Ecuador: Turn to the Left

One of the poorest and least stable of Latin America's underdeveloped nations is Ecuador, a small, banana-growing republic perched on South America's Pacific rump. Ecuador's 4,400,000 people earn a per-capita annual income of only $165, one of the lowest in the hemisphere; by no coincidence only 13 elected governments have finished their terms in 131 years of independence. Last week President José María Velasco Ibarra, 68, earned the dubious distinction of becoming No. 35 to leave in midterm. Beset by strikes, riots and military revolts, he made a dash for asylum in...

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