The drone revolution: Ecuadorians revolt against repressive US-backed
President Lenin Morenos neoliberal policies
Ecuadors workers are rising up against the IMF-mandated neoliberal economic
reforms of President Lenin Moreno, a close ally of Washington who calls them
zánganos, or drone bees.
By Denis Rogatyuk
Se acabó la zanganería The zanganería is over.
With these words, uttered on October 4, Ecuadors President Lenin Moreno
proclaimed the end of a 40-year policy of fuel and petrol subsidies, which
had traditionally benefited his countrys working-class population.
Zángano, the Spanish word for a male honey bee, otherwise known as a drone,
is a slang term traditionally used by rich, elite parts of society to refer
to workers and the poor, whom they denigrate as mindless or uneducated.
The use of the term by Moreno, a close ally of Washington, reflected the
presidents resentful attitude toward ordinary Ecuadorians.
In short order, Morenos opponents transformed the slang into a buzzword .
They began using it with pride about their movement, dubbing it, la
revolución de los zánganos, or the revolution of the drones.
The bee has become a symbol of their revolt.
Removing oil subsidies, cutting public employees salaries, gutting worker
protections
The decision to cut the governments decades-old fuel subsidies was just one
element in a package of neoliberal economic reforms presented by the Moreno
government on October 1. The program was part of a bid to satisfy the
demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This October, the reform package set off an explosion of mass protests
across the nation.
Moreno claimed the drastic new economic measures were necessary to reduce
wasteful public spending and balance the governments budget.
The most controversial measure of all has been the elimination of the petrol
subsidies that had been in place since the 1970s. This removal led to a
staggering 123 percent rise in the price of diesel, with similar increases
in the price of other fuels.
The package also introduced a 20 percent decrease in the salary of public
employees, and initiated plans to privatize pensions and removed workplace
security and job security safeguards.
Declaring a state of emergency
When he announced the wildly unpopular austerity package, President Lenin
Moreno sensed that large protests against his government were inevitable.
So he declared a national state of emergency, and immediately deployed
both the police and the military against protesters in the capital of Quito
and other areas around the country.
The state of emergency has been widely condemned as unconstitutional.
Leaders of the opposition have argued that it is a desperate measure to try
to prevent the kind of mass-scale uprising that overthrew Ecuadors
neoliberal governments of Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and Lucio Gutiérez in 2005.
Various sectors of society have mobilized in response. Among the most
visible political forces leading the demonstrations have been the Citizens
Revolution Movement of Rafael Correa, Ecuadors former leftist president.
They have been joined by a number of social and trade union organizations,
such as the United Workers Front, the indigenous organization CONAIE, and
the Popular Front political party.
The transport workers unions and the taxi drivers associations also
announced strikes on October 3, bringing major cities including Quito and
Cuenca to a halt.
Ecuadors northern Pichincha province emerged as the epicenter of popular
struggle. More than 10,000 people took part in the strike and the protests.
Although the transport workers suspended the strike on October 5, the
demonstrations by other organizations, particularly the indigenous, have
shown no signs of stopping.
Hundreds of Ecuadorians from the largely indigenous commmunity of
Huaycopungo embarked on a long march to Quito in protest.
Violent repression by security forces
The state security forces have responded viciously, violently cracking down
on the protests.
Videos have circulated on social media showing unarmed demonstrators lying
on the ground after being shot by police:
Another shocking viral video shows a police officer running over an
incapacitated demonstrator with his motorcycle:
Social media has been full of examples of police brutality:
Police have even attacked journalists and videographers documenting the
repression:
But the repression has not been able to quell the uprising.
In Quito, the protests were so massive that the police were forced to
retreat:
Between October 2 and 6, more than 20 demonstrators were injured across the
country, and more than 350 protesters were arrested.
In the city of Caymabe, the police reportedly shot protesters with live
ammunition.
Skyrocketing poverty and inequality
Morenos austerity program has only served to fan the flames of popular
discontent that have been spreading across the country since Moreno took a
decided turn to the right and implemented the IMFs agenda.
Moreno has consistently attempted to discredit former President Rafael
Correas popular economic strategy of combining social spending with public
investment in infrastructure and energy projects while diversifying the
economy, moving away from oil by developing a new system of production.
In contrast, Morenos government has pursued an IMF-mandated package of
reforms that has mandated the dismissal of thousands of public-sector
employees, reduced the size of the public sector, initiated privatization of
parts of the public sector (particularly the public banking services), and
slashed education and healthcare spending.
As a result, poverty and inequality have significantly increased over the
past several years of Morenos rule.
According to the official numbers, the level of structural poverty has
increased from 23.1 percent in June 2017 to 25.5 percent in June 2019. Some
economists have projected that structural poverty will reach 30 percent by
the end of the year if the new economic measures are enacted.
Extreme poverty has also seen a rise from 8.4 percent to 9.5 percent during
the same time period.
Moreover, the Gini coefficient, a measure of economic inequality, has
increased from 0.462 in June 2017 to 0.478 in June 2019, demonstrating that
Morenos policies of reducing social spending has principally benefited the
rich.
Morenos right-wing turn
While Moreno has proved himself a loyal steward of the IMF agenda, Ecuador
has witnessed a steady breakdown of constitutional law. Morenos repressive
turn has manifested itself on numerous fronts, from his turning over of
WikiLeaks publisher and political refugee Julian Assange to the British
authorities to his persecution and imprisonment of the former Vice President
Jorge Glas on dubious charges to his continuous political witch hunt against
Correa and other leaders of the Citizens Revolution, such as the former
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and former assembly member Sofia Espin.
The Moreno government has also censored several critical media outlets,
making concerted efforts to silence discussion of the INA Papers corruption
scandal and the discovery of secret off-shore bank accounts linked to his
family.
This all came as Moreno dismantled democratic structures at home, such as
dismissing the newly elected Council of Citizens Participation and Social
Control (CPCCS), and dismantled international structures of regional
integration, like withdrawing from UNASUR and OPEC.
The Citizens Revolution Movement (MRC) has legally challenged Morenos
declaration of national emergency, noting that it lacks any specific
parameters regarding proportionality, legality, temporality, territoriality
and rationality all of which are mandated by the constitution.
Esther Cuesta, a member of the national assembly of the Citizens Revolution
Movement, explained her partys position regarding both the new rebellion
and the growing authoritarianism and repression by the Moreno government:
Millions of Ecuadorians, whom we join as the Citizens Revolution Movement,
reject the neoliberal economic measures, dictated by the IMF and imposed to
the Ecuadorian people by Morenos government, mainly because they will
impoverish the vast majority of the population: the middle class, the
working class and the poor, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, to
the detriment of the future of children and younger generations.
Cuesta further explained the significance of the zánganos movement in the
historic context of the Ecuadorian peoples struggle against neoliberalism:
Since the paquetazo announcement, what started as a transportation strike,
emerged as a growing social protest all over the country and from different
sectors of the population. Ecuadorian people have memory. The adjustment
policies applied in the country the 1980s and 1990s provoked massive
unemployment, impoverishing of the population, and about 12 percent of the
population emigrated.
For his part, former President Correa has cheered on the protest movement,
tweeting, Yo también soy zángano I am also a drone.
Denis Rogatyuk
Denis is a Russian-Australian freelance writer, journalist and researcher.
His articles, interviews and analysis have been published in a variety of
media sources around the world including Jacobin, Le Vent Se Léve, Sputnik,
Green Left Weekly, Links International Journal, Alborada and others.
