LATIN AMERICAN INSTITUTE
r
Occasiooal Paper Series No. :3 June 1988 The Military in Ecuado r: Policies and Politics of Authoritarian Rule
lohnD Manz
TI[ Il11UEIS1TY Of lEI .nle l AlI . nEl II E, lEI lUlU 11131
1
The Latin Ameriean Institute (LA I) at the University of New Mexico (UNM) is one of the nation's leading foreign language and area studies cenlers. The I..Al is one of ten federally designated Comprehens ive National Resource Centers for Latin American Language and Area Studies, and UNM is believed to offer more Latin American degree programs and courses than IIny oth er university in the country, More than 150 UN M faculty specializing in Lating American research and teaching are members of the Faeuity Concilium on Latin America and are the primary constituency of the LAL The LArs Research Paper Series and Occasional Paper Series provide refereed forums for the timely dissemination of research on Latin American topics. Authors also gain [he benefits of oomment and cri ticism £rom the larger te$l:arch community if they intend 10 later submit their work 10 othe r publications.
The Military in Ecuador: Policies and Politics of Authoritarian Rule
by
John 0 Martz Department of Political Science Penns~lvania State University
•
TABLE Of CO NTENTS
Institutional EVOlu t ion to 1'172
Regimes and Policy-Making The Traditionalist Mili tar y before 1972
?ollcy:
Military Government and Statism, 1972-1976
Rerormlsts and Traditionalists Institu t io nal Orthodoxy and Consolidation
PolitiCS '
The Armed Forces and Society. 1976 -1 988
Th e Parties and Military Interests Institutional and Societal Char acteri.stics
Conclusion
Notes
2
•
" "
22
3'
38
. 39
59
2
THE MILITA R'! IN ECUADQR:
The ?olicies ana Polities of Authoritarian Rule
INSTITUTIONAL EVOLUTION TO 197 2 It is neither novel no r original to obser v e that an Intellectual faddls hn ess has
Lattn A.merlea,1 0:
characterl~ed
political studies of
SOllle of our most f r uitful res e areh--and also
SOtll8
the most (0011",h--ha5 either deliberately or accidentally
responded to contefllporary affairs, to th e
~ rend s
or
the moment .
For
e xample , it is evident that the inst al lation of nVlIlerou,:, authoritarian regimes and their continuing presence , especially In th~
19705, Influenced writings abOut the break do wn of democracies
~nd
the presumably historical emergence of bureaucratic
~utho rl tarla nl sm . 2
The subs equ en t reversal of the~e po l itical
trends encourased a reexamination of del'llocratlc systems. if sOOle'olhat belatedly.3
In 1979 Ecuado r b ecame the first South American nation
in '"hlch a mil itary govern ment declared and carrled out a voluntary return to the barracks. Strongly encou rag ed by a new administration in loIashington , 4 the Ecuadorean government of the Armed Fo r ces in 1976 rel uc tantly and painflJlly negotiated a three -y ear retreat that led to a newly elec t ed c:o nstitutio nal gove rnm ent in QlJ ito for the first time in nine yearll .
Since that till", the military establishment hilS lIought
to consoli da te its Institution"l galns and protect its corporilte interes t s , wh lle some Wh a t s uspi oiously watching the ca r n l v"l e sque
3 partlsanllhlp of cIvilian ('ule.
In Doth 1986 and 1987, the elected
government wa s severely shaken by publIc ~il1tary dissidence,
provoked partly. it' not entirely, by the uncompromIsing ferocity of the chlllr 8 lt ecutive and the unyieldIng antagonism of hili political
opposItion.
'ihe ability of President Leon Febrell Cordero to serve
out his f ull ter m until its consti t ut i onal co nclusion I n August 1988 resulted l arg ely from the electoral campaign and espeolally the
endu!"lng trauIII8 of the March 1987 natural dl"88ter that struck the
republic. S I t shOuld be borne In mind that this study is part or a
oollectlve undertaking that IIxamlne", m11itary Institutions under conserv ative authoritarIan r'Ul e . 6
Its preoccupatlonl:l have inClu d ed
the impact of the military on eco nomic policy and regime performance ; military l in k ages "11th Civilian interest g l'oups ; and the functioning of the military po wer Bt ructure. co nv e nlerloe, sectio ns.
mos~
For organizational
of thIs paper '01111 be devoted to tlofO major
The first will focus primarily on poli c y . "11th at tentI on
to decision making and regime performance .
