¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (AVC) (Alfaro Lives, Dammit!), also called the Fuerzas Armadas Populares Eloy Alfaro (Eloy Alfaro Popular Armed Forces), was a clandestine left-wing group in Ecuador, founded in 1982 and named after popular government leader and general Eloy Alfaro. The group was labeled as a terrorist organization by the Ecuadorian state. Un capítulo de la historia del país con dos visiones opuestas. 20, junio de 2010Arturo Jarrín fue drogado en Panamá y traído a Ecuador en estado de inconsciencia.El Telégrafo1 de julio de 2016. El Telégrafo20 de junio de 2010El Comercio. Fiscalía acusará a 13 personas por caso Arturo Jarrín. 28 de abril de 2016 during the period of the former president León Febres Cordero. It existed between 1983 and 1991, when it carried out various armed actions and criminal acts in Ecuador,Comisión de Defensa Jurídico-Institucional de la Policía Nacional. 2010 TERRORISMO Y SUBVERSIÓN. Por: Manuel Sarmiento Mera. Con: Varios créditos autorales. CAPÍTULO I; La búsqueda de la verdad 19, Una verdad profesional 22, La gran verdad institucional 22, Acciones delictivas cometidas en el Ecuador desde 1976 por los grupos subversivos: Alfaro Vive Carajo (AVC), Montoneras Patria Libre (MPL) y el Movimiento Colombiano 19 de abril (M-19). 1984: DIVERSIDAD DE ACCIONES DELINCUENCIALES: El 12 de junio se produce el asalto al Banco de los Andes, agencia Kennedy, en Quito. Los asaltantes Ricardo Arturo Jarrín Jarrín y Lilian Beatriz Jarrín Jarrín, miembros del grupo AVC con hábitos religiosos cometieron el atraco. Toma el mando Arturo Jarrín, adoptando el apelativo dado por la prensa todos esos años, se funda el grupo Alfaro Vive hasta su disolución en el gobierno posterior. Borja. with Colombian (M-19) and Nicaraguan (Nicaraguan Revolution) influence. The group was initially formed sometime in the 1970s, but was not active militarily for the first few years of the 80's.Phil Gunson, Andrew Thompson & Greg Chamberlain, The Dictionary of Contemporary Politics of South America, London: Routledge, 1990, p. 3
An openly leftist organization, but not Marxist, they identified with the Democratic Left coalition. The AVC first received national attention in 1983, when it broke into a museum and stole swords used by former president and leader of the liberal revolution, Eloy Alfaro. Some of the group's leaders were thought to be affiliated with Cuba, Libya and Nicaragua, and the group itself was linked to militant groups in other Latin American countries, such as M-19 and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, establishing a group of joint operations called America Battalion with these two groups. Between 1986 and 1987, AVC carried out several kidnappings, robbed banks and a factory, seized several radio stations to broadcast their manifesto, and killed four policemen while retrieving a member of the group from police custody. At its height, the AVC had between 200 and 300 members. The AVC did not carry out attacks against the population or large-scale attacks since according to Santiago Kingman, the main ideologue of the AVC ...any bomb exploding alone, senseless... any killing of an unarmed person was stupid.
In response to this activity, the government began conducting raids against the group. The group's leader, Arturo Jarrin, was killed during a shootout against government forces in October 1986. By 1987, a large number of AVC leaders and members had been killed or arrested. In 1989, the Ecuadorian government reached an agreement with the AVC, and the group agreed to end its violence. In 1991, the group was officially reformed as a legitimate political party. A year later, eight members of the group made an illegal but non-violent entry into the British embassy in Quito, demanding the release of a group leader who was later imprisoned by the Ecuadorian government.
They were responsible for several criminal actions including robberies and kidnappings; highlighting the kidnapping of Nahim Isaías Barquet, who was the general manager of the bank Filanbanco in September 1985, who was killed while the intervention for his rescue was being carried out by the Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Special Forces Brigade of the Ecuadorian Army, ordered by the then president León Febres-Cordero. Due to the death in 1986 of its leader, Arturo Jarrín, arrests and the death of several other members in the same year took place as a result of the actions carried out by the security forces of the Ecuadorian State, AVC lost strength and was practically eliminated. According to the book The remnant of AVC, it formally handed over its weapons in 1991. The balance of the AVC campaign between 1983 and 1988 was: 16 AVC members, six members of the M-19, 14 police officers killed, more than 20 injured.
Background AVC arose during an economic crisis in the 1980s. During the 1970s Ecuador experienced an annual economic growth rate of 8.1% due in part to high oil prices. In 1982 the economy stagnated due to the fall in the price of oil and the simultaneous rise in interest rates in international markets. The middle and upper classes were the ones who benefitted the most from the oil boom, but the popular classes were the ones who suffered the costs of the economic adjustment when the boom ended.
Beginning with President Osvaldo Hurtado (1981–1984) the government of Ecuador applied measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to restructure the economy. These measures included: reducing fiscal spending, devaluing the local currency, and raising prices. The Febres-Cordero government (1984–1988) exacerbated the economic crisis. With the lowest oil price ever recorded in 1986.
