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<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>3 Articles Follow<br><br>
</font><font size=4>Report from Ecuador: Democracy Under Threat<br><br>
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<a href="http://upsidedownworld.org/main/component/content/article/2720-report-from-ecuador-democracy-under-threat" eudora="autourl">
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/component/content/article/2720-report-from-ecuador-democracy-under-threat</a>
-<br>
Written by Jennifer Moore <br>
Friday, 01 October 2010 08:05 <br><br>
<br>
Faced with an apparent attempt to oust Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa
on Thursday, Ecuador received an outpouring of support from Honduras to
the White House. Most Ecuadorian social organizations, many of whom have
had serious differences with the Andean president in recent years, also
condemned threats on the country's democratic and constitutional
order.<br><br>
Early Thursday, Ecuador awoke to police protests across at least six
highland and coastal cities. Police burned tires, shut down a main bridge
in the economic centre of Guayaquil, and neglected their posts giving way
to some looting and robberies before midday. The police said they were
protesting the Public Security Law passed Wednesday night, which they
claim will retract certain economic benefits from the armed forces such
as bonuses and medals.<br><br>
When President Rafael Correa personally confronted police protesting at
the First Regiment in the nation's capital of Quito, police responded
with tear gas. The President, who recently underwent knee surgery, fell
and was carried into the police hospital.<br><br>
Police who had been protesting started returning to work in other parts
of the country by early afternoon, but tension continued in the capital
while Correa remained in hospital. State media dominated the
airwaves, accusing the country's right wing of an attempted coup and
alleging involvement of the opposition Patriotic Society Party and the
influence of ex-President Lucio Gutierrez who was overthrown in a popular
ouster in April 2005. Correa reported that police told him he would not
escape from his hospital room if he did not revoke the Public Security
Law.<br><br>
Popular mobilizations in support of the President grew throughout the
afternoon and into the evening, with the political crisis persisting
until shortly before 10 pm when a five hundred and fifty strong military
and police operation returned the President to the government palace. One
special forces officer was reported to have been killed in the operation
and several others wounded.<br><br>
<b>Outpouring of international support<br><br>
</b>With the military-backed elite ouster of President Manuel Zelaya from
Honduras in June 2009 still fresh in recent memory in Latin America, the
democratically-elected President Correa received a quick outpouring of
international support.<br><br>
Honduran social organizations still reeling from the 2009 coup were among
the earliest to send their messages of solidarity. Targeted
assassinations and threats against social movements in the largest of
Central American countries continue to be denounced on a monthly basis,
the country has also become one of the most dangerous worldwide for
journalists, and has yet to be reemitted into the Organizations of
American States (OAS).<br><br>
Latin American, European and North American governments also expressed
support for the maintenance of democratic order in Ecuador. The OAS
“repudiated” any attempt against the Correa administration and made a
call to governments and multilateral institutions in the region to
"stop the coup d'etat from becoming a reality," urging them to
act "in a unanimous way.” Statements were also released by the US
Department of State and later in the day by Canada's Department of
Foreign Affairs, which remain important trade and investment partners for
the oil-dependent Andean nation. The US urged Ecuadorians “to work within
the framework of Ecuador’s democratic institutions to reach a rapid and
peaceful restoration of order," whereas Canada said that "it is
concerned about growing unrest" and reiterated "support for the
democratically elected government of the Republic of
Ecuador."<br><br>
<b>Indigenous oppose coup and call for greater democracy <br><br>
</b>Although indigenous and other social organizations in Ecuador have
been in conflict with the Correa administration for the last few years,
important groups such as the Confederation of Indigeous Nationalities of
Ecuador (CONAIE) and ECUARUNARI, the large highland affiliate of the
CONAIE, made strong statements condemning all threats on Ecuadorian
democracy. <br><br>
The CONAIE and ECUARUNARI have led regular protests against various
policy reforms taking place under the Correa government during the last
year, for which their leaders have recently faced terrorist charges. At
the local level, indigenous and non-indigenous communities protesting
mining and oil expansion have also faced repeated repression and recent
criminalization. Despite, however, calls from at least one political
representative of the indigenous Pachakutik party to support opposition
to the Correa government, these organizations maintained a firm stance in
defense of democracy. <br><br>
The CONAIE blamed Correa's lack of openness to dialogue concerning
current reforms and his failure to build strong alliances with Ecuadorian
social movements as a source of vulnerability to attempts from the right
to destabilize his government. “While the government has dedicated itself
exclusively to attacking and delegitimizing organized sectors like the
indigenous movement, workers' unions, etc.,” the CONAIE observed, “it
hasn't weakened in the least the structures of power of the right, or
those within the state apparatus.”<br><br>
The CONAIE also credited the most reactionary right wing elements in the
country with backing Correa's ouster, anticipating that the policitical
crisis could be used to legitimate right wing tendencies “from inside and
outside the government... to justify their total alliance with the most
reactionary sectors and with emerging business interests.” While stating
their opposition to Correa's support for expansion of oil and metal
mining extraction and agro-industry interests, they energetically
rejected this “disguised right wing support” for the attempted coup,
saying they “ will continue to struggle for the construction of a
plurinational state with a true democracy.”<br><br>
ECUARUNARI also released its own statement blaming the right and
imperialist interests with trying to organize Correa's ouster in reaction
to the country's Political Constitution which was passed overwhelmingly
in September 2008. The new constitution recognizes the human right to
water, rights for nature, and Ecuador as a plurinational state. While
ECUARUNARI held the Correa government responsible for making concessions
to multinational corporations that “leaves those reactionary sectors free
to act in this way,” they affirmed their opposition to the coup
attempt and put member organizations on alert to defend “the
plurinational state.”<br><br>
While Correa is likely to come out of Thursday's political crisis in a
strengthened position to continue legal reforms that have been
centralizing power and leading to conflict with important social sectors,
the Regional Advisory Group on Human Rights in Quito suggested that the
crisis could be an opportunity for Correa to renew support for social
groups that helped get him first elected in November 2006. In a written
statement, they said, “we call upon the national government to set aside
its arrogant attitude that is isolating it from the social bases.