The second will
e~amlne
more directly issues of pollt!cs, emb racIng the place or the (IIllitary in society and the eYolutiorl of ties with major Irlterest groups.
Before moving lrlto these dlsc u!:l"ions, ho wev er , further
background Is appropriate.
Cer t ainly the irlstltutlonal e vol u tion of
the Ecuadorean :nllltary prior to the 1970s is mandatory.
Moreover,
at least a fe w words about the stgnlrlcance and Implicatio ns of regimes may be in order.
4 Regimes and Policy-Making The concern with r eg i me
type~
and with syst e m!c characteristics
has persisted in the lite r ature o n l.atin American politics for some years.7
Fr om the ethn o centric a n d prescriptive analyses of
pluralis m and liberal de mocracy begI nn I ng in the 1950,. through mOre recent formulations o f corpo r atist models and authorita r ianism , scho l ars have elabora t e d on i deal types as a means of f u rthering understandi ng a nd refining theoretical perspectives .
Subs e quent
dissatisfaction with earlter heuristic models led to a reexamination
of inte l lectual underpinnIngs. ~rlgn t
While this evolving p r oces s has had
and dim spots. the literature has manifested re l ative l y fe wer
efrective efforts to probe the l inkages be t ween policy and regime type .
This t endency h as prevai l ed, despite the historical l y lar ge
~ l gn l ficance
of th e state in Latin
A~erica .
Standing as a powerful and Independent enti ty , the ,;tate COnst i tutes "the prime regulator , coordinator , and pace-setter of t he enti r e n a t i o n al system , t h e apex of the Lat i n American pyramid from which patronage, wealth,
power, an d programs rIow . ,,8
The
character of the state, the type of regime In qu es ti on , is therefore crucial with regard to policy - maki n g.
One must proceed f r om the
basic assu mption that the nature of r egi me Is a significa n t variable in the c haract e r and cont e nt of policy.
To be sure, ambiguity an d
dlssensus exist over the significance of regime .
As Steven Hughes
and Kenneth Mi j eski have observed, It Is clear . . fro m even a cu r sory review or the rel e vant literature tha t no consensus exists as to what a r e the cr i tical defi n ing characteristics of a regime type. Moreover , th e re is conSiderable dissensus Over the issue of whether or not
5
dirterent r eg i~ e~ aeco~nC tor any s ystema tic differences In publia polic y. If a nything , that dlsse nsu 5 III lIIost ac u te a mong lItuderlts of the politics o f l.at l n Ame r ica.9
As they note. eyen Aristotle .... a3 sOme wh at uncertain. tor h e argued that any regime , g i ven Its particular soci a l .structure , might behave jus tly o r unjustly.
SOCial condit io ns co uld be more decl s !v e , th en ,
than actual regime type.
or
1II0l"e recent vintage 15 Charles Anderson ' s claSSiC study of
poll tic, and economic development, In which he catego r ized regimes as conventional , democratlo-refQrmlst. and r evolutiona ry.
The
Ideologies of each type were e xa mined In terms of polIcy patterns and OUtputs.
In the end, Anderson was
lntL~ldated
by the ab.sence of
aggregate data a nd caSI stud ies for th e period a fter World War II . In his
'~ork
tew policy ~rgU;!.
publl~ h ed style~
t'"' O de cade'll alto, he u l timately co nt ended that
·... ere as
di~tlnctively
clear - cu t as !lchol ar!l might
ThUll ,
Military gove rnm ents t en ded to engag e In largl-:Icale pub liC works project'll , ami so d id other t ype~ of regime . In some cases, poli t ical Sta bility anel "no- nons ense" government co nt ribu t eel to eoonomlc growth, a nd in o t her cases did not. Large - .scale public enterprise wa s generated by r e gi mes espousing natlonal1sm and soel"l r eform but Just a~ frequently by militantl y co nserv a ti v e governments.IO Moving to·... ard a conside ra t i o n ot mill t ary ru le I n EC lI ado r, then, tho! que:l t lon over regime t ype and publIc polley relllains unreso l ved.
