Politics and Demonstrations

Some of the members of the "Mercado Central" Cooperative in the City of Quito that assisted in presenting a basic course in cooperativism at the General Assembly. With them on the right is R. Jensen, a Peace Corps Volunteer and one of the teachers of the course.

Cooperative National Assembly

The 1967 General Assembly of the National Federation of Cooperatives occured in January in Quito. As described in my letter home that month, the progress attained in comparison to the 1966 Assembly was significant. Growth figures found in the record of the 1968 Federation of Cooperatives Assembly illustate that progress. 

 

Between December 1966 and September 1967, for the entire country of Ecuador, the number of cooperatives increased 13% (from 152 to 172), membership increased 22% (from 24,006 to 29,192), and the value of loans in Sucres (Ecuadorian currency at the time) increased 69% from 78,768,200 to 133,308,400. 

 

[In 2000 the US Dollar was adopted as Ecuador's official currency with a value of 25,000 sucres to the dollar. In 2001, the Sucre was no longer an official currency.]

 

Quito 2020, per Iowa Credit Union League

 

In 2019, members of the Iowa Credit Union League conducted a World Council of Credit Unions exchange visit with Ecuador. By that year, Ecuador had about 600 credit union cooperatives. They visited two of them – Cooperativa Jardin Azuayo in Cuenca and Cooprogreso, based in the capital of Quito. Jardin Azuayo is the second-largest credit union in Ecuador, with more than 400,000 members and assets of $835 million, and Cooprogreso is the fourth-largest, with 214,000 members and assets of $491 million.

 

Today, according to the Iowa visitors, Ecuador credit unions emphasize microlending (as was stressed by the Peace Corps Volunteers in the 1960s). Microlending programs have allowed both credit unions visited to significantly impact their members and their communities. The programs enable the credit unions to help middle and lower-income members obtain loans for their businesses despite a typical lack of credit history, and gain critical educational opportunities.

 

Rio Protocol

 

Plaza Grande: Where we encountered a demonstration against the Rio Protocol

according to my 1-31-67 letter.  H Graem © 2007

 

 

1942 signing of the Protocol & a big chandelier

 

 

The Protocol was intended to finally resolve the long-running territorial dispute between the Peru and Ecuador. It was to mark the official end of the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War of 1941-1942. 

 

Regardless, the Protocol failed to satisfy that goal.  War broke out between Peru and Ecuador twice more, in 1981 and in 1995. Ultimately, the 1995 signing of the Itamaraty Peace Declaration was believed to bring final resolution to the dispute. 

 

The Declaration of Itamaraty officially ended the 1995 combat between the two countries.  Under the declaration the two nations accepted an observation mission from the guarantee countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States.) The total demilitarization of the disputed area was required. 

 

The two countries committed to start negotiations to resolve the border dispute peacefully. The success of these negotiations was commemorated on October 28, 1998, in a historic ceremony at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia. The long-standing border dispute that had fed persistent rivalry, a series of failed diplomatic overtures, and sporadic hostilities between Ecuador and Peru was finally put to rest. 

 

The signing of the Brasilia Peace Accord was the final act in a prolonged conflict that had, due to the vast size and strategic location of the contested area, been an enduring source of regional instability. This outcome followed an intensive mediation exercise that had mobilised diplomatic energies on an unprecedented scale, incorporating the first effective multilateral peace-keeping mission in South America.

 

 

Dating and Attitudes 

I end this subject and Post with a thought from the mature person (no longer a 20 year old) producing this blog.  Given the attitudes, beliefs and ‘facts’ voted for by a large portion of the American population at the ending of 2020, are we really that different from 1960s Ecuadorians? Perhaps a young Ecuadorian visiting the United States today might have thoughts about American culture not dissimilar to mine 60 years ago regarding Ecuador.