His economic team was made up of three economists fully identified with the business sector: Carlos Julio Emanuel, Francisco Swett and Alberto Dahik. They devalued the Sucre, promoting agricultural exports and favoring economic groups. At the same time, they eliminated price controls and reduced the gasoline subsidy, increasing the price of gasoline by 70 percent. The impact of the crisis on the popular sectors increased unemployment and the inflation and reduced consumption. The crisis was felt particularly in the poor sectors of the cities with an average fall in real urban income of 8.7 percent per year from 1981 to 1989, the most large among Latin American countries.
Conformation AVC was formed mainly by middle-class students with an urban guerrilla focus. It formed part of other revolutionary organizations such as the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR). The MIR had student leaders, such as:
Fausto Basantes and Ricardo Merino of the Mejía National Institute of Quito Arturo Jarrin. and Hamet Vásconez from La Salle College of Quito (currently La Salle-Conocoto) Juan Cuvi and Juan Carlos Acosta from American College of Quito Edgar Frías from the José Joaquín de Olmedo School, in Guayaquil. There were also alumni from the Colegio Nacional Juan Pío Montúfar, Benalcázar and Cardenal Spellman schools in Quito.
Arturo Jarrín entered the Central University of Ecuador in Quito, to study sociology, leaving it during his fourth year, after participating in popular organization activities in the Ciudadela Ferroviaria de Quito, he joined AVC, becoming the leader of the organization being elected at The First AVC National Conference held in Esmeraldas in February 1983, attended by around 60 guerrillas. In it, the Central Command formed by three people, including Jarrín. Prior to this, in January, Jarrín and other guerrillas assaulted the Banco de Fomento. AVC called all bank robberies "financial recoveries," which were the organization's primary means of financial support.
Assaults The following is a partial list of armed robberies of banking institutions carried out by AVC members with the respective amounts stolen. The amounts in US dollars are approximate with the price of the year in which they occurred.
DateCityBankBranchAmount (USD) July 1983 Quito Multi-exchange agency Headquarters 16,000 March 1984 Quito Multi-exchange agency Headquarters 9,000 June 1984 Quito Banco del Pacífico La Villafora 43,000 January 1985 Guayaquil Banco de Descuento Stock truck 32,000 April 1985 Guayaquil Hollandsche Bank-Unie Guayaquil branch 13,000 May 1985 Guayaquil Banco Continental Guayaquil Branch 4,000 June 1985 Quito Banco Consolidado El Labrador agency 18,000 July 1985 Guayaquil Banco La Previsora Branch No.7 14,020
History The group was initially formed some time in the 1970s but was not militarily active for the first several years of its existence. An avowedly leftist but non-Marxist organisation, they identified with the Democratic Left coalition. AVC first received national attention in 1983, when it broke into a museum and stole swords which had been used by Eloy Alfaro. Some of the group's leaders were thought to be affiliated with Cuba, Libya and Nicaragua, and the group itself was linked to militant groups from other Latin-American countries, such as the M-19 and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, establishing a joint operations group called America Battalion with these two groups. From 1986 to 1987, AVC carried out several kidnappings, robbed banks and a factory, took over a number of radio stations to broadcast their manifesto, and killed four police officers while retrieving a group member from police custody.
In response to this activity, the government began carrying out raids against the group. The group's leader Arturo Jarrin was killed during a shootout with government forces in October 1986. By 1987, a large number of AVC's leaders and members had either been killed or arrested. In 1989, the government of Ecuador reached an agreement with AVC, with the group agreeing to end its violence. In 1991, the group officially reformed as a legitimate political party. One year later, eight group members made an illegal, but non-violent entry into the British Embassy in Quito, demanding the release of a group leader who was then imprisoned by the Ecuadorian government.
Robbery of the sword of Eloy Alfaro The first operation to receive extensive media coverage was the theft of the swords of Eloy Alfaro and Pedro José Montero from the Municipal Museum of Guayaquil, on 11 August. In January 2012, Rosa Mireya Cárdenas, who served as Secretary of Peoples, as a delegate of former AVC members, she returned the swords to the then President of Ecuador Rafael Correa.
1983–1985 Since the beginning of 1983, the AVC carried out a large number of operations, which included actions such as bank robberies and graffiti, seeking in this way to achieve loudness in the media, which according to the AVC, were controlled by the "right".
The first National Conference is held between 12 and 14 February 1983 in Tonsupa Esmeraldas, where the "Eloy Alfaro People's Revolutionary Forces" are constituted, under the Slogan "Alfaro Lives, Dammit". On 11 March, an attempt was made to assault the payer of Casa Baca (Quito), as a result of which Ricardo Merino and Vicente López were arrested. On 8 July, the Bust of Eloy Alfaro was stolen from the headquarters of the Supreme Liberal Junta in Quito
On 22 September, at the Pululahua resort (Pichincha), Jarrín, Mireya Cárdenas and Edgar Frías held a press conference in which they announced the existence of the organization. On 2 November, the facilities of the radio stations: Noticia, La Fabulosa and Universal de Guayaquil were seized to condemn the intervention of United States in Nicaragua. At the end of 1983 Jarrín and about twenty guerrillas traveled to Libya to receive military training in one of the camps sponsored by Muammar Gaddafi. Basantes and Frías temporarily assumed control of AVC. In October, during training near Esmeraldas, Basantes and Cárdenas were arrested for illegal possession of weapons.