By IPS Correspondents
QUITO, Dec 23 2002 (IPS)

The participation of several indigenous people in the government to take office on Jan 15 in Ecuador, in which Kichwa parliamentarian Nina Pacari is expected to serve as foreign minister, highlights the growing influence of the country’s indigenous movement.

President-elect Lucio Gutiérrez told IPS in an interview last Friday that the members of the cabinet, to be announced within the next few days, will include prominent indigenous and civil society leaders and activists.

Gutiérrez won the second round of elections in November at the head of an alliance between his small party, the 21st of January Patriotic Society Party, and the Pachakutik-New Country Movement of Plurinational Unity, garnering 54.4 percent of the vote compared to the 45.6 percent taken by his rival Alvaro Noboa, a banana magnate and the richest man in the country.

Pacari is likely to be named to the Foreign Ministry, due to the capacity she has demonstrated as vice-president of Congress, added Gutiérrez, a retired colonel who took part in a January 2000 indigenous and military uprising that overthrew then-president Jamil Mahuad.

Other spokespersons for the new government also commented to IPS that Gutiérrez was getting ready to name Pacari foreign minister, despite the pressure from right-wing sectors and circles within the Foreign Ministry itself, which are opposed to the appointment of an indigenous woman.

Although the pressure was not publicly expressed, it led to a delay in the announcement of Pacari’s new post, which will be formally made public on a date closer to Jan 15, when the government of Gustavo Noboa – no relation to Alvaro – hands over to Gutiérrez and his team.

”Indigenous people are going to occupy a prominent place in my government, not only because they belong to the alliance that won the elections, but because they have representatives who are highly qualified to hold the most important public posts,” said Gutiérrez.

The national coordinator of the Pachakutik-New Country Movement of Plurinational Unity, Miguel Lluco, stated that his group would share power in the next government, in a categorical response to press reports on a supposed crisis in the coalition.

”We are not part of the government; we are government,” Lluco stated emphatically. He also clarified that his movement’s participation in the government would be based on a shared programme and co-participation in the public administration at all levels.

”It isn’t a question of divvying up the ministries, but of sharing responsibilities,” he added.

Analyst Rosa Rodríguez, writing in the local publication Tintají, said the pressure against Pacari being named foreign minister demonstrated the racism that remains strong but hidden among some political and economic sectors in Ecuador.

”Above and beyond her progressive political positions and outstanding professional qualifications, Nina Pacari represents two sectors which suffer discrimination in Ecuadorean society: Indians and women. If she is not named, it could be taken as just one more form of discrimination,” argued Rodríguez.

Around 30 percent of Ecuador’s 12.5 million people belong to 12 distinct indigenous groups, the largest of which is the Kichwa, who inhabit the country’s highlands as well as the eastern Amazon jungle region.

Other ethnic groups living in the Amazon jungle are the Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Huaorani, Achuar, Shuar and Zápara, while the Awa, Chachi, Epera and Tsáchila live in the Pacific coastal region.

Since 1996, Ecuador’s indigenous people have taken part in elections through the Pachakutik Movement, which brings together Indians, environmentalists, women’s groups, and other sectors of civil society.

The movement’s parliamentary slate in the 1998 elections was headed by Pacari, who in August of that same year was elected vice- president of Congress, a post never before held by an indigenous person.

Pacari, a Kichwa Indian, was born in 1961 in Cotacachi, in the northern province of Imbabura. She is a lawyer, and served as director of land and territories in the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

In 1997 she was named chair of the National Council of Planning for Indigenous and Black Peoples, a body created to design state policies for indigenous people and blacks, and to plan and implement projects aimed at their development and empowerment.

In November 1997, she was elected as a member of the National Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution that was adopted in 1998.

Pacari’s designation as vice-president of Congress sent shock waves through the country.

”Ecuador is not accustomed to seeing an indigenous woman in the leadership of such an important body of authority as the legislature,” she said on assuming the post. ”It must get used to seeing Indians and women in decision-making posts, who do not lose their identity or their commitment to the sectors they represent.”

Pacari has expressed opposition to the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), ”if there are no changes that take into account and address the weaknesses of the small countries” involved in the continent-wide free trade initiative.

She is also opposed to Plan Colombia, a partly U.S.-financed multi-billion dollar anti-drug and counterinsurgency strategy, on the argument that ”it is deepening Colombia’s internal conflict.”

However, she is in favour of greater integration in South America. ”We must move towards political, economic, social and cultural integration, the starting-point of which could be an agreement between the Andean Community and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur),” she said.

Ecuador is a member of the Andean Community trade bloc, along with Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. The Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Deputy-elect Ricardo Ulcuango, a former vice-president of CONAIE, believes Pacari’s likely designation will send a strong message to the world that Ecuador, and a large part of Latin America, are truly interested in change.

”For the first time, a Latin American country will have a female indigenous foreign minister, with all that this signifies in today’s globalised times,” said Ulcuango.

Pacari, meanwhile, said the country has moved from the political and social uniformity of the 1980s to a multicultural society and greater recognition of the various nationalities that make up the population of this Andean nation.

”I hope that the experience (of indigenous leaders) in the city governments, Congress and the future government will contribute to building a plurinational state, whose structure and administration reflect the country’s multicultural nature,” she said.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
QUITO, Dec 23 2002 (IPS)

The participation of several indigenous people in the government to take office on Jan 15 in Ecuador, in which Kichwa parliamentarian Nina Pacari is expected to serve as foreign minister, highlights the growing influence of the country’s indigenous movement.

