From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Date: 14 Aug 92 10:14 PDT
Subject: IPS:Ecuador: New President Warns
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473800255:000:4797
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Aug 14 10:14:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS:Ecuador: New President Warns

/* Written 12:04 am  Aug 14, 1992 by newsdesk in
cdp:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: ECUADOR: NEW PRESIDENT WARNS THAT SACRIFICE WILL BE NEEDED


quito, aug 11 (ips) --  newly-elected president sixto duran-ballen
has urged ecuadoreans to accept ''the need to share sacrifices''
as the price for economic progress.

in his first address to the nation as president, duran-ballen (71)
monday promised dialogue and harmony. he said ecuador now had a
president who would accomplish ''the noble task of leading the
people towards reconciliation, eliminating hate and revenge as
tools of political power.''

duran-ballen was sworn in in parliament on monday as ecuador's
77th president since the country became a republic 162 years ago
and its fourth during the current constitutional period, which
began in 1979. four latin american presidents and 90 foreign
delegations attended the ceremony.

after being sworn in by parliamentary speaker carlos vallejo of
the christian democratic party, the new president reiterated his
catchwords of work, honesty and experience and called for a
political ''moratorium.''

on the economic plane, he said he would place emphasis on
combating inflation, which remained at some 50 percent annually
during the past three years, eliminating direct unemployment, now
at 14 percent, stimulating the productive sectors and improving
the ''inefficient'' public administration.

he also offered to encourage the agricultural and industrial
sectors and strengthen ecuador's participation in the andes pact,
although he did not go into details of his economic programme.

''i have not received an economy which is on the move,'' he said,
calling on parliament to ''produce a national consensus on the
country's main problems and how to resolve them.''

he said progress required a general ''awareness of the need to
share sacrifices initially, since big accomplishments always
demand big relinquishments.'' ''i, thus, have to ask for patience,
constancy, effort and trust,'' he added.

earlier monday, the new president received a strong warning from
the man who later swore him in, parliamentary speaker carlos
vallejo, who vowed to ''do everything possible'' to prevent sixto
duran-ballen from imposing ''right-wing'' policies on the
country's 11 million inhabitants.

vallejo, who was elected sunday with the support of the ruling
party, said he would give full support 'to laws which seek to
improve the country's situation,'' but warned that ''if the
official aim is to swing the country completely to the right with
economic strategies which batter the people, my opposition will be
total.'' (more)
----

the new president said he would maintain ''good'' relations with
international lending institutions and would do everything
possible to speed up the release of loans earmarked for ecuador.

he has already received a pledge of support for his ''economic
model'' from idb president enrique iglesias, whom he met here on
sunday. iglesias said that the idb would provide 650 million
dollars for development projects in ecuador during the coming four
years.

(the idb has loaned ecuador a total of 2.5 billion dollars in the
past 30 years.)

one of the foreign policy issues duran-ballen touched on was a
longstanding border dispute between ecuador and peru. he said he
would meet with his peruvian vis-a-vis, alberto fujimori ''as
often as necessary'' to solve the two countries' five-decade old
border conflict.

this prompted fujimori, who attended monday's ceremony along with
the presidents of argentina, chile and colombia, to leave his seat
and, casting protocol aside, embrace the new president.

the border issue had created tension between the two countries
until duran-ballen's predecessor, rodrigo borja, began an
unprecedented rapprochement with the peruvian government in late
1991, including three meetings with fujimori.

born in boston, united states, while his father was a diplomat
there, duran-ballen won general elections held here on jul. 5. he
had made two previous attempts at the presidency in 1979 and
1988.

a founder of the social christian party in ecuador, he quit the
party in 1991 and formed the republican union party with a number
of his friends and followers.

a former quito mayor, ex-president of the ecuadorean state housing
bank, former public works minister and ex-official of the
inter-american development bank (idb), duran-ballen has promised
to privatize public companies, attract foreign investment and
strengthen exports by instituting a ''real'' exchange rate.
(end/ips/trd/so/dc-er/kb/92)
----