Together,” they continued, “we can build a country with dignity, peace
and sovereignty, in which dialogue with social sectors is a daily
activity that guides our path toward a country distanced from extractive
policies and dependence on a development model based on the destruction
of nature.”<br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>*******************************************<br>
Troops free Ecuador president <br>
Soldiers storm hospital where Rafael Correa had been trapped by police
officers protesting over plans to cut benefits.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>Last Modified: 01 Oct 2010 14:15 GMT <br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/20101013058598963.html" eudora="autourl">
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/20101013058598963.html<br>
<br>
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</a>Security forces loyal to Ecuador's president have stormed a hospital
in the capital, Quito, where Rafael Correa was trapped by police officers
protesting over plans to cut their benefits. <br><br>
Twelve hours after police surrounded the hospital on Thursday, soldiers
moved amid heavy gunfire and Correa was rushed out of the building.
<br><br>
Two policemen and a soldier were killed when the army moved in. At least
37 others were injured as Correa supporters skirmished with police
outside the hospital.<br><br>
Addressing supporters after his release, the president said the uprising
was not a simple police insurrection over pay-related grievances but an
attempt to overthrow him.<br><br>
"There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilian and we know
where they were from," he shouted from the balcony of the
presidential palace.<br><br>
Correa said those responsible for the rebellion would be
punished.<br><br>
"There will be no pardon," he said, as celebrating crowds waved
flags and cheered.<br><br>
Freddy Martinez, Ecuador's police chief, who was not involved in
Thursday's protests, stepped down after failing to control his force and
prevent the incident, Reuters news agency reported, citing a police
spokesman.<br><br>
"Last night he told me he had presented his resignation," the
police spokesman said.<br><br>
<b>Banks looted<br><br>
</b>Miguel Alvear, a journalist in Quito, told Al Jazeera that, despite
uprisings from the police and some in the military, the president
appeared to have retained full control of the country.<br><br>
"He has the support of the armed forces and the attorney-general has
already announced that he will investigate and prosecute the people
behind this."<br>
************************************************<br>
</font><h1><b>Coup Attempt in Ecuador Is a Result of Sec. Clinton's
Cowardice in Honduras</b></h1><font size=3>September 30<br>
By Al Giordano<br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4138/coup-attempt-ecuador-result-sec-clintons-cowardice-honduras" eudora="autourl">
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4138/coup-attempt-ecuador-result-sec-clintons-cowardice-honduras<br>
<br>
</a>Oh, crap. Another year, another coup in Latin America. And while
today's attempt by police forces in Ecuador went so far as to fire tear
gas at elected president Rafael Correa, the military brass in the South
American country have sided with the democratic order - its top general
is on TV right now strongly backing the elected government - and this one
isn't likely to go as well for the anti-democracy forces as last year's
did in Honduras.<br><br>
First, because the Ecuadorean people are far more advanced in social and
community organization than their counterparts in Honduras were last
year. Second, because the events last year in Honduras caused other
center-left governments in the hemisphere to prepare for what everybody
saw would be more coup attempts against them in more countries.<br><br>
Additionally, we can expect in the coming hours that the police leaders
responsible for todays events - you don't need to understand Spanish to
get a pretty good idea of what went down this morning by watching the
above video - will be rounded up and brought to justice, as would happen
in any other country, including the United States.<br><br>
But, kind reader, do you know <i>why</i> this is even happening? Because
the same unholy alliance of Latin American oligarchs who can't stomach
the rising wave of democracy in their countries - from the ex-Cubans of
Miami to the ex-Venezuelans and others who have joined them in recent
years - along with international crime organizations seeking new refuges
and members of extreme rightist groups in the United States and
elsewhere, saw their scheme work in 2009 in Honduras and took note of how
quickly, after US President Barack Obama denounced the Honduras coup, his
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began playing both sides of
it.<br><br>
It was this newspaper, through reporter Bill Conroy's investigations,
that broke the story last August that the State Department-controlled
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2009/08/millennium-challenge-corp-poured-millions-honduras-months-leading-putsc">
Millennium Challenge Corporation had poured extraordinary amounts of
money</a> into Honduras in the months leading up to the June 29, 2009
coup d'etat. And in
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue59/article3760.html">story</a>
after
<a href="http://www.narconews.com/Issue59/article3764.html">story</a>, we
demonstrated with documented fact how Clinton's Millennium Challenge
