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A Special International Report Prepared by
The Washington Times Advertising Department - Published on April 21, 1999
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On the road to peace
From the Invasion of the Incas Although most people think the Incas were Ecuador's oldest civilization, evidence points to life dating back thousands of years before Christ, when the Americas were first inhabited by Polynesians who came across the Pacific by wooden canoe. Near present day Quito, archaeologists have found artifacts and utensils from the Stone Age as well as traces of civilization along the Pacific Coast.
Advanced indigenous cultures (Quitus, Huancavileas, Canaris) flourished long before the Incas arrived in the 15th century. The early 1400's saw much fighting and intermarrying, until the Inca invasion around the year 1460. The Incans brought Quechua, a tribal language that is still widely spoken, as well as socially and economically organized communities. The next 80 years alternatively saw peace and war thanks again to intermarrying and jealous relatives. The Spanish Conquest began in the 1540's. The Inca civilization had been greatly weakened by infighting and the Spaniards were able to take advantage of the situation. The indigenous population was decimated from disease during the first decade of Spanish rule and from the forced "encomienda" labor system created by Spanish landlords. In 1541, Francisco Orellano, under the Spanish flag, discovered the Amazon River. The Spanish rule would last for three centuries. During this period, monasteries and cathedrals were built. The arts flourished under the patronage of the crown. World-renowned geographers came to Ecuador and made many new discoveries, including that the globe was flattened at both ends. Around the late 18th century, the country began to call itself after the equatorial line. When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1809, Quito established the first autonomous council of the colonies. In 1820, Guayaquil declared its independence. Antonio Jose de Sucre defeated the royalist army in 1822 at the battle of Pichincha and secured victory for the rest of the country. Ecuador then became part of the Republic of Greater Columbia, which was ruled by President Simon Bolivar. But this union of Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela and Bolivia would not last. In 1829, Peru attacked Greater Columbia's Southern territory and was defeated. In September, 1830, the Riobamba Constitution was signed. Ecuador declared its independence and became a separate republic. For the next 168 years, Ecuador would have independence, but not peace. A rapid succession of rulers followed. In the 1860's, Gabriel Garcia Moreno, a conservative, united the country with the support of the Catholic Church. Towards the end of the century, world demand for cocoa tied the economy to commodity exports and led to migrations from the highlands to the agricultural frontier on the coast. In 1895, a coastal-based liberal revolution under Eloy Alfaro reduced the power of the clergy and opened the way for capitalist development. Over the next 50 years, there would be political instability brought on by the end of the cocoa boom and a military coup in 1925. Peru and Ecuador constantly struggled over Ecuador's eastern border. Ecuador claimed that Peru and Columbia were chipping away at its territory, while Peru claimed that its Amazonian territory was declared by law even before Ecuador became independent. To War with Peru In 1941, the situation reached crisis levels when Peru invaded Ecuador. The two countries went to war over their boundary. Ecuador experienced a military defeat and a forced peace. The Rio de Janeiro Protocol gave most of the disputed territory to Peru. However, from 1960 Ecuador claimed that the settlement was unjust. Maps marked the border using the Rio de Janeiro Protocol line, but left some of the line undrawn. Peru continued to claim that Ecuador received navigational rights along the Amazon River, but refused to return the land to Ecuador since Peru claimed it never belonged to Ecuador. For the next 25 years, relations continued to grow sour. In 1981, Ecuador and Peru had another undeclared war. By January, 1995, border skirmishes worsened and war began in a small, remote region where the Protocol boundary was in dispute. Thousands of soldiers fought an intense, but localized war in the upper Cenepa valley. The United States, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, the guarantor nations, stepped in. After six weeks of armed combat, the fighting ended. Both sides claimed victories. Although further steps were taken to consolidate peace, Ecuador's own internal political problems waylaid the talks. A Military Observers Mission to Ecuador-Peru (MOMEP) was established. In 1996, the two countries began a series of meetings intended to set the stage for substantive negotiations to resolve the conflict. When Jamil Mahaud was elected President of Ecuador in August, 1998, the two countries were again at the brink of war. Peru claimed that the geographical features of the Cenepa River Valley did not match the topographical descriptions in the Protocol, which made demarcation "inexecutable." The military flare-up led to the creation of a temporary second MOMEP-patrolled demilitarized zone, south of the first zone. With war on the horizon, both presidents realized that it was time for peace. In October, 1998, after asking for and receiving a boundary determination from the guarantors, the two presidents reached an agreement. On October, 26th, at a ceremony in Brasilia, Presidents Mahuad and Fujimori and their Foreign Ministers signed the Peace Treaty. To Peace Vice President Gustavo Noboa, who has been involved in the peace process since 1995, is sure this peace will last. "The undeclared war returned to Ecuador its personality," he says. "Ecuador felt undervalued. For the past 100 years there had never been a real peace or a friendship between the two countries." After the 1995 war, the two countries were psychologically more equal; each had both won and lost and each had much more to lose if a peace wasn't negotiated. "The people also realized it was time for peace," Noboa continues. According to him, Presidents Mahuad and Fujimori also realized it was the moment for peace. They were both dealing from positions of strength within their countries, and both were ready to negotiate. "They knew it was the moment," Noboa said with emphasis. "The personality of both presidents and the circumstances of the country led to peace." President Mahuad, who made the peace his top priority, has received praise from all sectors of the international and national community for his commitment to this goal. He believes peace is here to stay. "I think peace with Peru is durable, because military victories never lead to peace." And this peace is not the consequence of a war, but of an agreement." Although Mahuad put the finishing touches on the peace, he credits the people, the press, the Foreign Ministry, the armed forces, the private sector and many others with creating the atmosphere that led to peace. "It was an explosion of expressions of 'we want peace' and 'we want integration'," that led to the ultimate signing, concludes Mahuad. "Peace grew with the hopes of the people. When a process undergoes this kind of maturing it becomes consolidated. I am absolutely convinced that this time we are serious." |
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Table of Contents (1) President Mahuad announces new economic plan |
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