President-elect Lucio Gutiérrez told IPS in an interview last Friday that the members of the cabinet, to be announced within the next few days, will include prominent indigenous and civil society leaders and activists.

Gutiérrez won the second round of elections in November at the head of an alliance between his small party, the 21st of January Patriotic Society Party, and the Pachakutik-New Country Movement of Plurinational Unity, garnering 54.4 percent of the vote compared to the 45.6 percent taken by his rival Alvaro Noboa, a banana magnate and the richest man in the country.

Pacari is likely to be named to the Foreign Ministry, due to the capacity she has demonstrated as vice-president of Congress, added Gutiérrez, a retired colonel who took part in a January 2000 indigenous and military uprising that overthrew then-president Jamil Mahuad.

Other spokespersons for the new government also commented to IPS that Gutiérrez was getting ready to name Pacari foreign minister, despite the pressure from right-wing sectors and circles within the Foreign Ministry itself, which are opposed to the appointment of an indigenous woman.

Although the pressure was not publicly expressed, it led to a delay in the announcement of Pacari’s new post, which will be formally made public on a date closer to Jan 15, when the government of Gustavo Noboa — no relation to Alvaro — hands over to Gutiérrez and his team.

“Indigenous people are going to occupy a prominent place in my government, not only because they belong to the alliance that won the elections, but because they have representatives who are highly qualified to hold the most important public posts,” said Gutiérrez.

The national coordinator of the Pachakutik-New Country Movement of Plurinational Unity, Miguel Lluco, stated that his group would share power in the next government, in a categorical response to press reports on a supposed crisis in the coalition.

“We are not part of the government; we are government,” Lluco stated emphatically. He also clarified that his movement’s participation in the government would be based on a shared programme and co-participation in the public administration at all levels.

“It isn’t a question of divvying up the ministries, but of sharing responsibilities,” he added.

Analyst Rosa Rodríguez, writing in the local publication Tintají, said the pressure against Pacari being named foreign minister demonstrated the racism that remains strong but hidden among some political and economic sectors in Ecuador.

“Above and beyond her progressive political positions and outstanding professional qualifications, Nina Pacari represents two sectors which suffer discrimination in Ecuadorean society: Indians and women. If she is not named, it could be taken as just one more form of discrimination,” argued Rodríguez.

Around 30 percent of Ecuador’s 12.5 million people belong to 12 distinct indigenous groups, the largest of which is the Kichwa, who inhabit the country’s highlands as well as the eastern Amazon jungle region.

Other ethnic groups living in the Amazon jungle are the Cofán, Siona, Secoya, Huaorani, Achuar, Shuar and Zápara, while the Awa, Chachi, Epera and Tsáchila live in the Pacific coastal region.

Since 1996, Ecuador’s indigenous people have taken part in elections through the Pachakutik Movement, which brings together Indians, environmentalists, women’s groups, and other sectors of civil society.

The movement’s parliamentary slate in the 1998 elections was headed by Pacari, who in August of that same year was elected vice- president of Congress, a post never before held by an indigenous person.

Pacari, a Kichwa Indian, was born in 1961 in Cotacachi, in the northern province of Imbabura. She is a lawyer, and served as director of land and territories in the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE).

In 1997 she was named chair of the National Council of Planning for Indigenous and Black Peoples, a body created to design state policies for indigenous people and blacks, and to plan and implement projects aimed at their development and empowerment.

In November 1997, she was elected as a member of the National Constituent Assembly, which drafted the constitution that was adopted in 1998.

Pacari’s designation as vice-president of Congress sent shock waves through the country.

“Ecuador is not accustomed to seeing an indigenous woman in the leadership of such an important body of authority as the legislature,” she said on assuming the post. “It must get used to seeing Indians and women in decision-making posts, who do not lose their identity or their commitment to the sectors they represent.”

Pacari has expressed opposition to the creation of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), “if there are no changes that take into account and address the weaknesses of the small countries” involved in the continent-wide free trade initiative.

She is also opposed to Plan Colombia, a partly U.S.-financed multi-billion dollar anti-drug and counterinsurgency strategy, on the argument that “it is deepening Colombia’s internal conflict.”

However, she is in favour of greater integration in South America. “We must move towards political, economic, social and cultural integration, the starting-point of which could be an agreement between the Andean Community and the Southern Common Market (Mercosur),” she said.

Ecuador is a member of the Andean Community trade bloc, along with Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela. The Mercosur is made up of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Deputy-elect Ricardo Ulcuango, a former vice-president of CONAIE, believes Pacari’s likely designation will send a strong message to the world that Ecuador, and a large part of Latin America, are truly interested in change.

“For the first time, a Latin American country will have a female indigenous foreign minister, with all that this signifies in today’s globalised times,” said Ulcuango.

Pacari, meanwhile, said the country has moved from the political and social uniformity of the 1980s to a multicultural society and greater recognition of the various nationalities that make up the population of this Andean nation.

“I hope that the experience (of indigenous leaders) in the city governments, Congress and the future government will contribute to building a plurinational state, whose structure and administration reflect the country’s multicultural nature,” she said.

Excerpt: