-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- Take This Currency and Shove It Ecuador's President Flees Over Dollarization Hey! Where's all our free government stuff? Jamil Mahuad, Ecuador's president, who had refused to resign despite growing pressure for him to do so, left the presidential palace in an ambulance, bound for one of the country's airbases on Friday. "Mahuad left the palace in an ambulance guarded by four security vehicles," said Col. Suarez, the government palace's chief of security. Ecuador's Congress building was on Friday overrun by thousands of indigenous Indian protesters, staging their boldest action yet against the government of Mr Mahuad. The involvement of military guards, who allowed the protesters access to the building, fuelled speculation of growing military opposition to the government. Carlos Mendoza, head of the armed forces, who had earlier affirmed the military's support for the constitutional government, said they had retracted their support and President Mahuad should step down. Protests involving other opposition activists as well as the indigenous groups spread to the southern city of Guayaquil, where violent demonstrations broke out in the afternoon. One person was shot dead in tussles with police in one of the coastal provinces. The taxi drivers have come out in support of the uprising and are blocking the streets of Quito, the capital. Indian demonstrators also surrounded the supreme court building, despite police attempts to disperse them with teargas. The highland Indians, who comprise at least a third of the Andean country's 12.4m population, began marching on Quito on Monday to demand Mr Mahuad's resignation. They accused the government of corruption and mismanagement, and blame the president for the country's worst economic crisis in decades. Mr Mahuad's proposal to adopt the US dollar as the country's principal currency would further impoverish millions of people living below the poverty line, they said. The president proposed dollarisation after Ecuador's currency crashed to record lows. Inflation last year was 60 per cent and the economy shrank by more than 7 per cent, the worst performance this century. In Quito 2,000-3,000 protesters remained in the Congress building through the day, cramming into the main parliament auditorium. They rejoiced at declarations of support by an indigenous activist leader, Antonio Vargas, for a new government headed by an army colonel. "The people are in power," Mr Vargas said. On Thursday he had warned that they would take over control of Congress. With the president gone, he expected them to be in the presidential palace within a couple of hours. Protesters chanted "Down with Mahuad", while tribal spiritual leaders spread incense and blew conch shells on the platformwhere the president normally sits. On top of the Congress building protesters unfurled the banner of the indigenous peoples, while inside they called for a marchon the presidential palace. Mr Mahuad, a Harvard-educated centrist politician, was to have presented to Congress on Friday a bill implementing his dollarisation plan. Instead he stayed in session with his cabinet in the presidential palace a few kilometres from Congress. Congress was also expected to have received legislation covering the privatisation of parts of the electricity, telecommunications and oil sectors. The Financial Times, January 22, 2000 The Death of the Nation-State Tax-Free Betting on the Internet Your money is ours, UK government fumes. THE betting revolution will move another step forward next week when William Hill offers tax-free betting to its 160,000 telephone clients and punters on the internet. The decision by one of the big three bookmakers to stop charging betting duty - 6.75p in the pound - coincides with the opening of a call centre in Ireland, a computer in Antigua and some nimble legal footwork that will infuriate the Government and cost the Treasury millions of pounds. Ladbrokes and Coral will almost certainly be forced to follow suit or face losing a substantial slice of credit and debit business. Hill's internet site will enable punters to bet on all sports, including racing and greyhounds, and pay no deductions on wagers. However, the most significant breakthrough involves telephone betting, in which William Hill has a 40 per cent market share. >From next Wednesday, telephone clients ringing the company's call centre in Leeds will be asked if they want to bet tax free and be given the number of its centre in Athlone. The Irish centre will pass the bets to a computer in Antigua, thereby preventing the Government charging duty. A service charge of three per cent will be imposed. John Brown, Hill's managing director, said "We have taken this step because our case for reducing betting duty in the UK has gone unanswered. We cannot afford to sit here and see our business ebb away. It is an unsustainable tax. The Government should cut it to three per cent and then we would not need to go abroad." Even if the Government carries out its threat to legislate against UK-based bookmakers, that will not stop Victor Chandler, the entrepreneur who launched offshore betting last May, said Mr Brown. Bookmakers in Australia and the Far East would also step in to offer tax-free opportunities. The London Telegraph, January 22, 2000 ------ Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soap-boxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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