Today is Wednesday. It's no
Friday but it's not Monday, either.
To honor the fact that we are in the middle of week, I will tell you five facts of life, about me or someone else, faith, world and existence in general.
And what I want from you, my readers?
I want to know about you!
Leave me your facts, so I can enjoy reading them!
They can also be about you, your life or anything you find fascinating in this world or in the world beyond.
Ecuador has a special occasion for every day.
In Finland we have very few national holidays and it
was quite a cultural shock to arrive to Ecuador and find that there was a
holiday at least once a month.
Usually it was twice a month but sometimes every week.
Besides that there was the occasional general strike
when everything would shut down.
Or teacher’s strikes that would close schools for
months.
Or motorist strikes that would close the roads.
Or indigenous people’s strikes when they would try to
take over the capital or the mayor’s house or just cause general unrest,
violence and loitering.
Of course there were the strikes when people would
fight against police and the army and conquer oil pumping stations.
Or the one strike where the police went on strike and
took the president hostage.
Here are the best and most memorable strikes of my
time in Ecuador.
1. 1996-1997 General strikes
Months of teachers’ strikes with no school. The
teachers wouldn’t work because they didn’t get paid.
Motorist strikes where bus and truck drivers closed
the big roads and wouldn’t let the traffic flow from one part of the country to
another.
Yellow fever, the taxi drivers closed the roads inside
the cities with their taxis and played volleyball on the streets.
Student strikes, the university and high school
students went to the streets to join to the strikes causing civil unrest and
destruction of property.
Indigenous strikes, the indigenous people organized
marches to the Capital closing the roads, throwing stones to the cars trying to
circulate and caving huge holes to the roads. In Quito they camped in the parks
and caused civil unrest.
Everything ends when the president is declared
mentally instable. His vice-president declares herself the next president, nobody
could care less. The house of representatives chooses their leader as the next
president.
This was my first strike in Ecuador and I learned many
important strike survival skills. Like when police comes running towards you,
stand still, show your camera and give them your best: I’m just a tourist
smile.
A friend of mine who was in HS during this time was
arrested and tortured for two weeks before he was set free.
Strike tip, make sure you look like a tourist.
2. 2000 Bank crisis
President Jamil Mahuad changes Ecuador’s money
denomination from Sucre to Dollar.
People go the streets with many similar effects as in
the strike before.
The civil unrest rises and the indigenous people march
on the streets.
In Ibarra people are afraid of indigenous people
living in Otavalo (town next to Ibarra) and in the communities around.
In Otavalo the indigenous people stormed the mayor’s
building and took army personnel and police officers sent to quiet down the
situation as hostages.
An army coronel throws the president away, he flees to
safety and the army gives the power to a triumvirate who retires the next day
and give the power to the vice-president.
My sister’s mother-in-law takes her broom and runs to
the Quito’s old center where presidential palace is to clean up the city and
throw the president out.
I learn what are the Miguelitos, huge nails pushed
through a piece of car tire and left on the road to pinch the tires of people
brave enough to circulate.
Strike tip, tie branches with leaves to your car to
make sure they clean the road before you drive during a strike.
3. 2005 “I will not leave”
Coronel Lucio Gutierrez who was responsible for the
army rising (and sort of rebellion) in 2000 is elected president in 2002.
There are several strikes during his presidency and he
is incredibly unpopular in the Capital city of Quito.
My personal favorite is Caserolazo or Kettle Strike
where mostly old women went to street banging kettles (where the name comes
from) together and demanding the president to renounce.
People in Baeza, where I was living and working, get
fed up with the politics and storm an oil pumping station. A friend of mine is
shot in the kneecap and injured. Army takes over Baeza living on the football
stadium and there is a curfew.
The president declares that he will not leave his
palace if they don’t kill him first.
Finally he is caught on tape running on Quito Airport’s
airstrip with his cousin and big suitcases. One of the suitcases opens and the
money flows through the air. His cousin throws the empty suitcase away and runs
after the little airplane.
Angry people run through police and army security to
the Airport and the airplane is unable to get to air. Gutierrez has to be flown
to Brazilian embassy where he hides.
Strike survival tip, remember to bring tobacco with
you and smoke it if someone throws tear gas at you. It will help you to breath.
You can also ask someone to blow it your eyes, that way you won’t tear up as
bad.
4. 2010 Police strike
Popular president Rafael Correa decides to take away
some of the army and police personnel’s’ special perks.
Angry police goes to strikes flocking to the streets,
burning tires and protesting together with students. The police usually runs
after the student protesters but now they celebrate their unity in the strike.
Police takes the president hostage and several people
are shot during the hostage situation, including passers-by and journalists.
People take over the airport and police and army throw
tear gas to my son’s school that is right next door. His classroom window
breaks when a tear gas grenade is thrown inside.
I drive through police strikes, burning car tires and
wrong way in one way streets to get him home from school.
Strike survival tip, when in strike make sure you’re
driving a big car and really fast.