Karen Rammer's dl:1cussion r i g htly demonstrated the
exi:ltence of at least three Iden t ifiabl e school:! of thought In contention .
On e holds th a t mil ita ry reg i mes are lIIore
ol l:z:e d fllr the r officia l retreat from its i n i tia l nation a lis m.
i t also
r eformist
Ha l donado Lince wa" "oon Joined in the ran k s o f former
top off iC ials by IERAC Dire c tor Marco Herrer" Escalante .
Hi s force! alo ng wIt h thelll ... hen I nt erve nIng to over t h r o w a governlllent.
MOreover,
th e preocc up a tion 'Jith n at ion a l
sec urit y
doctrine i s a cco mpani ed by the milit a ry belief that polI ti cal le a ders u noerstanO n e Ither the concept nor It", Importance. Ne ar l y t 'J o de c ades ago, military oftrcers sa id a >! much direc tl y to F itch in direct Inte rvi e ws.
It e cit e", one offlcer who lamented
ci vilian leader", ' Inabillty to un der stand t h e cha ra cte .. of na tion al defense as a re sp onsibility or poll tical as 'Jel l as military authorlt!e:s.
Anothe r Oe cLa red that th e c ivilians "are not a ware o f
their ro le In national der ense . ag ri cult ur al ist ""
Economi 5t9 .
Industriali~ts .
and go v er nllle nt o f flolals al l ha ve to tak e part In
rormulatlng and e xe c uting the national strategi c pla n .n 62
Passage
•
ot the Na t Ion al Seeurlt y
La ~
unde r
the Vel a sco
ad~lnlstra t lon
In
1960 produced little ot value at th a t time, a nd attitudes remained vl r tu"lly unchanged l.ulU l
the mili tar y governme nt ot the 19109.
Since then , n e w age coho r ts (p romODi anes) e .. e r gln g t r orn the service
academies con t inue to brin g with t h em , more than ever , the attitudes
•
L
and background typical o f the mi ddle sec t ors of socie t y .
Alt houg h d at a on t h e soc i al
ba ~es
o f re cr ll itme nt of the oHicer
corps are softer than might be pref er r ed . 1 t
Is clea r that II
pl'edolliinantly middle - class character has prevalled tor at least a half-century 1oI1th te w sig n s of cha n ge .
Mo r e o ver , the number of
recruits whos e fathe r s were oftic ers has also remain ed sma ll , dooumentlng the laCk Of a hereditary trail In the formation of new officars . tr ~ i!ling
Th e i r'l fluen ce of the mid dl e class i n the
profes~iOAal
and prepa r ation prOVided a t the military schools and
I nstlt 'H es Is 01.1050 prevalent .
One cono5equence has been the enduring
l1abl1lty of the milita r y t o crea t e a unit ar y positIo n in doctrinal or ideological
terms .
Thus Hthe e ffect o f t h e middl e class on Arm y
ofrlcials--and by e x tenSion to th e rest Of the Armed Forces-e f fectivel y st r engthens cen t ris m. . . . H63 J. second characteri stic of Ecu ado r ean r e c r uit ment p a tte r nll , o ne
already Cited , Is the continuing predominance or tholle military personnel ( r om the highl a nds .
Dat a collect e d by John Samuel Fitch
On t h e 1960s dem o nstr ated tha t th e nation 's de mogra ph ic s hi f t s ( wi t h the coastal population outstripp i n g that of t he highlands , as
•
Cuay a qull did Quito) have In no sense been r eflecteCl in the mi li ta ry.
In f a ct , " t he most s tr i k ing rea ture Of the arm y ' s
geo g raphical rec r uitment pattern" was exempl i fied by the fact that
" Cuayu province,
..,I ~h
one-fifth Of the nation'>! populati on, was
providing barely 1 percent or nell cadets .
