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Equador: Difference between revisions
More information about Equador in the 20th century. Political consequences of the Second Colombian-Peruvian War in Equador.
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(More information about Equador in the 20th century. Political consequences of the Second Colombian-Peruvian War in Equador.) |
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The conflict with Colombia only worsen the public view over the government in Belém. The country faced a shameful defeat, the economy was strangled by a British boycott over Equadorian exports. Britain also ceased economic relations with Equador, thus resulting in a hyperinflation over a series of products, overproduction and devalue of the currency.
==== 1920 Presidential renounce ====
Some months after the defeat in the war against Colombia, Equador started to face dozens of popular protests across every major urban center. The protesters demanded better living conditions, the end of the high unemployment rate, control of the inflation and agrarian reform.
By 1920, none of the protesters' requirements were solved. This made some see the pacific demonstrations ineffective, thus violent protests and riots soon started to occur, especially in Belém, where protesters gathered in the thousands in front of the government palace. In the western regions of the country, much of the land was owned by rubber tree plantations that now were mostly out of use due to the lack of demand. Because of the end of the Rubber Economic Boom, many lost their jobs after the plantations began to lose workforce demand, and with most of the arable land already owned, much of the population needed to pay atrocious amounts to cultivate in those lands.
This situation culminated in the rise of rebellious groups across western Equador. These groups usually invaded and occupied plantations, later dividing the unused land among each other. They didn’t have a name or a main leader, and consisted of various independent groups.
In august 1920, facing riots on a monthly basis in Belém, Manaus, Santarém and other urban centers, along the troubles on the west of the country, the unpopular president Alberto Nunes renounced his post as president in a nationwide radio broadcast. Nunes soon left the country and took exile in Bahia, where lived until his death in 1953. The vice-president Mário de Sousa was recognized as president on the same day.
Sousa’s first actions were to use the military to dismantle the parliament, chase opposition and give permission to the army to respond with force to the riots, all on the argument of keeping the national order. Opposition publications also started to suffer censorship, as they were seen as “rebellion inducing”. Later on the year, Sousa's government started talks with Peru. The main topics was support to deal with the rebellions near the Peruvian border.
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