Ecuador President Supports Bolivia Peer

Lima, Sep 12 (Prensa Latina) President of Ecuador Rafael Correa expressed his full backing of Bolivian peer Evo Morales against violence and terrorism, and called regional countries to take a similar stand.

In a press conference during his brief visit to Lima, Peru, Correa announced he would immediately request that Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who is currently presiding over the recently established UNASUR (Union of South American Nations), convened a UNASUR meeting to discuss the Bolivian crisis.

He said UNASUR must make clear that it will neither allow the ousting of a democratic government by those who lose elections and want to impose themselves trough violence and terrorism, nor the balkanization of Bolivia.

Correa stressed that he strongly supports Morales and the Bolivian people and rejected internal and external interests, which are trying to oust him and divide the country.

"We will see if Latin American integration really works, if the bodies and entities we have created really work in giving unconditional support to the government of Evo Morales," wondered Correa.

Ecuador will never accept separatism and a rupture of democracy in Bolivia, he said in reply to journalists.

Let’s make clear that there won’t be any other Pinochet in our region; nor we will allow any balkanization or that any group which lose the elections try to destabilize a democratic government or divide a country by using their economic power.

Correa visited Lima as current president of Lima-based CAN (Andean Community of Nations) and also discussed bilateral relations with Peruvian President Alan Garcia.

Ecuador sees "illegitimacy" in 2012 and 2030 bonds

QUITO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Ecuador has found indications of "illegitimacy" in its global bonds due 2012 and 2030, a government auditor said on Friday, raising the risk the government could stop honoring that debt.

Hugo Arias, a member of the debt audit group that is scheduled to release its final report next week, said the global bonds due in 2015 had no indications of irregularities.

President Rafael Correa, a former economy minister, has threatened to halt payments of "illegitimate" debt, or loans he says contain irregularities or conditions unfair to the state.

"We didn't have time to move forward with the 2015 (global) bonds... but they don't stem from the illegitimate restructure of the Brady bonds like the (bonds due on) 2012 and 2030," Arias told Reuters.

The debt commission, launched last year by Correa, has questioned global bonds that the government says were issued as part of an unfair renegotiation of defaulted Brady debt. Correa has said the restructuring of debt was negotiated by former Ecuadorean government officials in cahoots with Wall Street bondholders.

Global bonds due in 2012, 2015 and 2030 total around $3.8 billion, according to Finance Ministry data.

Arias said the commission could recommend that the government challenge the bond deals in international courts as the first option.

He said the commission could also recommend restructuring the bonds or even a default, but the final decision will be made by Correa.

"The country will have to analyze the consequences of a default," Arias said. "We need to know what weapons we have before going to war."

Analysts say it is very unlikely that the cash-flushed government will stop paying its debt this year.

Franklin Canelos, the vice-president of the commission, told Reuters earlier it was unlikely the group could deliver its final report to Correa next week as it was expected.

Chevron Condemns Government of Ecuador's Attack on Chevron Attorneys

Welt Online, September 12, 2008

Earlier this week, Ecuador’s Prosecutor General indicted two Chevron attorneys associated with the company’s ongoing civil lawsuit between Chevron and 48 Ecuadorian plaintiffs. The politically motivated indictments mark a renewal of the Ecuadorian state’s attempts to disavow contractual obligations owed to Chevron from contracts signed in 1995 and 1998. The actions also ignore the findings of prior Prosecutor Generals who have repeatedly investigated fraud allegations and found them to be meritless.

In response, Chevron Vice President and General Counsel Charles James issued the following statement:

"By issuing these baseless indictments, it is clear the government of Ecuador is trying to intimidate Chevron into forfeiting its legal rights. This outrageous tactic won’t work. Chevron intends to continue pursuing the rights it is owed under the law and its agreements with the government of Ecuador.

"Recent events in Ecuador leave no doubt that there is improper collaboration between the government and plaintiffs’ lawyers. The systematic denial of Chevron’s right to a fair trial is obvious, and it is clear that the proceeding has been thoroughly corrupted. By persecuting Chevron’s counsel and collaborating with the plaintiffs to undermine Chevron’s legal rights, Ecuador’s government has intervened in the legal proceeding. The Ecuadorian state continues to call into serious question the legitimacy of its judiciary and its commitment to the rule of law.”

