[News] Behind the Coup in Ecuador – The Rightwing Attack on

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Posted: 01 Oct 2010 12:05 PM PDT

Behind the Coup in Ecuador – The Rightwing Attack 
on ALBA - <http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=1589>español
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/behind-the-coup-in-ecuador/

By Eva Golinger

Translation: Machetera

The latest coup attempt against one of the 
countries in the Bolivarian Alliance For The 
People of Our America (ALBA) is attempt to impede 
Latin American integration and the advance of 
revolutionary democratic processes.  The 
rightwing is on the attack in Latin America.  Its 
success in 2009 in Honduras against the 
government of Manuel Zelaya energized it and gave 
it the strength and confidence to strike again 
against the people and revolutionary governments in Latin America.

The elections of Sunday, September 26th in 
Venezuela, while victorious for the Venezuelan 
United Socialist Party (PSUV), also ceded space 
to the most reactionary and dangerous 
destabilizing forces at the service of imperial 
interests.  The United States managed to situate 
key elements in the Venezuelan National Assembly, 
giving them a platform to move forward with their 
conspiratorial schemes to undermine Venezuelan democracy.

The day after the elections in Venezuela, the 
main advocate for peace in Colombia, Piedad 
Córdoba, was dismissed as a Senator in the 
Republic of Colombia, by Colombia’s Inspector 
General, on the basis of falsified evidence and 
accusations.  But the attack against Senator 
Córdoba is a symbol of the attack against 
progressive forces in Colombia who seek true and 
peaceful solutions to the war in which they have 
been living for more than 60 years.

And now, Thursday, September 30th, was the dawn 
of a coup d’etat in Ecuador.  Insubordinate 
police took over a number of facilities in the 
capital of Quito, creating chaos and panic in the 
country.  Supposedly, they were protesting 
against a new law approved by the National 
Assembly on Wednesday, which according to them reduced labor benefits.

In an attempt to resolve the situation, President 
Rafael Correa went to meet with the rebellious 
police but was attacked with heavy objects and 
teargas, causing a wound on his leg and teargas 
asphyxiation.  He was taken to a military 
hospital in Quito, where he was later kidnapped 
and held against his will, prevented from leaving.

Meanwhile, popular movements took to the streets 
of Quito, demanding the liberation of their 
President, democratically re-elected the previous 
year by a huge majority.  Thousands of Ecuadorans 
raised their voices in support of President 
Correa, trying to rescue their democracy from the 
hands of coup-plotters who were looking to 
provoke the forced resignation of the national government.

In a dramatic development, President Correa was 
rescued in an operation by Special Forces from 
the Ecuadoran military in the late evening 
hours.  Correa denounced his kidnapping by the 
coup-plotting police and laid responsibility for 
the coup d’etat directly upon former President, 
Lucio Gutiérrez.  Gutiérrez was a presidential 
candidate in 2009 against President Correa, and 
lost in a landslide when more than 55% voted for Correa.

During today’s events, Lucio Gutiérrez declared 
in an interview, “The end of Correa’s tyranny is 
at hand,” also asking for the “dissolution of 
Parliament and a call for early presidential elections.”

But beyond the key role played by Gutiérrez, 
there are external factors involved in this 
attempted coup d’etat that are moving their pieces once again.

Infiltration of the Police

According to journalist Jean-Guy Allard, an 
official report from Ecuador’s Defense Minister, 
Javier Ponce, distributed in October of 2008 
revealed “how US diplomats dedicated themselves 
to corrupting the police and the Armed Forces.”

The report confirmed that police units “maintain 
an informal economic dependence on the United 
States, for the payment of informants, training, equipment and operations.”

In response to the report, the U.S. Ambassador in 
Ecuador, Heather Hodges, justified the 
collaboration, saying “We work with the 
government of Ecuador, with the military and with 
the police, on objectives that are very important 
for security.” According to Hodges, the work with 
Ecuador’s security forces is related to the “fight against drug trafficking.”

The Ambassador

Ambassador Hodges was sent to Ecuador in 2008 by 
then President George W. Bush.  Previously she 
successfully headed up the embassy in Moldova, a 
socialist country formerly part of the Soviet 
Union.  She left Moldova sowing the seeds for a 
“colored revolution” that took place, 
unsuccessfully, in April of 2009 against the 
majority communist party elected to parliament.

Hodges headed the Office of Cuban Affairs within 
the U.S. State Department in 1991, as its Deputy 
Director.  The department was dedicated to the 
promotion of destabilization in Cuba.  Two years 
later she was sent to Nicaragua in order to 
consolidate the administration of Violeta 
Chamorro, the president selected by the United 
States following the dirty war against the 
Sandinista government, which led to its exit from power in 1989.

