Weekly Report - 22 July 2003

Another 'showdown' between President Lucio Gutiérrez and his indigenous coalition partners of the Pachakutik party (PK) came and went last weekend (WR-03-27). By all accounts the PK representatives said little while Gutiérrez laid down the law: henceforth any official criticising the government in public will be dismissed. PK coordinator Miguel Lluco left the meeting announcing that they would be staying on board (but admitting that opinions within the party remained divided). 

One participant, Virgilio Hernández (who recently resigned as under-secretary of the interior), said that Gutiérrez had been 'offensive', accusing foreign minister Nina Pacari of having 'briefed' journalists against his own party, Sociedad Patriótica (PSP), and calling congressmen Antonio Posso and Rodrigo Garcí­a 'traitors' for having opposed an alliance with the conservative Partido Social Cristiano (PSC) in the legislature. Hernández and Posso are among the most vocal proponents of PK's withdrawal from the ruling coalition. 

For now, Gutiérrez has not openly stated any intention of seeking a permanent deal with the PSC, which many see as the one thing that would persuade the PK to leave.