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<font size=3>Posted: 01 Oct 2010 12:05 PM PDT<br><br>
<b>Behind the Coup in Ecuador – The Rightwing Attack on ALBA </b><i>-
<a href="http://www.tlaxcala-int.org/article.asp?reference=1589">
español</a><br>
</i>
<a href="http://machetera.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/behind-the-coup-in-ecuador/" eudora="autourl">
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/behind-the-coup-in-ecuador/<br>
<br>
</a>By Eva Golinger<br><br>
<i>Translation: Machetera<br><br>
</i>The latest coup attempt against one of the countries in the
<i>Bolivarian Alliance For The People of Our America </i>(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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>Infiltration of the Police<br><br>
</b>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.”<br><br>
The report confirmed that police units “maintain an informal economic
dependence on the United States, for the payment of informants, training,
equipment and operations.”<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
<b>The Ambassador<br><br>
</b>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>USAID<br><br>
</b>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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:<br><br>
<i>“PACHAKUTIK ASKS PRESIDENT CORREA TO RESIGN AND CALLS FOR THE FORMING
OF A SINGLE NATIONAL FRONT<br><br>
Press Release 141<br><br>
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.”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Press Secretary<br><br>
PACHAKUTIK BLOQUE”<br><br>
</i>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
<b>Eva Golinger is a Venezuelan and USAmerican lawyer living in Caracas.
She is the author of <i>The Chavez Code: Cracking US Intervention in
Venezuela</i> (2005), <i>Bush Versus Chavez: Washington’s War on
Venezuela</i> (2007) and <i>La telaraña imperial: Enciclopedia de
injerencia y subversiones</i> [The Imperial Spider Web: Encyclopedia of
Interference and Subversion], with Romain Migus, 2008. Machetera is
a member of <a href="http://www.tlaxcala.es/">Tlaxcala</a>, the network
of translators for linguistic diversity. </b>This translation may be
reprinted as long as the content remains unaltered, and the source,
author, and translator are cited.<br><br>
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