By IPS Correspondents
QUITO, Feb 5 1997 (IPS)

A 48-hour national strike in Ecuador demanding President Abdala Bucaram’s impeachment was kicked off Wednesday with roadblocks staged throughout the country by thousands of indigenous and peasant farmers.

The strike is the culmination of a month of street demonstrations against the government’s economic adjustment plan. Banks remained closed Wednesday in Quito, public transport services were suspended on the order of municipal authorities, and the local Chamber of Commerce urged its members not to open their doors.

In a televised message to the nation Tuesday night, Bucaram accused three former presidents – Osvaldo Hurtado (1981-84), Leon Febres Cordero (1984-88) and Rodrigo Borja (1988-92) – who signed a letter to Congress on Monday urging his impeachment, of conspiracy.

“I have to distinguish between the real demands of the people and attempts at conspiracy by a few former presidents, who are guilty of leading the country to the crisis it is now experiencing,” said Bucaram, who has been in office for six months.

Some 20,000 indigenous people and peasant farmers set up roadblocks early Wednesday morning on the country’s main highways in support of the strike called by the Patriotic Front (FP), made up of the Coordinator of Social Movements, the Sole Workers Front and women’s, indigenous and student organisations.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) said the country’s 10 indigenous groups would continue their protests until Bucaram was impeached by means of mechanisms stipulated by the constitution.

“We will not allow any agricultural product to enter urban centres until the president is removed from office or voluntarily presents his resignation,” said CONAIE leader Patricio Tapuy.

According to CONAIE, more than three million indigenous people are participating in the general strike.

Bucaram, recognising the legitimacy of the people’s protests against political patronage and corruption, called them “historic demands against corruption, underdevelopment and the political system.”

But he censured the intervention of Borja, Febres Cordero and Hurtado, who in their letter to Congress alleged Bucaram’s “incapacity to govern the country,” established by the constitution as grounds for impeachment. They also accused the president of “treason” and mismanagement of public funds.

Borja said Wednesday that “something demanded by nearly 92 percent of the population cannot be a conspiracy. We are basing our arguments on constitutional principles and democracy.”

Thousands of people gathered Wednesday at several points in Quito to start their march towards Congress, to deliver a formal petition for Bucaram’s impeachment. Papier-mache effigies of the president and t-shirts with his photo were used as torches by the protesters, who chanted “Out with Bucaram”.

Ecuador’s opposition parties, previously separated by profound political differences, have also joined ranks around the strike.

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