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The current constitutional crisis in Ecuador finds its origins in actions taken by the Ecuadorian Congress in early December 2004. At that time, the Ecuadorian Congress violated the principle of judicial independence by purging nearly all of the Supreme Court justices. In a special session called by President Lucio Gutiérrez, 52 members of the 100-seat Congress voted to replace 27 of the 31 justices with their own political allies. Although President Lucio Gutierrez was elected in a fair vote two years ago, he is now carrying out an unconstitutional power play to pack all of the country's judicial institutions with political allies. He has claimed that the court was loyal to his political opponents, who recently tried and failed to hold impeachment hearings against him. The replacement justices were selected from the political parties that successfully opposed the president’s impeachment.

In addition to the manoeuvres carried out to the Supreme Court, Gutiérrez has also manipulated his party's modest advantage in the legislature - 52 of 100 seats - to replace five of seven members of the Supreme Electoral Council and eight of nine members of the Constitutional Tribunal, which is the highest court in the land dealing with constitutional issues. The regime is reportedly preparing to similarly take over the offices of the attorney general, the comptroller general and the ombudsman.

The country has suffered a number of constitutional setbacks - not only the 2000 military coup led by Gutierrez but also a 1997 congressional coup that ousted the former president, Abdala Bucaram, now a fugitive from justice living in Panama. Bucaram now appears to be allied with Gutierrez, orchestrating the thorough dismantling of his country's democratic institutions from afar. Ecuador has not witnessed such an overwhelming concentration of power, brought about by manifestly unconstitutional means, in a generation. According to TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2004, Ecuador is the Latin American country in which people are most pessimistic about corruption. Furthermore, on TI’s Corruption Perception Index Ecuador scores 2.4 , one of the lowest scores in the region.

In response to the weakening of the democratic institutions in the country, and the limited independence between the different branches of government, civil society groups from across political and thematic spectrums have joined together to voice their common concern over the situation. Earlier this year the groups came together under the name Convergencia Democrática (Democratic Converge) to advocate for respect of the Constitution, to propose alternatives and to build bridge for dialogue. Members of the group are as diverse as: Citizens for Democracy, Civic Convergence for Democracy, Corporation Citizen Participation, Latin American Corporation for Development / Transparency International, Political Coordinator of Women, Urban Forum, Magazine “Tendency”, the major Left Wing Political Party (Izquierda Democrática), Presidency of the CONESUP (National Council of Universities and Polytechnic Schools) and the Movement of Multinational Unit Pachakutic – New Country (the indigenous groups party).

On 16th February Convergencia Decmocratica has organized a protest march through the streets of Quito, where they anticipate upwards of 50,000 participants.“

Latest press review in the Ecuador Crisis (from TI Daily Corruption News service):
para ver últimas noticias en español haga click aquí

Se profundiza la crisis en Ecuador **

• La Fuerza Armada ecuatoriana hizo un llamado para que se resuelva el conflicto político por la vía del diálogo

  BBC, 6 de abril de 2005

• Ecuador president distances himself from supreme court firings

  Dow Jones Newswires, 10 December 2004

• Ecuador's president looks to remove Supreme Court

  Reuters, 05 December 2004

• Drive to impeach Ecuador leader

  BBC, 05 November 2004

• Ecuador Enacts 'Transparency and Access to Information Law'

  Freedominfo.org, 21 May 2004

• Entrevista a Valeria Merino (Ecuador), miembro del Directorio de TI
• Cronología de Acciones por parte de la sociedad civil ecuatoriana

• Boletín con propuestas para superar la crisis en Ecuador CLD, Capítulo Ecuador de TI. (PDF)

  viviendo la democracia.pdf 124.59 kB
• Barómetro Global de la Corrupción 2004: Resultados América Latina, 9 de diciembre de 2004

• Indice de Percepción de Corrupción 2004: Informe Ecuador

  ipc2004_cld.pdf 125.43 kB

• Civil society statement
• Valeria Merino´s (TI Board Member, Ecuador) biography
• Global Corruption Barometer 2004
• Corruption Perception Index 2004

• La protesta de la Sociedad Civil: "Hay que ser subversivos ante la dictadura"

  Hoy Online, 10 de febrero de 2005

• Tranparencia Internacional denuncia la concentración de poderes en el Ecuador

  El Comercio, Quito, 9 de Febrero de 2005

• Cacería de brujas desde la Corte Suprema de Justicia

  El Comercio, Quito, 27 de enero del 2005

• La defensa de la democracia reúne a 400 personas, en las afueras del Congreso Nacional

  Hoy Online, 8 de enero de 2005