Ethnopolitics in Ecuador: Indigenous Rights and the Strengthening of Democracy. By Melina Selverston-Scher. Miami: North-South Center Press, 2001. 152p. $35.00 cloth, $17.95 paper

Extract

The 1980s may have been a “lost decade” for Latin America as a whole, but it certainly was not for Indian movements across the continent. During the 1980s, regional and national-level Indian organizations grew in number and strength. Indians launched political movements (and in some cases political parties) during the 1990s in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, and, perhaps most impressively, Ecuador. In June of 1990, Ecuador was paralyzed for days as Indians across the country blocked highways, occupied local government offices, organized land invasions, and marched on the capital, Quito—thousands strong.