Last January the Ecuadorian President Jamil Mahuad appeared on national TV to announce his country was in terrible economic trouble. He compared Ecuador’s situation to the sinking of the Titanic. He showed a drawing of the White Star liner full of desperate passengers and crew.

President Mahuad, like the Titanic’s commander, Capt. Edward J. Smith, asked citizens to remain calm. But like the ship, Ecuador seems to be on a fatal course. The South American nation has hit an iceberg, perhaps more powerful than the one that provoked the ocean liner’s sinking. That iceberg is corruption.

Like water seeping into a ship, corruption starts in little ways. Like a little boy who steals money from his mother to buy a candy. Soon, this little boy is copying final exams and graduating college without being able to tell the difference between business and swindling. Then he becomes a corrupt politician who vanishes with all the people’s money. Then the corruption becomes an unstoppable flood like the sea engulfing the Titanic.

Like the Titanic, Ecuador has structural problems. In the liner’s case its propellers were disproportionate to its size and its steel plates were too fragile. In Ecuador’s case, its foreign debt is totally disproportionate to is fiscal budget and it has a legislative system too weak to combat corruption. Like the Titanic, too, Ecuador doesn’t have enough lifeboats.

On the other hand, Ecuador is different from the famous ship in that it is a little country almost unknown, except for its delicious bananas, to the world. Still, this small nation reflects problems endemic throughout Latin America — high fiscal deficit, immense foreign debt and alarming corruption.

In Ecuador’s case, some 40 percent of its budget is devoted to paying its external debt. Foreign loans often were obtained for projects that never existed, the money winding up in the corrupt politicians’ pockets. For instance, former Ecuadorian President Abdala Bucaram and faces corruption charges arising during his six months of governing. Every Ecuadorian citizen remembers the day when Bucaram left the country in a private jet with big canvas bags filled with cash. Bucaram’s successor, Fabian Alarcon, governed until last August. Now, he is in jail on corruption charges. His government minister, Cesar Verduga, fled the country with $6 million illicitly acquired.

Last month Ecuadorians discovered that the owners of their banks were corrupt too. U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, Leslie Alexander, in an interview with the Miami Herald, said, “One of the principal causes in this terrible economic crisis in Ecuador are the bank’s owners, who stole millions and fled to Miami to live luxuriously, far away from public censure. It is disgusting.”

Corruption has spilled over into all corners of life in Ecuador. Today it is Ecuador. Yesterday it was Mexico with Salinas de Gortari, Brazil with Collor de Melho, Venezuela with Carlos Andres Perez. None of these politicians are in jail. With bank accounts in the Bahamas, they are having a good time going to fancy parties as special guests called “political refugees.”

These leaders were the first to abandon ship like the most selfish first class passengers. President Mahuad is desolate. The people don’t trust him. His nation needs to be rescued. Its lifeboat is the United States.

Why the United States? The answer is simple. The U.S. is Ecuador’s biggest trading partner. It is the most important member of the International Monetary Fund from which most of Latin America has obtained loans. It is the first to impose an economic embargo when Latin American countries are unable to meet their debt payments.

In addition, ironically, the U.S. is a major force in the Bahamas’ banking industry — a haven for corrupt Latin Americans looking to squirrel away their money — yet it is the first nation to send money to help developing countries fight their poverty. Moreover, the U.S. is the biggest life boat closest to Ecuador.

Latin America, however, needs a different kind of help this time. More loans will only prolong its agony. The region needs a true leader to take the helm and put an end to this political asylum for common thieves. This leader could be the U.S. president, who could stop this vicious cycle of corruption.

The U.S. was the first nation to fight drug trafficking worldwide. As a result, many countries have taken steps to prohibit money laundering and clean up their financial systems.

In Ecuador, nearly 65 percent of the population is living in poverty, according to the World Bank. Unemployment, crime and violence are growing all the time. Everybody feels helpless like the dark night when the Titanic’s third class passengers saw their sons and daughters drown.

Like the Titanic, Ecuador is going through its darkest hour. Its financial structure has almost collapsed and this small Latin American nation has become one of the most risky worldwide for international investments.

The lifeboats seem so far away. Hopefully, the help won’t come too late as was the case for the more than 2,000 of the Titanic passengers who died in an icy, indifferent sea.

Maria E. Flores, who is from Cuenca, Ecuador, is an intern for the Bangor Daily News.