The 3ame pattern was
r eporte d in the 19105 by Aug usto Vara:5 and Fernando Buatamante.
As
they argue largely restricted to strictly professional training. .~llre ,
To be
Ecuadorean pa rticipation on the Int er-,I,mer loan Defense Board,
:"e! r extensIve tra in ing In u . S. service schools , and local adoption of U.S . textbooks have p .. rtlally predisposed the Ecuadorean Ull1lt>:lry to ward North Am eri can va lues .
Such Inrluence was notab l e In Olany of
the pollcles qr the mIlitary Junta governing be t ·... een 1963 and 1966 . . But this inrluence ..aned consider ably by the tlOle the Armed Forces rei:llrn ed to po wer In 1972. Sup re~o
Even so , U.S. pressures on the Con.3eJo
de Goble r no to restore cons t itutional r ule became
unm istakable ... hen Jimm y Ca rter assume d the presidency, and U. S . Olllitary personnel clea rly shared In the p resen tati on of ~ashlngton'.':l
views and prere r ences .
•
All
the~e
iss u es hav e affect e d the in te rnal military structure ,
a ttI tu de ll , an d functioning or Ecuador-'s Armed For-ces in recent and •
contempo ra ry times .
The y ha v e a,1 '3 0 been pr-eserlted in considerable
part as a ma n if es tati o n of the nation ' s mili t ary in s titut ic ns under conservative authoritarian ru le . ho wev e r, i t
My analysis would be relDiss,
it d i d not consider the Ecuadorean e x peri ence s ince the
purported "return t o the barrac ks" 11'1 1979.
Ou r- ing the lIubsequent
{Ive years of the Roldos-HurtadO adminilltration, senSItive ciyilian handling ,:of relatIons wIth the milItary were large l y
suce e s~r\ll .
The out break at another border sklrCllish with Pe r u 11'1 early 1981 led Prellident JaIme Roldos to e xp and already gene ro u s appropr-ia ti ons and rela ted
~uppc r t
to the milit ary.
Wh e n In May , he and his wI fe
perished in a plane crash along with the general serving as lIIinister of
defen~e .
tile Ar llled ,or ces c l os ed ranks behind the politically
irlsecure posi t ion of Osyaldo Hurta do as he as su med t he presIdency. 7he Institutional loyalt y or the military to oonstltutional legitimacy and th e carer u l attention of Hurtado to co rp orate military concerns helped to a saure his lIurv\ val I n Or rlce and th e smooth transition to the administration of Leon fe bres Co rder o In .A ugu st
19 8~ .
Since th a t time, however, ci v il-military r el a tion s ha ve been less than Ideal
rro~
the a om ent of
fe~r9s
Cordero ' s inauguration.
His avo wedly conservative Ol yi lian admlrlistratlon has suffered two major lIIi lltary upriSings, e ac h o ne p r e emi ne ntly bl:r.ar re.
Wh Ile thIS
paper Is rIOt t he place for a detail e d re co unting of e vent s , some majo r ou t ll nes need eSt a blishing in order to clarity present polltioal te ndencies .
The first outb urs t oame In March 1986 , when
53 the commander of the Ai r Force, Ge n eral frank Vargas Pa:::zos, initiated a den un ciat i on of other se n ior off i cers on the grounds of corruption.
Before the affair wa" settled, the structure of civ l l -
mllitary relations , as we ll as the alleged institutional unity of
the Armed Forces, h a d been seriously questio ne d.
Th e.'3e fissures in
civil-military r elations reflected to no sm al l e:' John O. Martoz. , ror Progress (
jnbt f.
33. ilep Cl bl1ca del o!esarrollo . 1973-1977 (Quito : 3 11.
Lu iS E. FroiM in tl Mennjero . A.pril 1972 , p. 11 .
35 .
El Co.erclo, 28 OCt. 1'173.
36. Catherine I'\ary CCnlah.n , "!no.u5tri a list:3 an d the Rerorflli5t Interregnu;ll: Dominant Clus 3ehuior and Ideolo g y in Ecuador , 19721979 ," PI"I . D. diSS., Yah Unl.trslty , 1983 . 133 . 37.
