I’ve been saying it for a while–and Latin American commentator Al Giordano has been saying it for even longer: Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutierrez’s days may well be numbered.
Lucio’s a populist who got elected because he told the country’s poor indigenous voters that he’d help ’em out. He hasn’t. They’re mad. And now there’re some new developments from Quito:
The Financial Times’s Andy Webb-Vidal is reporting the start of what could turn into a Bolivia-esque mess: an indefinite strike:
Ecuador’s powerful indigenous movement on Monday began what it said could be an indefinite strike and series of nationwide street protests against President Lucio Guti�rrez (pictured), increasing tensions in the Andean country.
Conaie, the umbrella indigenous confederation, at the weekend called on hundreds of thousands of members and associated peasant groups to block main roads across Ecuador in protest at the unpopular president’s economic policies.
It’s too soon to know if the protests’ll gain traction, though. We’ll have to wait and see. This isn’t the first time I’ve predicted Lucio’s demise, of course; I thought a campaign contribution scandal back in November would be the beginning of the end.