Impatience with the Brass

After Ecuador's military overthrew hard-drinking, leftist President Carlos Julio Arosemena two years ago, the four-man junta that succeeded him quickly embarked on "the unpostponable obligation of carrying out basic reforms." It outlawed the country's 4,000-member Communist Party, adopted the country's first civil service law, cracked down on smuggling, centralized tax collection and tightened export regulations on bananas, Ecuador's biggest cash crop. The reforms were necessary--though not necessarily popular. But when it came to a return to constitutional rule, the junta moved slowly, promising elections some time in 1966. Last week public impatience suddenly erupted into a bitter crisis for Ecuador's ruling military.

In Quito and 170 miles away in the main port of Guayaquil, thousands of high school and university students, representing a wide swath of political orientation, poured into downtown streets, slinging rocks and chanting "Abajo la dictadura!" and "Viva la constitucion!" Army troops and marines moved in with tear gas and clubs, arresting scores of demonstrators. Sixteen political leaders were rounded up and deported, and in Guayaquil, where two high school students were killed by stray bullets, the junta declared martial law.

As an uneasy quiet settled back over Ecuador, General Marcos Gandara Enriquez, one of the junta members, conceded that it was "possible" that the military might step down earlier than scheduled. But first the junta wants assurances that its reforms would be continued by the next government and that Communists would remain outlawed. As a sign of good faith, the military at week's end arranged the resignation of Ecuador's tame nine-man Cabinet--enabling the junta to name new ministers more acceptable to the opposition.

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