Chevron’s Note to Editors:

The government of Ecuador, in collaboration with American trial lawyers, is seeking to avoid its obligation to clean up its share of oil operations developed with Texaco Petroleum Company (a subsidiary of Texaco, Inc., which was acquired by Chevron in 2001). In return for remediating its portion of the operation, Texaco Petroleum received from state-owned Petroecuador and the Republic of Ecuador a final release agreement in 1998 that absolved Texaco Petroleum, as well as personnel and affiliates, of future liabilities and claims.

In 2004, Chevron commenced arbitration to enforce Petroecuador’s indemnity obligations toward Texaco Petroleum. Petroecuador refused, and the government of Ecuador now intends to avoid its obligations by using its legal system to declare that Chevron’s release agreement was obtained by fraudulent means. This allegation ignores the fact that Texaco Petroleum’s remediation work, and the subsequent release agreement, was reviewed at the highest levels of the Ecuadorian government.

It also ignores the fact that officials within the Ecuadorian government have repeatedly acknowledged that there is no evidence of fraud on the part of Texaco Petroleum or any of its employees. On August 9, 2006, the Prosecutor General of Ecuador concluded:

"A review of the report on the Special Examination referred to by the Comptroller General shows that he does not find civil or administrative liability in any of his conclusions, nor does he find evidence of any criminal liability for any crime whatsoever....Moreover, there is an obvious contradiction between the report on the Special Examination (by the Comptroller General), none of the findings of which indicate any evidence of criminal liability, and the criminal complaint, which the Controller General alleges to be based on evidence found in the Examination.”

Former Ecuador Attorney General Jose Maria Borja, in sworn testimony during a September 2006 U.S. Federal Court case, also admitted that he had neither facts nor evidence of fraud related to Texaco Petroleum’s remediation program.

Nonetheless, the government of Ecuador has forged an active partnership with plaintiffs’’s employees wrote to the plaintiffs’ attorneys: attorneys to invalidate the agreements it has signed. In 2005 email correspondence, one of the Attorney General

"The Attorney General’s Office and all of us working on the State’s defense were searching for a way to nullify or undermine the value of the remediation contract (between Petroecuador, the Republic of Ecuador, and Texaco Petroleum).”

Ecuador’s attempts to undermine the remediation contract took on a new tone in April 2007 when Ecuador’s newly elected president, Rafael Correa, stated in a nationwide radio broadcast that the signatories to the release agreement were traitors and demanded that the Prosecutor General seek criminal indictments against all involved. Subsequently the Prosecutor General’s office decided to reopen the investigation without offering any new facts or evidence.

Meanwhile, it has become increasingly clear that the Ecuadorian state and advocates for the plaintiffs are working together to advance their common goal of shifting Petroecuador’s remediation obligations to Chevron. At the end of July 2008, the plaintiffs’ advocates held a news conference in Quito, Ecuador, calling for the filing of indictments against Chevron attorneys. In the days that followed, President Correa announced that he had met with plaintiffs’ advocates to discuss the case and revealed that the Prosecutor General had reopened the fraud investigation.

Church Enters Ecuador Politics

Quito, Sep 12 (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian Catholic Church appears Friday in the country's political stage against the new constitutional text, which is lamented by the national government.

The country's President Rafael Correa stated the people will have to be the judge of those actions from the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference, which has convened three open-air masses in the Guayaquil city to promote NO in the September 28 consultation.

"Sunday morning masses have never been suspended in the history of this country, nor has the sacred Cristo del Consuelo image ever been taken out of Good Friday… the country will have to judge those actions," Correa stressed.

The statesman said that followers of the initiative are "pathetic specters" interested in reviving the State-Church conflict, which was overcome 100 years ago.

However, the national government guaranteed safety for that activity and discarded countermarches.

Ecuador's Correa visits Peru to discuss Andean Community problems

Living in Peru, September 12, 2008
The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is to arrive in Callao, Peru today at approximately 8:30 a.m. with the main goal of evaluating with President Alan Garcia the situation the Andean Community of Nations is facing.

The two heads of state, along with María Isabel Salvador and Eduardo Egas, Ecuador's minister and vice minister of foreign affairs, are to meet at 9 a.m. for a breakfast meeting at the Government Palace in Lima.

