase social spending and to re-found the country by setting up a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution. |
 | | Colombian farmers boycotted the negotiations, thousands of Ecuadoreans protested in the streets of the countrys largest city, Guayaquil, until police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse them, and on June 8, a bomb was set off outside the hotel in which the negotiations were taking place. |
 | | Gutierrez was unpopular for his implementation of neoliberal austerity measures, expansion of the US military presence in Ecuador and for attempting to subvert the role of the Supreme Court. |
| www.greenleft.org.au /back/2005/630/630p14b.htm (3027 words) |
|