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Ecuador INTERNAL SECURITY
In spite of the volatile nature of Ecuadorian politics during
the 1980s, the country did not encounter major disruptions of
internal security and successfully contained localized episodes of
public disorder, such as riots and demonstrations. Since 1985,
strikes and demonstrations to protest economic austerity measures
and increases in living costs had been frequent. The Febres Cordero
administration regularly declared such activities to be illegal and
broke up street demonstrations with tear gas and arrests. Although
police actions proved effective, critics often accused the police
of excesses in dispersing public marches and rallies. In January
1986, several hundred Quito students clashed with police during a
three-day period of demonstrations. This outbreak, in which 100
students were jailed, coincided with Febres Cordero's visit to the
United States and was in part a protest against United States
policies toward Ecuador.
As of late 1989, no subversive or terrorist group posed a
serious threat to domestic order. A small leftist group, Alfaro
Lives, Damnit! (¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!--AVC), periodically carried
out acts of terrorism and insurgency. Even though the AVC had a low
potential for subversive action and numbered only 200 to 300
activists, Ecuador was determined to avoid a situation like that in
the neighboring nations of Peru and Colombia, where large,
well-organized, and violent guerrilla organizations presented a
grave challenge to the authority of the state. An intensive police
campaign in the 1986-87 period resulted in the death or capture of
most of the AVC leadership.
The AVC had come to national attention in 1983 when it broke
into a museum in Guayaquil and stole state swords used by the
Ecuadorian national hero, José Eloy Alfaro Delgado. The AVC claimed
to be non-Marxist and adopted a vague program to combat social
injustice. Analysts believed that AVC members were primarily
university-educated middle- or upper-class youths without close
links to other domestic political movements. Some of its leaders,
however, reportedly had ties with Cuba and Nicaragua. In addition,
police found evidence of Libyan involvement in the training of some
AVC members. AVC activists also traveled to Colombia for training
and participation in M-19 military operations.
Between mid-1986 and mid-1987, the AVC kidnapped two
journalists, killed four policemen in a rescue operation to free
one of its members being treated in a hospital, robbed five banks
and a factory, and took over several radio stations, forcing them
to broadcast AVC manifestos. In August 1986, the AVC also kidnapped
a prominent Guayaquil businessman; both the prisoner and his
kidnappers died during a massive police assault. After this
incident, police infiltration, raids, and arrests dealt heavy blows
to the AVC. By the beginning of 1987, sixty-one of its members were
in prison and many others had been killed, including most of the
leadership.
Disorganized and essentially leaderless, the AVC had carried
out few terrorist actions since mid-1987. The remnants of the
organization entered into an agreement with the government in April
1989 to lay down their arms, renounce violence, and integrate
themselves within the democratic system.
A small splinter group of the AVC, Guerrillas for a Free
Homeland (Montoneros Patria Libre--MPL), which made its appearance
in 1986, did not take part in the negotiations with the government
and vowed to continue its armed resistance. Estimated to have a
membership of only 100, the MPL was suspected of a series of bank
robberies to amass funds for its operations.
The Ecuadorian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Ecuatoriano--
PCE) grew out of the Socialist Party, which had been formed in
1926. The PCE gradually gained in importance; in 1944 the PCE won
fifteen out of eighty-five seats in the National Assembly and had
one of its members appointed minister of education. In 1946 the
government outlawed the PCE and jailed many of its members. The PCE
was legalized during the 1948-52 term of President Galo Plaza
Lasso, but was banned again when the military junta held power in
1963-66. Thereafter, the PCE was a legally constituted political
party, although it had only an estimated 500 members in 1988. The
PCE participated in congressional and presidential elections as
part of the coalition of the Broad Left Front (Frente Amplio de la
Izquierda), which gained thirteen seats in Congress in 1986. The
PCE also controlled the Confederation of Ecuadorian Workers
(Confederación de Trabajadores Ecuatorianos--CTE), which comprised
about 20 percent of organized workers
(see Political Forces and Interest Groups
, ch. 4).
A pro-Chinese faction, the Communist Party of Ecuador, MarxistLeninist (Partido Comunista del Ecuador, Marxista-Leninista--PCEML ), broke away from the PCE in 1963. With a membership estimated
at only 100, the PCE-ML nevertheless published its own newspaper
and contested elections as part of the Democratic Popular Movement
(Movimiento Popular Democrático--MPD), a coalition that won four
seats in the 1986 congressional election. Both the PCE and PCE-ML
were legally recognized as of 1989 but had little political impact
and were not regarded as constituting an internal security risk.
Data as of 1989
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