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Ecuador The United States
The United States maintained good relations with Ecuador's
democratically elected governments in the 1980s. These close ties
were based on trade, investment and finance, cooperation in
Ecuador's economic development, and participation in inter-American
organizations and treaties, including the Western Hemisphere's
regional mutual security treaty, the Inter-American Treaty of
Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty) of 1947. The United States
provided US$48 million in assistance to Ecuador in 1988 and was its
main commercial partner. The United States provided economic
assistance through its Agency for International Development program
in Ecuador and multilateral organizations, such as the InterAmerican Development Bank and
World Bank (see Glossary). In
addition, the United States Peace Corps operated a sizable program
in Ecuador.
Three irritants in particular affected bilateral relations in
the 1970s and 1980s. One was the United States Foreign Trade Act of
1974, which denied (until the 1980s) favorable tariff treatment to
all OPEC members, even though neither Ecuador nor Venezuela
participated in the 1973 oil boycott of the United States. Ecuador
also reacted indignantly in early 1977 when the United States
prohibited Israel from selling a dozen Kfir fighter-bombers to
Ecuador because the aircraft contained licensed General Electric
engines. In 1981, however, the United States lifted the prohibition
(see Equipment Sources
, ch. 5). An additional aggravation was a
dispute over the extent of the territorial sea claimed by Ecuador
since 1953 and its rights over highly migratory fish traveling
through these waters. In the early 1970s, Ecuador seized about 100
tuna boats flying the United States flag and collected fines and
fees totaling more than US$6 million. No additional seizures
occurred until November 1980, when ten tuna boats were detained
while fishing and fined. That action provoked a United States
embargo on the importing of tuna from Ecuador. Although still
unresolved, the territorial sea and fishing issues did not
adversely affect bilateral relations for most of the 1980s.
Febres Cordero's foreign policy was characterized by a marked
preference for bilateralism and closer ties to the United States.
His foreign and economic policies mirrored those advocated by the
administration of President Ronald Reagan, particularly on matters
related to Central America and Latin America's international debt.
During Febres Cordero's week-long state visit to Washington in
January 1986, United States and Ecuadorian officials repeatedly
underlined their two presidents' total agreement on economic and
political matters.
Ecuador was almost alone in its enthusiastic reception of the
1986 Baker Plan (named after then United States secretary of the
treasury James A. Baker III) for alleviating Third World debt,
which called for fresh infusions of capital into the debt-ridden
countries, contingent on structural reforms. Febres Cordero
advocated bilateral negotiation rather than the use of a regional
"cartel" to renegotiate the debt and strongly favored an
"understanding" between debtor and creditor nations. (Nevertheless,
Ecuador stopped paying interest on its debt in 1987.) The Febres
Cordero government also ignored petroleum production quotas set by
OPEC and threatened to withdraw from the cartel as well.
Febres Cordero approved "Operation Blazing Trails," a United
States-sponsored civic-action project to repair bridges and roads
in the earthquake-devastated province of Napo. The project involved
rotating contingents of 600 United States troops through the
country at fifteen-day intervals beginning in May 1986, until an
Ecuadorian congressional resolution in July called for their
immediate withdrawal. Marxist and centrist leaders alike had
denounced Febres Cordero's approval of the project as a violation
of national sovereignty.
United States secretary of state George P. Shultz attended
Borja's swearing-in ceremony on August 10, 1988. During his first
year in office, Borja remained on good terms with the United
States. In his meeting with United States vice president Daniel
Quayle in Caracas in February 1989, Borja stressed the need for
good relations within the framework of mutual respect and
nonintervention in Ecuador's domestic affairs. The Borja government
expressed satisfaction with the proposal presented in March 1989 by
United States treasury secretary Nicolas Brady regarding the Latin
American debt problem. The Brady Plan called for the creditor banks
to write off a portion of a poor country's indebtedness in return
for guaranteed repayment of the remaining debt. Nevertheless, Borja
favored a Bolivian-style policy of holding back payments because of
poverty.
Data as of 1989
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