Ecuador president calls for national unity
QUITO, Ecuador: In his first formal address to the nation since taking office last month, President Alfredo Palacio proposed increasing spending on social programs and to spur the economy, but also said he would honor Ecuador 's commitment to pay the Andean nation's foreign debt.
Palacio, the elected vice president, was sworn in 34 days ago to finish out Lucio Gutierrez's four-year term, which ends in January 2007.
Gutierrez, 48, was the third leader of this unstable, oil-rich nation forced from power in eight years. He fled the country and sought political asylum in Brazil amid massive street protests by Ecuadoreans furious at his economic austerity measures and accusations of nepotism, corruption and manipulation of the Supreme Court.
"We have already hit bottom. To descend any further could bring us to national dissolution,'' Palacio, 66, said in his speech, carried live on TV and radio.
"I call for national unity after having passed through the darkest time,'' he said, calling for a "great national accord'' to "improve the system of popular representation, re-establish public trust in Ecuador's political system and improve the economy and "elevate the quality of life for the Ecuadorean people.''
Since taking office, Palacio has sounded a much more populist tone than Gutierrez, whose left-leaning constituency withdrew its support soon after he took office in January 2003 following his decision to institute fiscally conservative policies, including cutting subsidies on food and cooking fuel, to satisfy international lenders.
Palacio said Ecuador would respect "all deals, treaties and contracts signed by the state.''
But he also called on the United States and Canada to "support a change in the policies and relations of organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in the search for objectives that contribute to end underdevelopment in (poor) nations.''
Palacio said he planned to forge ahead with a proposal to divert money from an oil stabilization fund, largely earmarked for foreign debt repayments, to health and education programs and economic stimulus.
But he pledged "to honor the foreign debt as much as productive and social investment in Ecuador.''
Last year, about 70 percent of the fund's disbursements were used for buyback of Ecuador's US$14 billion (euro11 billion) public debt. Palacio said under his plan, submitted last week to Congress, 40 percent of the roughly US$600 million (euro475.55 million) fund, garnered from the nation's oil profits, would be used to stimulate economic production, while another 40 percent would be held in reserve to buy back debt at the government's discretion.
The remaining 20 percent would go to "health, education, oil stabilization and for scientific investigation,'' he said, also offering to improve roads and promote telecommunications to spur public and private investment. - AP
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