Ooh, a coup

Something political happened today in Ecuador, but it isn’t clear quite what. The army has taken control of Quito airport which is in the middle of the city. But whether that is part of a coup, or to protect infrastructure for the government isn’t obvious. The head of the army has apparently sworn his allegiance to President Correa. But the police force is rebelling. My work was cancelled today due to the potential danger of travelling in the city, but otherwise where I am based, nothing seems any different, and that is only maybe four miles from Quito airport. There were rumours that the supermarket next door to my flat was being looted, but when I went to investigate, it was still open and trading cat food to old women as usual.

The issue seems to be mainly with the police force which is protesting against austerity cuts. At a demonstration the president challenged the rebels to try and kill him ´si me quieren matar, mátenme´. They didn’t kill him, but he did have tear gas fired at him by his own police officers. One Ecuadorian friend said that it is about the police loosing things like their free turkey at Christmas, presumably there is more to it than that. The main problem seems to be now that with the police force rebelling, the country is unprotected from crime. It is dangerous after dark as it is, a friend was held up with a gun thrust in his chest two days ago. It seems that if you walk around the streets after dark a weapon will be pulled against you. It is just getting dark now, so the night might bring some chaos. The police aren’t going to get much sympathy from the public. They are widely considered to be corrupt and self serving.

The politics here are similar to the rest of the southern continent, so people aren’t particularly surprised by a possible coup being underway. Ecuador is part of the ´marea rosa latinoamericana´, the pink tide of Latin American countries shifting to leftish politics. Indeed, several of Correa´s equivalents have seen similar coups in recent years. President Chavez in Venezuela held on to power after his, President Zelaya in Honduras was dumped out of the country still in his pyjamas.