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Corrupted by the Government
For many years Ecuador has been high on every corruption
ranking. On the listing of World Audit it is currently listed
113 together with countries like Libya, Uganda and Bolivia. On a
scale from 1 to 10 Ecuador receives a 1.7 for transparency from
the NGO Transparancy International, devoted to monitoring
corruption across the globe.
Corruption has a great impact on what happens in a country.
Ecuador has suffered in every single way, due to corruption. In
Ecuador corruption has spread through all the layers of society,
it is visible in the educational system, police, healthcare,
banking and all other vital issues that impact everything and
everybody in a country.
Even after being in Ecuador for just a few months, I can
recognize many of the issues Ecuadoreans have to deal with. I
believe it is necessary to share this information with people
around the world. It affects us all, maybe not directly, but
corruption in Ecuador touches us all. Over the next few weeks I
will try to show you how corruption affects the life of the
people in Ecuador and how you can make a difference.
Some things will never change, but is that really a good reason
to stop caring? It seems like many Ecuadoreans believe the
corruption inside their government will always be there. Can you
really blame them?
Ecuador has had seven presidents in the last eight years.
Several of these former presidents were taken out of their
position, due to corruption charges. Charges varied from
influencing the judiciary branch, to simply misusing government
funds.
On April 20 2003, president Gutierrez was ousted by the Congress
and the current president, Alfredo Palacio took over.
Breaking Ecuador's cycle of corruption and "refounding" the
nation will be no easy task, least of all for an interim
president with a term that lasts - in theory - only until
January 2007 . Ecuador is a country whose democracy is so warped
that those who are elected on the promise of change are those
who keep the country stagnated in corruption, and those who use
the masses to gain power are surprised when they are thrown out
by popular demand. Alfredo Palacio's challenge is a huge one.
Corruption is a very current issue in Ecuador. In yesterday´s
newspaper I read about the next scandal. Former president
Gutiérrez, who was president in 2003, was the instigator to this
problem. During his time as a president he was known as a
dictator, obviously not too popular at the end of his
presidency.
In November 2003, former president Gutiérrez narrowly escaped
impeachment for the alleged misuse of government funds. In
December he removed 27 of the 31 justices of the Supreme Court,
claiming the judges had supported the impeachment attempt and
were sympathetic to the opposition parties. He replaced them
with judges who supported the government.
Eventually these new judges were fired and had to be replaced. A
commission to ensure the legitimacy of this important
replacement was put into place. Last Friday, 25th of November,
the new judges were supposed to be presented. Unfortunately at
the last moment, just before the presentation, the whole thing
was blown off. The commission encountered a few insufficiencies
in the procedure and were not able to assign the new judges.
Until this moment there hasn't been an explanation for this
cancellation. The commission stays vague on the issue and is not
willing to discuss its reasons at this moment. Obviously this
entire issue is based on the possibility of corruption, the
thing that interrupts and slows down every procedure in Ecuador.
About the author:
Martijn van Vreeden is currently living and working in Ecuador
with Ecotrackers Foundation. He has been working to preserve the
biological and cultural diversity of Ecuador. Martijn is also
currently writing for several newsletters, creating awareness
for pressing issues in Ecuador.
To learn more about his work or Ecotrackers Foundation, please
visit the Ecotrackers Foundation website at
http://www.ecotrackers.com.
Martijn van Vreeden
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