Also present at the meeting will be Peru's Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Araoz, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gonzalo Gutiérrez and Peru's ambassador to Ecuador Álvaro Rojas.

Correa will then head to Andean Nations headquarters and have a meeting with the General Secretary, after which he will give a press conference.

The Andean Community of Nations, a South American trade bloc made up of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, recently disagreed on a decision to allow Peru to make changes to a norm so it could implement its free trade deal with the United States.

While Colombia and Ecuador supported Peru, Bolivia refused to modify the norm and requested the General Secretary of Andean Nations be removed from his position when the modification was approved.

Because the Andean trade bloc is also having trouble negotiating a free trade deal with the European Union, Peru - with support from Colombia and Ecuador - has suggested negotiating the pact individually.

Minster Araoz maintained this would be in everyone's interests because each country would be able to negotiate a trade deal at their own pace.

Ecuadorian gov't militarizes hydroelectric plant

QUITO, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Ecuadorian government on Wednesday ordered the militarization of the San Francisco hydroelectric plant to compel Brazilian construction company Norberto Odebrecht to accept its demands.

Some 70 soldiers were guarding the San Francisco plant Wednesday, which is located on the border of Tungurahua and Pastaza provinces, Ecuadorian TV channel Ecuavisa reported.

The plant, built by Norberto Odebrecht, began operations in mid-2007, but has been halted since early June because of construction problems.

Ecuadorian authorities have demanded the payment of a fine of 200,000 U.S. dollars per day from Odebrecht because of the disruption. The total amount has so far reached some 24 million dollars.

Authorities insisted the Brazilian company should also pay for repairs to the plant.

Jorge Glas, president of the Solidarity Fund, which manages shares in state-owned companies on behalf of the government, warned that if Odebrecht did not accept the above demands, the government would stop contracts with Odebrecht on several other major projects worth 800 million dollars.

"They had better be ready to leave the country, because all the contracts they have with Ecuador will end," Glas told journalists.

The San Francisco plant, which was built at a cost of 338 million dollars, has a capacity to generate 230 megawatts of electricity.

Ecuador considers offer from Brazil's Odebrecht

QUITO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Ecuador is analyzing an offer by Brazil's Odebrecht to end a dispute over reimbursement for damages to a hydroelectric plant that sparked government threats to end multimillion deals with the firm.

Ecuador sent dozens of troops on Wednesday to beef up security at the government-owned plant where Odebrecht workers are carrying out repairs, signaling tensions after the government gave the company until late Tuesday to meet its demands.

Ecuador has said the company has to make up for lost power after the San Francisco plant they built last year was shut down in June because of damage to machinery. The San Francisco plant is located 140 Km south of Quito.

"Odebrecht issued a communication yesterday that we are analyzing," said Jorge Glas, a government official overseeing negotiations.

He declined to provide more details.

Earlier on Wednesday television images showed troops guarding the state-run plant. Glas said they were sent to protect the facility, but he declined to provide details about who or what might be threatening the operation.

A spokesman for the Brazilian company, one of Latin America's largest construction companies, declined to comment on the details of the offer.

Odebrecht has contracts with the state to build a small regional airport, two hydroelectric plants and a rural irrigation project. The combined value of those projects is around $800 million, according to government officials.

President Rafael Correa, a left-wing ally of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had threatened to expel Odebrecht if it failed to repair the plant that generates around 12 percent of the country's electricity power.

Correa has repeatedly threatened to end deals with foreign companies since he took office last year in an effort to boost contractual benefits to the state. But he has refrained from carrying out any of those threats so far.

Critics say Correa uses threats against foreign companies to boost support before polls. The U.S.-trained economist faces a tough referendum later this month to pass a new constitution that extends his authority in the oil-producing nation.

Oxy case to continue in World Bank court

QUITO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - A World Bank court has denied a petition by Ecuador to drop a $3.2 billion claim filed by Occidental Petroleum, the country's top attorney said on Wednesday.

The ruling highlights growing risk of monetary liability for the leftist government next year.

Inspector General Diego Garcia said the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes denied Ecuador's petition for that court to drop the suit because it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the case.

"The tribunal's decision ... ends the discussion about jurisdiction," Garcia told reporters in Quito, adding that a final ruling is expected by mid-2009. "We will now concentrate on our defense."

