Ecuador

Ecuador enter their 2nd World Cup finals and at there first appearance in 2002 they managed a win and that was against Croatia – better than Australia on debut in 1974. The majority of the squad who played last time are back again but none of their games will be played in the clouds like they always do in Quito. Indian tribes were settled in Quito for thousands of years, but once again the Spaniards ruined everything in 1533. Emperor Atahualpa was executed and the Indians were doing their best to rally against the pig-headed Spanish elites – yet the local Spanish administration took exception to the elites over the next 300 years – hey, no one wants their trade monopoly overthrown do they? The elites had to tread carefully as the landless peasant populations and many of the city ‘rabble’ were always aiming to overthrow Spanish rule. At the battle of Pichincha, the indigenous people were supported by Argentine General de San Martin and famously by the Venezuelan Simon Bolivar, this culminated with Independence in 1822, however, this power struggle was always between coastal landowners versus highland owners. So Ecuador had numerous governments, antagonism between market controllers and exporters – money (and not values in with respect to life) was the motivation. Power and revolution was always close by, along with assassinations, most notably Eloy Alfaro in 1912 - a liberal thinker assassinated by pro-clericals (thou shall not kill?). Compromises and abuses between both land power blocs was always the aim. The governments stupidly borrowed money during WWI, but world prices plummeted particularly for cocoa the principal export crop. Spiralling costs caused the 1925 July Revolution, but with an effort at reform around the corner, it all got swallowed up by the 1928 World Crisis. Governments came and fell. President Ibarra a rich bastard (and 5 times President) came along but he like many before never sorted out the sticky social and economic problems of the country. He was overthrown in 1947 by the usual military coup. The capitalistic approach slowly got a foothold and so a commercial boom occurred with coffee and bananas. Ecuador had border disputes with Peru with a major dispute in 1941 (where Peru kicked Ecuador’s butt) then again in 1950 and then why not again in the 1960’s – which sort of ended the dispute. In the 60’s the army was never too far away, puppet President’s came and went, what do you expect when oil wealth was in the air – which subsequently meant reform, economic difficulties, high inflation and foreign debt. Power, power and more power continually left the ordinary Ecuadorian in despair and by the late 80’s it was time for another crisis. The people fought back - strikes took over. There was strangely time for hectares of land to be handed to the Indian population. Leftists’ politics flipped back to the Right in July 1992 to US born architect Duran. So the dramas continued in the 90’s with refusals of mass resignations, political stand offs, impeachments, ministers physically removed from office and fierce opposition by party members. There was time for a major power blackout as the petrol prices went up, banana production came to a virtual standstill as did fishing. Through all this there was time for a war in 1995 against Peru to do with that border again, where an absurd agreement was made where a 482m2 demilitarised zone was set up – today it is now littered with thousands of landmines. Scandals and political protests were as common as bananas. They even wanted the populace to work longer hours. The Waorani Indians were treated like shit by the oil companies – the misuse of funds saw Vice President Alberto Dahlik flee the country. Right wing politics mixed easily with left wingers and it was all just getting too surreal. In fact Ecuador was labelled the ‘ungovernable’ country of Sth America – corruption was always the cause. Even the El Nino phenomenon in 1997 got blamed for economic problems! The oil crisis and open clashes over economic policy ruled the day. As did emergency plans that didn’t seem to work, an inability to close out debts, bloodless coups with a sense of irony each time – so Ecuador went even more insane adopting the US dollar in 2000, which it still uses today. The Indian population appears to have regained power and it’s a common practice these days that a President doesn’t really get control, serves them right!

So under the guises of mistreatment of the Ecuador people, the National football team brings pride to the area with Ecuador ranked 4th in the region. There home record is one of the best in the World over the last 10 years. Veterans Hurtado, Espinoza, De La Cruz, Tenorio, Mendez and goalscorer Augustin Delgado get their last chance at glory or its back to the banana farms and fishing for sure – enjoy the sun in Europe for the last time.

The future? Ecuador would love nothing more than another respectable performance at this World Cup. They are the new Colombia of the World Cup now, expecting to qualify and try and play some scintillating football. Watch out for the Birdman in the crowds and coach Suarez, who could just as easily be a Colombian hit man.
Bottomless pit ranking? It’s always been a case of miscalculation by those who have power thinking that the population don’t know what’s going on. The majority of the people may be illiterate but they know when there’s bullshit around. Power to the people right now although economically it’s always been some what a disaster.