When Bush sent her to Ecuador, it was with the 
intention of sowing destabilization against 
Correa, in case the Ecuadoran president refused 
to subordinate himself to Washington’s 
agenda.  Hodges managed to increase the budget 
for USAID and the NED [National Endowment for 
Democracy] directed toward social organizations 
and political groups that promote U.S. interests, 
including within the indigenous sector.

In the face of President Correa’s re-election in 
2009, based on a new constitution approved in 
2008 by a resounding majority of men and women in 
Ecuador, the Ambassador began to foment destabilization.

USAID

Certain progressive social groups have expressed 
their discontent with the policies of the Correa 
government.  There is no doubt that legitimate 
complaints and grievances against his government 
exist.  Not all groups and organizations in 
opposition to Correa’s policies are imperial 
agents.  But a sector among them does exist which 
receives financing and guidelines in order to 
provoke destabilizing situations in the country 
that go beyond the natural expressions of 
criticism and opposition to a government.

In 2010, the State Department increased USAID’s 
budget in Ecuador to more than $38 million 
dollars.  In the most recent years, a total of 
$5,640,000 in funds were invested in the work of 
“decentralization” in the country.  One of the 
main executors of USAID’s programs in Ecuador is 
the same enterprise that operates with the 
rightwing in Bolivia: Chemonics, Inc.  At the 
same time, NED issued a grant of $125,806 to the 
Center for Private Enterprise (CIPE) to promote 
free trade treaties, globalization, and regional 
autonomy through Ecuadoran radio, television and 
newspapers, along with the Ecuadoran Institute of Economic Policy.

Organizations in Ecuador such as Participación 
Ciudadana and Pro-justicia [Citizen Participation 
and Pro-Justice], as well as members and sectors 
of CODEMPE, Pachakutik, CONAIE, the Corporación 
Empresarial Indígena del Ecuador [Indigenous 
Enterprise Corporation of Ecuador] and Fundación 
Qellkaj [Qellkaj Foundation] have had USAID and NED funds at their disposal.

During the events of September 30 in Ecuador, one 
of the groups receiving USAID and NED financing, 
Pachakutik, sent out a press release backing the 
coup-plotting police and demanding the 
resignation of President Correa, holding him 
responsible for what was taking place.  The group 
even went so far as to accuse him of a 
“dictatorial attitude.”  Pachakutik entered into 
a political alliance with Lucio Gutiérrez in 2002 
and its links with the former president are well known:

“PACHAKUTIK ASKS PRESIDENT CORREA TO RESIGN AND 
CALLS FOR THE FORMING OF A SINGLE NATIONAL FRONT

Press Release 141

In the face of the serious political turmoil and 
internal crisis generated by the dictatorial 
attitude of President Rafael Correa, who has 
violated the rights of public servants as well as 
society, the head of the Pachakutik Movement, 
Cléver Jiménez, called on the indigenous 
movement, social movements and democratic 
political organizations to form a single national 
front to demand the exit of President Correa, 
under the guidelines established by Article 130, 
Number 2 of the Constitution, which says: “The 
National Assembly will dismiss the President of 
the Republic in the following cases: 2) For 
serious political crisis and domestic turmoil.”

Jiménez backed the struggle of the country’s 
public servants, including the police troops who 
have mobilized against the regime’s authoritarian 
policies which are an attempt to eliminate 
acquired labor rights.  The situation of the 
police and members of the Armed Forces should be 
understood as a just action by public servants, 
whose rights have been made vulnerable.

This afternoon, Pachakutik is calling on all 
organizations within the indigenous movement, 
workers, democratic men and women to build unity 
and prepare new actions to reject Correa’s 
authoritarianism, in defense of the rights and guarantees of all Ecuadorans.

Press Secretary

PACHAKUTIK BLOQUE”

The script used in Venezuela and Honduras repeats 
itself.  They try to hold the President and the 
government responsible for the “coup,” later 
forcing their exit from power.  The coup against 
Ecuador is the next phase in the permanent 
aggression against ALBA and revolutionary movements in the region.

The Ecuadoran people remain mobilized in their 
rejection of the coup attempt, while progressive 
forces in the region have come together to 
express their solidarity and support of President Correa and his government.

Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan and USAmerican 
lawyer living in Caracas. She is the author of 
The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in 
Venezuela (2005), Bush Versus Chavez: 
Washington’s War on Venezuela (2007) and La 
telaraña imperial: Enciclopedia de injerencia y 
subversiones [The Imperial Spider Web: 
Encyclopedia of Interference and Subversion], 
with Romain Migus, 2008.  Machetera is a member 
of <http://www.tlaxcala.es/>Tlaxcala, the network 
of translators for linguistic diversity. This 
translation may be reprinted as long as the 
content remains unaltered, and the source, author, and translator are cited.



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