Juan Montalvo used in his Catilinaria the epigraph “Tanto mounta” for cutting as for untying. We are in a very difficult situation and we know that the solution is complicated. Someone will lose, and I hope it’s not the country.

It goes through minimal and patriotic agreements between the functions of the state to avoid the chaos that is envisioned. It depends on the intelligence of those involved. The Assembly has a lot to do with it, and it seems to me that its members will lose a lot more in a “truncated” solution. Let’s look at the members of parliament and ask ourselves if they are ready to lose their jobs, which means an acceptable salary for them and their advisers. Because death on the cross will send them to their homes. You don’t need to be eagle-eyed to realize that some of them are not rich. The job they might lose will force them to think before making decisions that will force the president to make a radical decision.

In ancient Rome, the dictatorship was a republican magistrate. It was applied in cases of major internal crises, plagues or foreign invasions. It was necessary to focus state power on the dictator. The Senate gave maximum powers to a person to solve them, and when the task was done, it returned the powers to the Senate. The current Constitution foresees the situation. The president can rule by decree, and when it comes to economic issues, he must consult the Constitutional Court. He becomes a kind of legal dictator. If President Guillermo Lasso opts for crucifixion, he will also leave office and must hand over power to whoever is elected in direct elections organized by the Electoral Commission. In our country, there is no precedent to guide us. The case of Don Clemente Yerovia is unique for the nobility and common sense of such a famous dictator, who left power when he resolved the crisis. Machiavelli’s cynical claim that the end justifies the means is still valid in politics.

Much depends on the National Assembly. Its members should devote themselves to the legislative solution of one of the serious problems, which is the lack of employment and investment. The uncertainty that worries investors the most is not the street, but the one that stems from old laws such as the Labor Law, which must be amended or replaced by another that guarantees the interests of workers and employers. It is necessary to dialogue and reach agreements that reflect the interests of both sectors. The most intelligent and the most patriotic must take the initiative. A tripartite dialogue of functions could untie the knot in order to solve the fundamental problem, the root of the crisis, which is the unemployment of more than four million Ecuadorians. Young people who do not see the future, who lost their jobs during the pandemic, must restore the horizon of a decent wage.

Street insecurity is also a current and very serious problem. To cut does not mean to kill, but to separate the sick part of the social body and try to reintegrate it into the healthy part. I think the public force has already started.

Everything looks very difficult, but the desire to survive should inspire us with the hope that all is not lost. (OR)