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1 (May 2, 2005)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthabcfi0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS21687 Updated May 2, 2005 CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web Ecuador: Political and Economic Situation and U.S. Relations Clare Ribando Analyst in Latin American Affairs Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Summary On April 20, 2005, President Lucio Gutierrez of the Patriotic Society Party (PSP) was removed from office by Ecuador's Congress following weeks of popular protests. The protests were not led by an organized opposition movement, nor were they motivated by an economic crisis. Instead, Ecuadorians rejected Gutierrez's December 2004 replacement of the majority of the judges on the country's three highest courts with his political allies, an illegal move that had been sharply criticized by the international community. They expressed extreme mistrust of Gutierrez, and a generalized frustration with the country's ruling political class. Gutierrez, a former army Colonel who was part of the junta that toppled the government of Jamil Mahuad in January 2000, has sought asylum in Brazil. Succeeding him as President is his former vice president, Alfredo Palacios, a physician and political independent. Palacios is the country's seventh president in nine years. Ecuador's economy is strong, but its political institutions are in ruins. President Palacios will have to oversee the selection of new constitutional and electoral courts, which were dissolved on April 27, 2005. He aims to work closely with the United States, especially on military and counter-narcotics matters, but has yet to express whether or not Ecuador will continue negotiating for a U.S.- Andean Free Trade Agreement. This report will be updated periodically. Background Slightly smaller than Nevada, Ecuador has a population of just under 13 million people. Since independence from Spain in 1830, Ecuador lost 61% of its total land area as a result of border conflicts with Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. Despite its small size, Ecuador's location on the Pacific Coast between Colombia and Peru, two major drug producing countries, makes it of strategic importance to the United States. Ecuador is the 12'h largest oil supplier to the United States, and the 3r largest supplier (behind Mexico and Venezuela) in Latin America. Ecuador is both geographically and ethnically diverse, and has a relatively long (albeit unstable) experience with democratic rule. The population is ethnically mixed: 55% mestizo (mixed Indian and Spanish descent), 25% indigenous, 10% Caucasian, and 10% African. Some 56% of the population and more Congressional Research Service +. The Library of Congress

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