From SignOnSanDiego
December 15, 2007
QUITO, Ecuador – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he is seeking Saudi King Abdullah's permission to sell an expensive set of jewelry the royal gave his wife at the OPEC summit in Riyadh last month.
In his weekly radio address to the nation on Saturday, Correa said he wanted to sell the jewels – which include earrings and a necklace made of diamonds and emeralds and set in white gold – to finance social programs in Ecuador.
Correa said the jewelry given to his wife, Anne Malherbe, was worth “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and he wanted the king's approval to sell it to “avoid any resentment.”
The jewels “can't stay with my wife,” Correa said. “She didn't receive them for being Anne Malherbe, but for being the president's wife. They belong to the Ecuadorean people.”
Correa said that if the Saudi king rejects his proposal, he will leave them on display for visitors at the presidential palace in Quito.
Ecuador, South America's fifth-largest oil producer, stopped paying dues to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1992, but rejoined the cartel during last month's summit.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
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HOW VERY ARROGANT THIS NEW PRESIDENT IS WITH HIS VERY OWN WIFE, NOT LETTING HER EXPRESS HER OWN WISHES, THE GIFT WAS FOR HER, SHE SHOULD HAVE ANSWERED NOT HER HUSBAND. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU, HOW MEN TREAT WOMEN IN THESE THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, BUT THEN I HAVE BEEN THIER, I KNOW FIRST HAND. AND THANK GOD I'M AMERICAN, WHY DOESN'T HE FIRST TRY TO GET ALL THOSE TERRORIST'S AND ALL THOSE STREET ROBBERS WHO HAVE TO STEAL BECAUSE THIER HUNGRY, ALL THOSE CHILDREN WHO WORK THE STREETS, INSTEAD OF GOING TO SCHOOL, BUT THEN IT IS EASIER TO JUST RETURN A GIFT THAT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU OR SELL IT TO MAKE A PROFIT, CAUSE CHARITY DOES NOT EXIST IN THIS COUNTRY AT LEAST NOT FOR THE REAL POOR..I HAVE BEEN THIER AND THE TRUTH IS "SOCIAL PROGRAMS" MEANS BIGGER POCKETS FOR HIS SUPPORTERS, NOT THE REAL POOR, SO THE NEXT TIME THIS PRESIDENT TRIES TO IMPRESS, TRY GIVING SOMEONE THIER OWN CIVIL LIBERTY BY HAVING THEM ANSWER FOR THEMSELVES.
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