1939: Ecuador

Political Situation.

The death of President Aurelio Mosquera Narváez on Nov. 17 left a vacancy to be filled by a new election called for Jan. 12-13, 1940. The results of this election must be approved by the Congress, meeting regularly in August, and the new president will then be inaugurated Sept. 1. Dr. Narváez's provisional status at the close of 1938 was altered when the new Congress, chosen in January 1939 by an electorate that for the first time included women, elected him President. The new Constitution under which this election was conducted, granting universal suffrage to all citizens over 18 years of age, was destined to be short-lived, for on Feb. 1 it was rejected by the new Congress and the Constitution of 1906 was reinstated. A difficult political situation followed, termed in Government circles an abortive 'Marxist revolutionary attempt.' in which striking students and workers participated. In March President Narváez was given extraordinary powers for sixty days to deal with it. A number of political agitators, including former dictators General Alberto Enríquez and Colonel Luis Larrea Alba, were imprisoned. These were both rumored as implicated, too, in a Leftist army rebellion in July which ended without bloodshed. Leaders of the Socialist and Revolutionary Vanguard Parties were arrested in connection with this uprising. It is this latter party that led the opposition to the Liberal administration of Narváez. This is the situation which his successor, Provisional President Arroyo del Rio, inherits.

German Propaganda Investigated.

Rumors of German interference in Ecuadorean politics were denied by the Foreign Minister in May. Charges of espionage were made in the Guayaquil press against Herr Alfredo Cunhe, German chief of the secret police under the former dictator, Federico Paez. These charges were made the occasion for investigations during the summer of the dictatorial régimes of Paez and of Alberto Enríquez, to whose extravagance and inefficiency, if not dishonesty, is attributed the present economic plight of Ecuador.

Financial Matters.

In a message to Congress in November, President Narváez said that these military dictatorships had cost the country 500,000,000 sucres and an empty treasury, as well as a mass of bewildering banking and financial laws. After discarding the fiscal regulations installed by the North American economic expert, Professor W. W. Kemmerer, a 'trial and error' system of economic legislation had been followed. Business has been reported at a standstill since the death of Dr. Narváez, the banks' refusal to extend credit and the lack of foreign currency preventing recovery. Efforts to obtain a loan in the United States, announced by the President in August, seem not to have been successful. The budget for the next fiscal year, signed by President Narváez in November, amounts to 113,050,000 sucres. The critical financial situation resulting from the European War is to be met by economies due to the discharge of Government employes and other reductions in expenses.