Introduction - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 14

Also, the benefits of border integration and trade can now
proceed, as can massive foreign investment backed by the
World Bank, the benefit of which is debatable.
Many Ecuadorians support the agreement, realizing that
peace is the best alternative, but it is also a source of politi-
cal strife for recent administrations. Voices from the coastal
economic powerhouse of Guayaquil oppose the political
agreement. So far, however, it has not been a major source
of contention. The question of what will happen to this rela-
tively undisturbed section of the Oriente remains open.
Military juntas and conservative regimes exchanged government
control many times over the next several decades, withUS-backed in-
terests playing heavily in Ecuadorian politics. Ibarra came and went,
with new rhetoric each time. A brief period of growth and stability oc-
curred during the 1950s, due primarily to the prosperity of coastal ag-
ricultural exports such as bananas. Once those prices dropped,
however, so did political stability. By the 1970s, Ecuador's military
regime was well-practiced in the art of coups and military rule. This
coincidedwith the discovery of oil in the Amazon region. Soon, oil rev-
enues controlled by the state were flowing to the US and dominated
all political decisions, creating wealth for one or two political puppets
here and there, but abject poverty, as well as environmental and so-
cial desecration throughout the country. Some new roads and nice ho-
tels were built, however.
For an in depth investigative journalist's
first hand account of what happens when oil
demands from the north clash with the Ec-
uadorian Amazon and its inhabitants, read
Joe Kane's Savages (New York: Vintage
Books, 1996). Having lived with the
Huaorani Amerindians and experiencing
most of the story firsthand, I highly recom-
mend this topic.
Newmodernization projects, funded by huge international loans, be-
gan to emerge. Free-trade agreements and interregional cooperation
followed. Per capita income, the federal budget, social infrastructure
and employment in the Quito-based public sector increased signifi-
cantly. On the surface, Quito threatened to challenge Guayaquil as
an economic powerhouse due to oil revenue, though the country as a
whole was building its house on sand. Expectations far exceeded any
realistic benefits for the majority of the Ecuadorian people as income