From what I understand is Correa, the far-leftist President, went through with a bunch of cut-backs that has a lot of opposition from most everyone else. The cut-backs were going to really affect the military and the police. Something about no pay increases, no promotions and no bonuses. So yesterday, Thursday, the police went on strike. I hear strike and I think of a teacher's strike. A bunch of middle-aged women (no offense) bundled up in their winter coats walking a picket line with various signs that are too the point but very far from malicious, they're teachers after all. Anyways, a police strike in Ecuador is very different than a teacher strike in Mid West America.
What the strike amounted to was first, and most importantly, no police protection on the streets. This again, is different from the USA because the police basically run the streets. I mean traffic at rush hour is directed by police men. I see probably 40-50 police men when walking from my apartment to any given class. That should give you some frame of reference. Now, I'm not sure what my faith is in these police men because I've never had to test them. But there have been countless reports of gringos immediately reporting a mugging to a policeman (possible because they are everywhere) and the policeman chasing down the mugger, beating him up and retrieving said gringo's belongings. Anyways, it's a very scary feeling knowing that there isn't anyone out there who could theoretically protect you. Secondly, if there are no police then in practice nothing is illegal. You can run a red light, you can drive in the eco-via lane, you can sit on top of your car, you can blast a loud speaker shouting obscenities about the President. All of these I witnessed. You can also rob a bank, burglar a house, violently mug someone, throw gas bombs at passer-by-ers, or attack someone. All of these were reported on the news. Although I could feel the affects of the gas bombs while waiting at inlingua yesterday afternoon. Lastly, the police themselves weren't quietly marching a picket line. They were setting tires on fire as blockades. They were cruising the streets in the back of pick up trucks (at least the immigration authorities were. It made sense though. The airport was closed, no one was coming or going). They were causing general ruckus. There were demonstrations outside government buildings and at the airport. It was just general chaos and presumably organized by the police.
Then there's the question of the military. We know for sure that the air force arm of the military was a part of the strike because they're the ones who closed down the airport yesterday. Today the airport is back up and running. We've gotten so accustomed to planes flying overhead almost every 15 minutes all day, everyday that their absence was very quite unnerving. There have been mixed reports about the military. At first, we know this to be true, the military pledged their support to Correa and the government. But then around 12:30 we heard reports that the military had rescinded their support for the government and now were on strike with the police. Then around 3 we heard that there was going to be a curfew that would be enforced by the military. So, all in all, I think what happened was the 'high-ups' in the military support Correa but there is a large group of soldiers that have joined the police strike.
Practically, for us, it means no class. Yesterday I had arranged a little going away fiesta for Danni at 11am because it was her last day. This coincided with the news broadcast about the police strike. When I was leaving around 11:45, I noticed a purse on the ground but didn't pay much attention to it. As I was walking I could see a pick up truck full of men with a loud speaker screaming about Correa. When I was about 5 minutes away from inlingua, Christina (inlingua staff) called and said classes had all been canceled. I turned around and headed back to inlingua. Apparently, Sarah and Corine had picked up the purse and saw that it had been slashed and robbed. They took it back to inlingua and then the seriousness of the situation set in. We turned on the news again, classes were all canceled and everyone was sent home. We all waited until we had a ride home. Clearly if someone was just mugged we shouldn't be walking home. Plus two of the 4 that work at inlingua are pregnant, so we had to wait for rides. While we were waiting we could smell the gas from the gas bombs. Ryan had already left inlingua when I had left to go to class. So he was already home when Jhon dropped me off. We turned on the news and saw for ourselves that it was pretty crazy out there. Our morning classes have been canceled again today. We'll see what happens at lunch time. I'm assuming we won't have class today.
One, of the many, unfortunate things is that QuitoFest is this weekend. It's Ecuador's largest open air free music festival. And it attracts a lot of bands and tourists. Lamb of God is supposed to play this evening but without any police protection I just can't see how its going to happen.
That's about all we know now. We'll keep everyone informed if anything else happens. There are some pretty startling images if you do a google image search from the last 24 hours. Especially, the one of Correa limping wearing a gas mask.
Mulub,
Taylor, Ryan and Chuki
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