Correa backers break into Ecuador's election court

By Alonso Soto

QUITO (Reuters) - Supporters of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Tuesday broke into the country's election court to pressure officials to approve his request for a referendum on whether to rewrite the constitution.

Correa, a left-wing ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, was elected in November promising sweeping reforms to curtail the influence of traditional parties which many Ecuadoreans blame for the Andean nation's political turmoil.

The court protests and earlier demonstrations at the attorney general's office underscore growing political tensions between Correa and Congress in a country where lawmakers have helped topple three elected presidents in the last decade.
More than three-quarters of Ecuadoreans support Correa's call for a popular assembly on rewriting the constitution, a Cedatos Gallup poll showed this week.

The charismatic leader has an approval rating of 73 percent while Congress has only 13 percent, according to another Cedatos poll released at the weekend.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-01-23T211037Z_01_N23290282_RTRUKOC_0_US-ECUADOR-PROTEST.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-7

"This highly confrontational strategy carries the risk of eroding even further the institutional backbone of the country," wrote Alberto Ramos, economist with Goldman Sachs.

Opposition political parties are opposed to Correa's ideas for constitutional reform because they believe he will seek to bypass them and undermine their authority. Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, says the reforms are needed to curb party influence in the courts and other institutions.

In separate turmoil, a decision by lawmakers last week to appoint an attorney general close to Correa's former election rival, Alvaro Noboa, sparked street protests by government supporters to demand his removal.

In a sign of support to protesters, the government issued a statement that the demonstrations were a result "of the people being weary with the political games of Congress."
(snip)

that's good enough for me. Viva Correa!

:)

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

<clips>

The re-election last month of Hugo Chávez as president of Venezuela was no surprise. But few people even recognise the name of his leftist counterpart in Ecuador, Rafael Correa.

ECUADOR has been in state of upheaval for years. As far back as June 1990 a powerful indigenous undercurrent broke surface with unprecedented demonstrations by the Conaie (Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador). In the years of rumbling instability that followed, eight heads of state came and went, with the Conaie as the only force in the country capable of mobilising social opinion.

On 21 January 2000, a combination of mass discontent, mobilisation by the indigenous ethnic population and support from a group of army officers (including Colonel Lucio Gutiérrez) led to the fall of President Jamil Mahuad: he had sought to avoid a $7bn bankruptcy and save Ecuador’s financial institutions and so decided to freeze savers’ deposits (1). It seemed briefly that a popular government was in the making. On 22 January, the military intervened, placing power in the hands of the vice-president, Gustavo Noboa, who soon replaced the national currency, the sucre, with the US dollar (2).

The revolt of the year 2000, despite the way it ended, furthered the cause of the indigenous peoples (and of the party they had created, Pachakutic), and of some of the mestizo (3) community. Gutiérrez, an ex-army officer, with his eyes on the October 2002 presidential elections, came forward as “nationalist, progressive, humanist and revolutionary”. His campaign was based on the need “for a second independence”. Pachakutic decided not to field its own candidate and fell in behind Gutiérrez, who took the second round in November 2002. He offered indigenous representatives a place in his government (4). Then he dropped all those around him and signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to bring in structural adjustment, alignment with the United States and Colombia, and a pact with Ecuador’s hard-line right, the Social Christian party (PSC).

Pachakutic was less concerned with its political agenda than with negotiations for seats in prominent positions; it made little effort to prevent the appointment of neoliberal ministers. Its leaders cut themselves off from their base and were called “golden ponchos”. The economist Rafael Correa worried: “In terms of economic policy, legitimised the shameful signing of the IMF letter of intent” (5). Gutiérrez had neutralised the indigenous movement through co-option, division and repression. It was not until July 2003 that Pachakutic finally withdrew its representatives from the government. Gutiérrez’s agreements with the IMF and World Bank cut all domestic gas subsidies and led to the privatisation of the national electricity and telecommunication companies. The oil industry waited in the wings (6).

http://mondediplo.com/2007/01/10ecuador
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Or at the very least from neo-con democrats, but I doubt it will last anyhow.

to discredit and demonize democratically elected leaders who refuse to kowtow to Tio Sam.

Soon we'll have *informed* DUers buying the same old regurgitated propaganda that they now buy about Chavez and Morales. Sadly, it's only a matter of time. Amazing how in the dark murikans are about their own media and international affairs.

Peace!!


Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales last week in Rio for Mercosur

(the green flag of Correa supporters, in this case) can be anybody. Reuters could even be in cahoots with them. Reuters is a corporate-friendly news organization which has been just as guilty of highly selective and biased reporting on South American leftists as any of the U.S.-based war profiteering corporate news monopolies. I do not trust them on basic facts.

---

"Dozens of protesters waving the lime green flags of Correa's political movement climbed over walls and forced their way into the election court building chanting "Say 'yes' to the Assembly" before they were controlled by police."

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"Supporters of the left-leaning president believe that if the court sends the proposal to Congress, opposition lawmakers would try to water down Correa's plan for a vote on whether to (c)all a popular assembly to rewrite the constitution."