E1 Universo, 21 OCt. 1913.
36 .
Plan Inte gr.l, ,.
39 . Jo rge ";'\" ; ':,\::;':::: actual (Quito : E 110.
"Ecuador: SOwln, 011 on Bar r en
~'!'!''''l'''.J!R"""O'Ct "
15 Mar . 191'. as. 111 . Mar co Herrera !3clhnt~ , Pol{tlCa (Ap r il 1 97~), Pontlrl~!a
Ground . ~
Latin Amer lc::a
" ~2.
El Tlell!2o,
1~
Sept.
191~ .
~3. An extended treatment Is Im:or::>orated tnto several portions o r Martz, Regime. Politics. and Petroleum .
~5.
flepublloa del Ecuador, Fllo~orfa y plan de !loelon, 19 . (Quito :
~6.
Rene Baez, Editorial "Alberto
".
Patricio Moncayo,
48.
Da Vid W. Schadt . Ecuaaor, An Andean
( Quito: Unl .. ersldad Cllntral Enlg~e
(Boulde!", Colo . :
Westview, 1987), 115. 119.
Pablo Estrella VintlmlLla ,
espeJlsill!o del
Cuenca, 1971),
~etr61eo
91 .
(Cuenca:
50.
El Tlampo, 13 July 1977.
5 '-
Banco Central del Ecuado r, BOledn no . 7 (198~): 202 .
".
Augusto Varas and fernando Bustamante, Fue,.!!!:! Armada" y
53 .
Conaghan , " Industrialists and the Reformist
,a lltlea en Ecuador (Quito:
Edletone" Latlnoacerlca . 1978), 133-34 . Interregnum,~
227-32. 5~. for detailed treatment. se e Hartz, Regime. Politics, and Petroleum, chap. 8 .
55 .
Is desc ril)ed. along
g~~~~~4~~~~~'
of the
by a close Observe r
56 .
Martz. Regime, Politics, and PetrOleum , 2110 .
57.
Sanders , In Handelman and Sanders . Military Goverrlment , 19.
58.
AnaHsl ... SePlanal , 10 Sept. 1979. 363-69 .
59.
Os villdo
Nlek D. MIlls, J r . (
1980), 260 .
66 source 15 Altonso t.ittum3 Ariug a • 1.3. (Carac;I$: OfLcin
.
67 . An " Instant book " that includ e :! both aM a blo w- by - blow iva is Fernando Artieda , Steinsleger , frado Pareja O\ezca nsaco . E:el1 El Conejo . 1987) . current ad mini st ra tion and lt~ CastillO , Le6n Febr e» Co r dero: (Quito: Editori al I{ivaneo. 19 87) . A~onS tha t by tormer 'Ilea _ President 1.eon ':;~"'L~i..E!~ir. (Qu ito : Editorial El CenaJe . 68 .
Pun to de VIsta (Quito) , 7 , no. 282 (17 Aug. 19871 . p. -.
69 . for a general review Of nation al a ffa irs . see John I). Hart:.!;. n E:ouadorean Instability ilevlsited, n current flistory 87 110 . 522 (Jan . 1986) :7-21 . 37 - 36 .
70 .
Rot>ert L . Ayres. ftpolitloal Reg ime"" Explanat ory Varlabhs , and Public Polioy in Latin America , " The Journal of Developl'!5. Area~ 10, no . 5 (Oot . 1975):16-27 .
UNTVERSITY OF NEW MEXlCO lATIN AMERICAN' I~' STtTUTE RESEARC H PAPER SERIES
1.
Guess, George M. "Bureaucracy and the Unmanaged ForClt CommolL'i in Costa Rica" December 1979.
2.
Lupsha, Peter A, and Kip Schlegel. "The Political &anomy of Drug Trafficking: The Herrera Orga.nU:alion (Maico and the United States)." Ncwember 1980.
3.
Gregory, Peter. "Employment, Unemployment. and Underemployment in Latin America" March 1981.
4.
