1999 was the year of the greatest financial and social crisis in Ecuador The financial crisis originated in the government of Sixto Durán Ballén and Alberto Dahik, the promoters of neoliberalism in Ecuador. In 1994 they created the Law of Financial Institutions, which liberalized interest rates and allowed the free circulation of capital and the increase of linked credits, which proliferated without control. This situation generated speculation, capital flight and bank failure. The policies of the then President of the Republic, Jamil Mahuad, further exacerbated the crisis. In 1998, financial power became apparent. Bankers such as Fernando Aspiazu financed Mahuad's campaign and others formed part of his cabinet. Policies of "bank bailout" were established that allowed the delivery of millionaire loans to banks, through public institutions. In the National Congress, the famous "steamroller", made up of the Social Christian Party and the Popular Democracy, created laws and institutions, such as the Deposit Guarantee Agency (AGD), so that the State takes charge of the debts of the private banking. On March 8, 1999, a 24-hour “bank holiday” was declared, which ultimately lasted 5 days. All financial operations were suspended. Meanwhile, Mahuad decreed a " deposit freeze" for 1 year, of accounts of more than 2 million sucres. That day the banks of Ecuador did not attend to their clients. The Superintendent of Banks and Insurance, Jorge Egas Peña, unexpectedly announced, minutes before nine in the morning, that the financial entities would not open their doors. Even so, the banks “went bankrupt” and the State assumed the costs, transmitting them to the population, through various mechanisms, among them, the reduction of social spending and the increase in the cost of services. The consequences were terrible: inflation, devaluation, recession, company bankruptcy, unemployment, greater poverty and indigence, deaths, suicides and the largest migratory wave in the country's history. The economic losses amounted to 8,000 million dollars and the social losses were greater. We even lost the currency, because in January 2000 we adopted dollarization, at a parity of 25,000 sucres per dollar, when it was 4,000 at that time; therefore, those who had “frozen” savings in sucres recovered only one fifth. Economic instability gave rise to the largest migratory exodus in the history of Ecuador. The migratory wave was concentrated mainly in the northeastern United States, as well as in Spain and Italy. Some Ecuadorian diasporas and communities were born in some cities of the world as a result of the migratory crisis, the main ones being in New York, Madrid and Milan. 23 years have passed and still not all the money that the State gave to bankrupt bankers has been recovered, nor have those responsible for what was known as "the biggest robbery in the country's history" And you? Do you consider that dollarization was in the long term a measure that improved the economic stability of the country? Were you able to experience the bank holiday up close? Leave us your comment