ECUADOR: Round Three

"Ecuador," says President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, "is a very difficult country to govern." He should know; he is currently involved in his third try at it. The big difficulty in both of his previous terms was the armed forces. Velasco twice tangled with top commanders, who accused him of unconstitutional conduct, and twice got chucked out of his job. Last week it was Velasco v. the military again.

The crisis started a month ago, when Velasco's Minister of Economy Jaime Nebot made a slighting reference to a high army officer. Incensed at this challenge to military prestige, other officers...