Levy, James, and Nick Mills, Jr. "The Challenge to Democratic Reformism in Ecuador.' June 1981.
5.
Gregory, Peter. "Legal Minimum Wages as an Instrument of Social Policy in Less De~eloped Countrie~, with Special Reference to Costa Rica.' July 1981.
6.
OCez·Canedo, Juan. "Undocumented Migration 10 the United Slates: A N~ Per· spcct i~e." August 1981.
7.
Sablof£, Paula l.. W. "Caciquismo in munities." ~ptember 198 1.
8.
Gregory, Peler. "Economic De~elopment and the Labor Mar ket in Mexico." beT 1981.
.9.
Earley, Stephen, "Arms and Politics in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, 1948-1981." May 1982.
10.
Wessman, Jame~ W, "PeasanCl, Ca pitalistS, and the State: Mexico's Changing Agricultural Policies and the 'Hungarian Project': May 1982.
11.
Conniff, Michacll.. "Black Labor on a White Canal: West lndians in Panama, 19041980.' May 1983.
12
Froehlich, Jeffery W., and Karl H. Schwerin. 'Conservation and lIIdige nous Human Land Use in the Rio PIAtano Watershed, Nonheast Honduras." June 1983.
Post-Re~olU1ionary
Mexican Ejido-Grant Com-
No~em'
13.
Bales, Fred V. "Comparing Media Use and Political Orientation Among Squallcr Settlers ofTwo Latin American Countries." Jimll 1983.
14.
Sabloff, Jeremy A., Patricia A McAnany, Bernd Fabmel Beye r, Tomas GaJlareta N., Signa L LarraJdc, and LuAnn Wandsnider. ' Ancient Maya Settlement PattertlS at the Site nf~L Puuc Region, Yucatan. Mexico: Initial Reconnaissance (1983)." January 1984.
15.
San\ky. Robert s... PollCiano Ortiz Ceballos. Thomas W. Killion. Philip J . Arnold. and Janet M. Kerley. ' Final Field Repon of the Matacapan Archaeological Project: The 1982 Season." June 1984.
16.
Mort"i$, Nancy E. "Canto porquc es necesario cantal: The New Song Movement in Chile, 1973·1983: July 1984.
17.
Sablolt Jeremy A., GaiT Tounellol, Bernd Fahmcl Beyer. Patricia A McAnany, Diana Chmtensen, Sylviane Bouchllr, and Thomas R. KJllion. "&ttkment and Community Patterns at Sayil, Yuc:min, Mexico: The 1984 Season: April 1985.
18.
Brajer, V~or. 'An An.:I~is of Inflation in the Small, Open Economy of Costa Rica." June 19156.
19.
Ashley, John M. ~e Social and Environmental Effects of the Palm-Oil Industry io the Oriente of Ecuador." October 1987.
20.
Hidalgo, Margarita. -PerC'CptiotlS of Spanish- English Code-Switching in J uarez, Mexiro." March 1988.
21.
Amold, Philip J III 'Ceramic Productio n and Col1Sumption in the Sierra de los TWill:!&, Veracruz, Mexico." June 1988.
OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES L
Remmer. KlIren L ibe Chilean Military unde r Authoritation Rule, 1973·1987." March 1988.
2.
Dalid50n. Russ "A Description of Rare and Important Medina Impri nts in the Unive~ityofNew Mexico Libr:uy." May 1988.
3.
Maru, JohD D. lbc Mili tary in Ewador: Policies and Politics of Aut horitarian Rule ." JllIlC 1988.
SPECIAL PUBUCATIONS
L
Davidson, Russ and Joiner, Carol. "Mexico III the UNM Libraries: A Guide To Special Materials and Older Works," Spring 1986.
2.
Kjeldgaard., Linda, editor. ' Encuelltro, A Columbian Quincentenary Quarterly'. Summer 1985 - .
3.
Landmann, Robert S.. editor. '"The Problem of the Undocumented Worker." Spring 1980.
Research and occasional papers are $3.00 each from the Latin American Institute; University of New Mexico; 801 Yale NE; Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131; 505 m -2961. Special Publication prices quoted upon requeSt.
