This week's In the News looks at government response to nationwide strikes in Ecuador. Ecuadoran President Jamil Mahuad declared a 60-day state of emergency on March 9, 1999 due to work stoppages fueled by economic crisis. According to Minister of the Interior Vladimiro Alvarez, calls for strikes among Ecuador's unions have a "serious destablilizing effect" in a nation struggling with currency devaluation, El Nino-caused natural disaster, and falling prices of its main export, oil. Government officials are particularly threatened by political action among Ecuador's Popular Front, a powerful organization of unions and Indian groups opposed to the austere economic policies and privatization plans imposed by the recently elected President Mahuad. Under Mahuad's state of emergency decree, the government may use military force to protect oil and electricity installations, limit public meetings and movement as well as order strikers back to work. It is not yet clear if a nation-wide 48-hour strike will take place next Wednesday since police and soldiers went on alert for "any demonstration that threatens public order" March 9th. The news sources and resources discussed report on President Mahuad's military action and union discontent and provide socio-economic data.