An Indian-supported army coup overthrew Pres. Mahuad; through Congressional ratification he was replaced the following day by the vice president, Gustavo Noboa Bejarano. This was the first successful military coup in Latin America in over ten years.
Though it was the cause of Mahuad's overthrow, Pres. Noboa proceeded with a plan to replace the sucre with the American dollar as the official national currency. This action was part of a larger effort to privatize state-owned industries and restructure Ecuador's foreign debt.
