Editing History of Ecuador (section)

===Return to democratic rule (1979–1990)===
Jaime Roldós Aguilera, democratically [[Ecuadorian general election, 1978–1979|elected in 1979]], presided over a nation that had undergone profound changes during the seventeen years of military rule. There were impressive indicators of economic growth between 1972 and 1979: The government budget expanded some 540 percent, whereas exports as well as per capita income increased a full 500 percent. Industrial development had also progressed, stimulated by the new oil wealth as well as Ecuador's preferential treatment under the provisions of the [[Andean Community of Nations|Andean Common Market (AnCoM, also known as the Andean Pact)]].

Roldós was killed, along with his wife and the minister of defense, in an airplane crash in the southern province of Loja on May 24, 1981. The death of Roldós generated intense popular speculation. Some Ecuadorian nationalists attributed it to the Peruvian government because the crash took place near the border where the two nations had participated in the [[Paquisha War]] in their perpetual border dispute. Many of the nation's leftists, pointing to a similar crash that had killed Panamanian President [[Omar Torrijos]] Herrera less than three months later, blamed the United States government.

Roldós's constitutional successor, [[Osvaldo Hurtado]], immediately faced an economic crisis brought on by the sudden end of the petroleum boom. Massive foreign borrowing, initiated during the years of the second military regime and continued under Roldós, resulted in a foreign debt that by 1983 was nearly US$7 billion. The nation's petroleum reserves declined sharply during the early 1980s because of exploration failures and rapidly increasing domestic consumption. The economic crisis was aggravated in 1982 and 1983 by drastic climatic changes, bringing severe drought as well as flooding, precipitated by the appearance of the unusually warm ocean current known as "El Niño". Analysts estimated damage to the nation's infrastructure at US$640 million, with balance-of-payments losses of some US$300 million. Real gross domestic product growth fell to 2% in 1982 and to −3.3% in 1983. The rate of inflation in 1983, 52.5%, was the highest ever recorded in the nation's history.

Outside observers noted that, however unpopular, Hurtado deserved credit for keeping Ecuador in good standing with the international financial community and for consolidating Ecuador's democratic political system under extremely difficult conditions. As [[León Febres Cordero]] entered office on August 10, there was no end in sight to the economic crisis nor to the intense struggle that characterized the political process in Ecuador.

During the first years of his administration, Febres Cordero introduced free-market economic policies, took a strong stand against [[drug trafficking]] and [[terrorism]], and pursued close relations with the United States. His tenure was marred by bitter wrangling with other branches of government and his own brief kidnapping by elements of the military. A [[1987 Ecuador earthquakes|devastating earthquake in March 1987]] interrupted oil exports and worsened the country's economic problems.

[[Rodrigo Borja Cevallos]] of the Democratic Left (ID) party won the presidency in 1988, running in the runoff election against [[Abdalá Bucaram]] of the [[Ecuadorian Roldosist Party|PRE]]. His government was committed to improving [[human rights]] protection and carried out some reforms, notably an opening of Ecuador to foreign trade. The Borja government concluded an accord leading to the disbanding of the small terrorist group "[[¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!]]" ("Alfaro Lives, Dammit!"), named after [[Eloy Alfaro]]. However, continuing economic problems undermined the popularity of the ID, and opposition parties gained control of Congress in 1990.