President Lucio Gutiérrez's tactic of joining forces with the conservative Partido Social Cristiano (PSC) to attack former President Rodrigo Borja (WR-03-25) may have backfired, nullifying the breather he had achieved by agreeing to some of the demands of the indigenous confederation, Conaie.
Over the past few days his coalition ally, Pachakutik (the indigenous party sponsored by Conaie) has renewed its threats to go into opposition, on account of what they see as a clear tilt of Gutiérrez's Partido Sociedad Patriótica (PSP) to the right. Most vocal in the denunciation of the 'PSP-PSC pact' is Pachakutik leader Virgilio Hernández, who resigned as deputy interior minister a fortnight ago.
The leader of the Pachakutik bloc in congress, Antonio Posso, has already been floating the possibility of an alliance in congress with Borja's party, Izquierda Democrática (ID), the Movimiento Popular Democrático (MPD, which last week pulled out of the ruling coalition), the Socialists (PS), Democracia Popular (DP), Partido Roldosista Ecuatoriano (PRE) and even the Prian, party of banana magnate Alvaro Noboa. The trigger for this alliance would be a formal PSP-PSC entente.
This may well be no more than a negotiating gambit: this week the top leadership of Pachakutik has a meeting scheduled with Gutiérrez to discuss the future of the coalition.
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