Small FM Station Is Fomenting Protests, Officials Contend

By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service

QUITO, Ecuador, April 19 -- Military police used tear gas and high-pressure water hoses to restrain tens of thousands of protesters Tuesday night during the fiercest confrontation yet between the government and those demanding the ouster of president Lucio Gutierrez.

As police tried to quell the escalating unrest, in which several people were reportedly injured, officials today cast the blame on an unusual source: a local radio station that has directed the public to an estimated 200 demonstrations in the past six days.

"The radio station is the one that is calling all of the protests -- not the people," charged Ivan Ona Velez, communication secretary for Gutierrez.

Massive street demonstrations have swept the capital since Gutierrez disbanded the country's 31-member Supreme Court on Friday for the second time in five months. He first removed the justices in December, saying they were politically aligned with parties opposing his rule. They were replaced with justices who the opposition says are allies of the president. After Gutierrez declared a brief state of emergency last Friday, thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand his impeachment.

Throughout the crisis, a local FM station -- Radio La Luna -- has regularly informed listeners where and when demonstrations would occur. During the height of tonight's chaotic demonstrations, the station provided directions for protesters wishing to navigate street closures and avert police blockades to reach the presidential palace.

The station's signal was cut for several hours Monday, during the evening, when most street actions have been organized. The government blamed the outage on an electrical failure at a transmission tower and said several stations were affected, including a state-run television station.

But many Ecuadorans who oppose the president said they believed the government was targeting La Luna, a small station that has adamantly criticized the government's handling of the crisis and has called for the dismissal of Gutierrez. The station's director said his family had received death threats that prompted him to move his wife and children out of Quito, the capital.

"It's the government of Lucio Gutierrez that is doing this, of that I'm absolutely certain," Paco Velasco, the director of La Luna, said Tuesday "On Sunday, they interfered with our signal. . . . Six different times we've been cut off."

The public outcry against the government reached a fever pitch this month when the newly appointed Supreme Court absolved several politicians of corruption charges, including an exiled former president, Abdala Bucaram. Many demonstrators said they believed the court change was part of a presidential and congressional alliance with Bucaram, under whom Gutierrez served as a military aide.

Congress voted Sunday to begin the process of replacing the court, but opposition party members said they would try to impeach the president for carrying out what they called an unconstitutional manipulation of the judicial system.

It remained unclear whether the impeachment drive had gained sufficient congressional support to succeed. Hearings must be supported by a majority of the 100-member body, and a two-thirds majority is needed to oust the president.

In the streets, many of the protesters continued to call for a complete overhaul of the political system -- including the dissolution of Congress and the holding of new elections.

"It's the people in the streets who have the power to be vigilant and make sure stability can be retained," said Ernesto Alban Gomez, one of the Supreme Court justices who was dismissed in December. "We must be the only country in the world right now without a Supreme Court, but it is worth it if it results in changes that help the country."

Before he joined a protest this morning against Gutierrez, Stalin Coronel, 23, listened to Radio La Luna for information on upcoming street actions. Then he and about 150 other demonstrators -- mostly college students -- marched to the radio station's modest offices in northern Quito to show support for the broadcasts.

"The station has been loyal to the desires of the people," Coronel said, his hands stained with ink from constructing anti-government placards. "We want to return constitutionality to the government. We don't want them to sell our country."

In the one-room studio at the station, which has been broadcasting since 1998, the telephone lines lit up as residents called in to vent their frustrations.

"I'm 87 years old, and I want to die defending my country!" screamed one caller. "Two of my relatives were officials, and both retired because they couldn't take the corruption anymore!"

The caller's comments were met with applause from announcers in the studio, where employees had hung anti-Gutierrez banners like those seen throughout the capital.

"I am just trying to respect the dynamic that is out there among the people," explained Velasco, 46. "The people want the government to leave, and we're just providing them with a place to be heard. We simply opened our microphones to the public."

Velasco said his station had not organized any protests, but instead had relayed information from helpful callers. He said cell phones had been the instruments behind the widespread demonstrations.

Radio La Luna is part of a nongovernmental organization called the Popular Education Center, which maintains offices above the studio. A line of security guards guarded the building Tuesday morning -- a precaution Velasco said was taken after government supporters attempted to storm the studio and halt programming last week.

The government denied interfering with the station.

"Every day, they call the president a dictator and say he is incapable -- what don't they call him?" Velez, the presidential spokesman, said of the station. "Is there one journalist in prison here? Is there one journalist being persecuted? Is there one who's received an order from the president of the republic to be shut down? Not one. They can claim 1,000 things, but they have no proof."

Congress planned to continue debating the future of the court and of Gutierrez on Wednesday, and the government's future seemed far from certain.

"Gutierrez has had majority support in Congress, but I think at any moment he could lose that majority," said Michael Shifter, an analyst with the Inter-American Dialogue, a nonprofit group in Washington. "The situation is very fluid."

© 2005