Sunday in Plaza de la Independencia
It felt as though all of Quito was in the old part of town on Sunday. The weather was beautiful as we walked through Plaza San Francisco, Plaza de la Independencia, and marveled at the many churches scattered thoughout the area.
Plaza de la Independencia seemed to be the place to be on a Sunday in Quito. Hundreds of people filled the square, mostly gathering around some central point of interest. I struck me that in the US people don`t just gather on Sundays to hang out and engage in a communal social life.
On the steps of a church that lined the square, there was a public theater production. Three actors with mime-like painted faces entertained the crowd with their comedy for hours.
To the left was a group of five or six musicians performing for those sitting on the benches and the grass nearby. A few steps away was some type of preacher encircled by twenty five or some listeners gleaning biblical messages.
And another few steps away was a social activist, explaining to the people the current political situation, and advocating change. With 75% of the country living below the poverty level, the situation is extreme. Ecuador´s history rings with voices of the populist movement revolting against spanish colonialism and global expoitation, and this activist is no exception. His message made sense. Empower Ecuadorians, stand up against the corrupt government, initiate social programs to take care of the citizens, develop an ecomomic policy that will improve productivity. Look at the rest of the world, he said. Why should we be so far behind?
He spent a good bit of time berating the gringos for their expoitation of Ecuador. The current political drama involves Occidental Petrolium (Oxy), an American company that contracted with Ecuador to extract its oil reserves in a certain area of the country. Essentially, the Ecuadorian government negotiated a contract with Oxy that turned out to be not so favorable, especially in light of rising global oil prices. So, feeling exploited, and in an effort to keep the money in the country, the government decided to nationalize the extraction (or as it might turn out, contract with Venezuela, but that is another story) and boot out Oxy. Probably not the suavest political move as, at the same time, they are also trying to negotiate a trade contract with the US called the TLC, a South American version of NAFTA. Oil is Ecuador´s largest export and as such, has a huge influence on the country´s economy.
Its is an interesting time in Ecuadors history. They are living their longest democratic period in history. 27 years. And yet it hasn´t done much for the equality of the distribution of weath. Instability reigns. In a UN poll, more than half of the country said they would be willing to try a different type of governement if it would reduce the difference between the wealthy 10% of the country, and the 75% in poverty.
Plaza de la Independencia seemed to be the place to be on a Sunday in Quito. Hundreds of people filled the square, mostly gathering around some central point of interest. I struck me that in the US people don`t just gather on Sundays to hang out and engage in a communal social life.
On the steps of a church that lined the square, there was a public theater production. Three actors with mime-like painted faces entertained the crowd with their comedy for hours.
To the left was a group of five or six musicians performing for those sitting on the benches and the grass nearby. A few steps away was some type of preacher encircled by twenty five or some listeners gleaning biblical messages.
And another few steps away was a social activist, explaining to the people the current political situation, and advocating change. With 75% of the country living below the poverty level, the situation is extreme. Ecuador´s history rings with voices of the populist movement revolting against spanish colonialism and global expoitation, and this activist is no exception. His message made sense. Empower Ecuadorians, stand up against the corrupt government, initiate social programs to take care of the citizens, develop an ecomomic policy that will improve productivity. Look at the rest of the world, he said. Why should we be so far behind?
He spent a good bit of time berating the gringos for their expoitation of Ecuador. The current political drama involves Occidental Petrolium (Oxy), an American company that contracted with Ecuador to extract its oil reserves in a certain area of the country. Essentially, the Ecuadorian government negotiated a contract with Oxy that turned out to be not so favorable, especially in light of rising global oil prices. So, feeling exploited, and in an effort to keep the money in the country, the government decided to nationalize the extraction (or as it might turn out, contract with Venezuela, but that is another story) and boot out Oxy. Probably not the suavest political move as, at the same time, they are also trying to negotiate a trade contract with the US called the TLC, a South American version of NAFTA. Oil is Ecuador´s largest export and as such, has a huge influence on the country´s economy.
Its is an interesting time in Ecuadors history. They are living their longest democratic period in history. 27 years. And yet it hasn´t done much for the equality of the distribution of weath. Instability reigns. In a UN poll, more than half of the country said they would be willing to try a different type of governement if it would reduce the difference between the wealthy 10% of the country, and the 75% in poverty.
posted by Alexandra @ 12:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home