Corporation went so far as to violate the ban on US aid to the Honduran
coup regime. Clinton's later endorsement of farcical presidential
elections and her over-reaching attempts to pretend nothing had happened
in Honduras are precisely the signals that were received by today's coup
plotters in Ecuador when they made a run at toppling the democratic
government there.<br><br>
At present, thankfully, the coup in Ecuador seems more likely to fail
than to succeed. And there will be hell to pay for those behind it. But
it didn't have to get that far. That only happened because, last year,
the US Secretary of State pulled off a kind of "silent coup" in
US foreign policy while her commander in chief was buried with the urgent
domestic tasks stemming off economic collapse and, as everyone knows,
small nations get little attention almost always anyway.<br><br>
This time, the White House would do well to put a much shorter leash on
its Secretary of State, because her horrendous and unforgivable
anti-democratic behavior regarding the Honduras coup only fueled, and
continues to fuel, understandable speculation that if the United States
doesn't walk its talk about opposing coups d'etat, then it must have been
an active participant in plotting it. The mishandling of the Honduras
situation last year did lasting damage to President Obama's stated hopes
to turn the page in US relations with its closest neighbors after decades
of abuse and neglect. A single misstep by Secretary Clinton today and in
the future regarding the events in Ecuador, like those she repeatedly
made regarding Honduras, now that the hemispheric coup plotters have
moved from Central America to larger South America, will further erode
the cause of democracy in the entire hemisphere. I don't trust her.
Nobody south of the border does. And nor should you, Mr.
President.<br><br>
<b>Update:</b> Narco News has translated today's
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/al-giordano/2010/09/statement-office-ecuador-president-rafael-correa">
Statement from the Office of President Rafael Correa</a>.<br><br>
<b>Update II:</b> If it holds, this will be the first time in the history
of the hemisphere that the Armed Forces of a country stood up against a
coup d'etat from the first moment. Now, <i>that</i> would be democracy at
work.<br><br>
<b>Update III:</b> The situation in Ecuador today is further complicated
by the disillusion that the very social forces that elected President
Correa have with his actions in office. The CONAIE (Federation of
Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador) is the leading national indigenous
movement with strong alliances with labor and other social forces) held a
press conference today to say that it is neither with the police forces
nor with President Correa. The CONAIE and its hundreds of thousands of
participants is not only responsible for Correa's election, but its
mobilizations caused the rapid-fire resignations of previous presidents
of Ecuador in this century.<br><br>
The situation thus also shines a light on the growing rift in the
hemisphere between the statist left and the indigenous left and related
autonomy and labor movements. The CONAIE is basically saying to Correa,
"you want our support, then enact the agenda you were elected
on." Whether one sees this as a dangerous game of brinkmanship or
something that actually strengthens Correa's hand by placing him in the
middle zone ideologically, it is worth seeing this at face value and
beware of getting led astray by some of the usual suspect conspiracy
theorists of the statist left who are predictably out there barking that
the CONAIE is somehow an agent of imperialism, dropping rumors of US AID
funding but never seeming to exhibit the hard evidence. Sigh. What
Johnny-One-Notes! They wouldn't know nuance if it slapped them in the
face. For them, you either line up lock-step with THE STATE (if it is
"their" state) or you're a running dog of capitalism. That kind
of Stalinist purge mentality should have died with the previous
century.<br><br>
The CONAIE's grievances happen to be very legitimate. Of course, they do
not justify a coup d'etat, but the CONAIE is not participating in or
supporting the coup d'etat. It is saying to Correa; we'll have your back,
when you have ours. This, like the Armed Forces support for Correa, is
also a historical first in the region. And the plot thickens...<br><br>
<b>Update IV:</b> A
<a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/09/148481.htm">
boilerplate statement</a> from the US State Department:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>We are closely following events in Ecuador. The United States
deplores violence and lawlessness and we express our full support for
President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in
that country.<br><br>
<dd>We urge all Ecuadorians to come together and to work within the
framework of Ecuador’s democratic institutions to reach a rapid and
peaceful restoration of order.<br><br>
</dl>Now let's see if they walk that talk...<br><br>
Update V:</b> 9:30 p.m. Quito: Ecuadorean military troops have just
rescued President Correa from the police hospital where he was
sequestered all day. Looks like it was a pretty violent battle, but
multiple media on the scene are reporting that the president is safe and
the Armed Forces stuck with the democratic order.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br><br>
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