People's Daily Online, June 14, 2007
Ecuador's Congress on Wednesday debated making Santa Elena, currently part of the coastal province Las Guayas, the 23rd province.
In February, President Rafael Correa backed the project when he signed the plan for the bill. The Democratic Left Alliance Network also support the proposal.
On Wednesday morning, hundreds of Santa Elena residents rallied outside the legislature, chanting and shouting in favor of becoming a province. Patricio Cisneros, the mayor of Libertad, said that some 4,000 people had arrived in the capital Quito to back the plan, and another 2,000 were on their way.
The new province would be made up of the counties of Libertad, Salinas and Santa Elena, whose officials believe they are not receiving their due share of benefits from Las Guayas province.
The local government of Las Guayas said that hundreds of demonstrators will arrive in the capital within hours to express their opposition to the separation.
Also opposed to the bill are deputies from the Christian Socialists, the Democratic Network and the opposition Renewed National Institutional Action Party (Prian).
The Patriotic Society party said they will abstain, and three other parties remain undecided on the issue: the Roldoista party and left-wingers the Pachakutik an the People's Democratic Party.
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