---

"Left-wing ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez..."
"Supporters of the left-leaning president..."
Hm-m.

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"International investors are worried over heightened political turmoil rekindled by Correa's aggressive drive to overhaul his country's political system."

Aha! "International investors are worried..."

And just think about this sentence for a moment. Political turmoil "rekindled" by Correa. What was the political turmoil BEFORE? And is an "aggressive drive to overhaul his country's political system" possibly the ANSWER to prior "turmoil," if, as we can surmise, the prior "turmoil" was caused by the vast poor population of Ecuador, and the majority of the voters, being EXCLUDED from the corrupt political system?

So "international investors" can go suck an egg. Jerks. And WHAT "international investors"? Why doesn't Reuters name names?

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"'This highly confrontational strategy carries the risk of eroding even further the institutional backbone of the country,' wrote Alberto Ramos, economist with Goldman Sachs."

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That's one. Still, we don't know, really, WHO. Oil giants? (Ecuador has lots of oil). Other global corporate predators?

Goldman Sachs is "worried." But what does Ramos mean by "this highly confrontational strategy"? Does "this" refer to the supposed "supporters of the left-leaning president" breaking into a court building, or just to Correa pinpointing the problem in Ecuador accurately and going after the entrenched corrupt political operatives who are likely in the pay of Goldman Sachs and brethren?

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"Opposition political parties are opposed to Correa's ideas for constitutional reform because they believe he will seek to bypass them and undermine their authority. Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, says the reforms are needed to curb party influence in the courts and other institutions."

Political parties' "authority"? Are they the government? As in Mexico, other places--and here, as a matter of fact--entrenched political parties are the gatekeepers for the super-rich. In the U.S., for instance, it's the rare officeholder who can get elected who doesn't support predatory capitalism and big military budgets. The Democrats are the gatekeepers of these two financial interests as much as the Republicans are. No one represents the poor (the great majority). Reuters mentions the political parties' "authority" but doesn't say authority to do WHAT? To hock the country to the World Bank and steal the top off the loan money, then leave the poor to pay the debt? "Authority" to dictate who gets to run for office, and who gets the pork? "Authority" to dictate court decisions that favor the rich and the Corporate Rulers?

This is a more substantive paragraph than the others, but still, it appears to me that it is sanitizing the conflict--kind of like repeating Bush's line that he desires freedom for Iraq without mentioning how his oil buds are tying up Iraqi oil in contracts with the puppet government, as we speak.

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"In separate turmoil, a decision by lawmakers last week to appoint an attorney general close to Correa's former election rival, Alvaro Noboa, sparked street protests by government supporters to demand his removal."

Correa trounced Noboa (the richest man in Ecuador) in the election, with 60% of the vote--and his popularity has only grown since then--as the article does point out. A 73% approval rating. And the controversy about the police chief, who just resigned in a corruption scandal (at the end of the article) gives us some context as to what Correa is facing (--a vastly corrupt fascist system, long entrenched, which is fighting him every step of the way, to retain illegitimate power). But this is all the more reason to distrust the "green flay waving" supposed supporters of Correa raiding a court building at the top of the article. It strikes me as Bush-like and Rove-like to have this headline pointing to the disorderliness of Correa supporters, just as the corrupt police chief resigns.

This is not to say that the facts in the lead are not true. I don't know. But I am very suspicious. The Bushites and their fascist allies in South America would like nothing more than to discredit and topple Correa, and every other South American leader who is seeking clean, democratic government, and a fair shake for the vast poor majority.

Prensa Latina has a more informative article posted below without all the bullsh*t. :-)

misleading to say the least. When I read "break into" I thought immediately of Watergate. "forced their way into the election court building" is a different thing entirely.

From the article:

...Dozens of protesters waving the lime green flags of Correa's political movement climbed over walls and forced their way into the election court building chanting "Say 'yes' to the Assembly" before they were controlled by police.

Supporters of the left-leaning president believe that if the court sends the proposal to Congress, opposition lawmakers would try to water down Correa's plan for a vote on whether to all a popular assembly to rewrite the constitution.

<clips>

Quito, Jan 23 (Prensa Latina) Evading the police guards, Ecuadorians blocked access to the Electoral Supreme Court (TSE) Tuesday, demanding an immediate call for a popular referendum to convene a Constituent Assembly.

Following an early morning demonstration, a considerable group of people, most of them students, stationed themselves at the main entrance of the TSE to demand a referendum call, while hundreds remained around the building.

The seven TSE members are within the building to determine a plebiscite call, as demanded by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.

The consultation is known to count with the support of three TSE officials: Hernan Rivadeneira of Alianza Pais, Elsa Bucaram a roldosista and Rene Maugue from Izquierda Democratica-Red Democratica.

The determining vote is that of the TSE director, who represents Sociedad Patriotica.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={A471AA42-7880-4028-9514-06E5714DB3C5}&language=EN