Occidental's claim against Ecuador seeks $3.2 billion in damages after the OPEC-member nation ended its oil extraction contract and seized the company's assets in 2006.

The government charges Occidental sold part of an oil block without state authorization, a claim the company dismissed.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, a leftist economist who wants to boost state control over the economy and natural resources, has accused the bank's court of protecting the interests of private companies based in rich nations.

Ecuador has said it will not recognize the court's jurisdiction in case of a negative ruling, but will continue its defense.

An Occidental spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Ecuador: Icsid Panel Claims It Has Jurisdiction In OXY Case

QUITO -(Dow Jones) September 10 - A panel from the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or Icsid, said late Tuesday that it has jurisdiction for the claim of the U.S.-based oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) against Ecuador.

"This is a problem in the Ecuadorian defense," a high official from the Attorney General Office told Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday.

Ecuador has said several times the Icsid does not have "any jurisdiction for this issue". The Ecuadorian government has been trying to prove that Occidental broke the terms of its contract in Ecuador.

Ecuador canceled Occidental's operating contract in May 2006, claiming the company broke several terms, particularly by transferring a 40% stake in its Ecuadorian projects to Canada's EnCana Corp. (ECA) without Energy Ministry approval.

OXY is seeking about $3.2 billion in damages from the cancellation of the contract and the loss of projected earnings until 2019, when its contract was set to expire. Before it left the country, the Los Angeles-based oil company produced about 100,000 barrels a day in its Block 15, which is now operated by state oil company Petroecuador.

The block currently produces around 96,000 barrels a day.

After its contract was canceled, Occidental turned to Icsid and asked the institution to return control of its operations, assets and investments in Ecuador, valued around $1 billion, alleging that the Ecuadorian government violated the U.S.-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty by illegally nullifying its exploration rights and expropriating its assets.

Last May OXY increased the damage claim from $1 billion.

Ecuador considers restoring ties with Colombia

QUITO, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador is considering the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Colombia, severed six months ago after the Colombian army bombed a guerilla camp in Ecuadorian territory, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Maria Isabel Salvador said on Monday.

"It is a proposal we are working at and it is not a official one yet," Salvador told reporters.

The minister said that the initial proposal was included in the conversations Ecuador had with the Organization of American States(OAS), which is mediating between Ecuador and Colombia.

Quito severed ties with Colombia on March 3, two days after the Colombian army attacked a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Ecuadorian territory. FARC's spokesman alias Raul Reyes together with another 25 people were killed in the attack.

Salvador and Ecuadorian Interior Security Minister Gustavo Larrea attended the international seminary "Building bridges, Ecuador-Colombia" in Quito, which will end on Tuesday.

Larrea said that the mission of observers from other countries could help to restore the diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Noting that the proposal must be a "bilateral agreement," Larrea said there was not any contact with Colombia about the issue at the moment.

The mission of observers from five countries will be in charge of "verifying event on the border" of Ecuador and Colombia.

Ecuador audit seeks gov't debt overhaul-minister

By Alonso Soto

QUITO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ecuador's audit of its foreign debt to determine "illegitimate" loans aims to improve terms on current debt and punish past irregularities, a senior government official told Reuters on Monday.

Economic Policy Minister Pedro Paez, who supervises several ministries, including the finance ministry, said his country will not forget irregularities in the contracting or renegotiation of past debts.

President Rafael Correa, a leftist former economy minister, has spooked investors with pledges to halt payments of "illegitimate" debt, or loans he says are riddled with irregularities. The results of the year-long audit are expected in the week of Sept. 15, government officials have said.

Correa rekindled bondholders' fears over the weekend by again vowing to halt servicing debt if it jeopardizes education and health spending in case of an economic crisis.

Paez said the oil-producing country's finances are in good health, but even if the debt burden continues to fall in comparison to previous years, "corruption has to be pursued and sanctioned."

Paez, a former finance minister and academic, did not say what kind of sanctions will be applied to holders of "illegitimate" debt.

When asked if the goal of the audit was to re-profile current debt terms, Paez said, "Of course. ... We think it's a fundamental condition in every process to re-profile debt."

He did not disclose the results of the audit but said, "Ecuador will keep religiously honoring all debt that was properly acquired."

Preliminary reports of auditors have found indications of irregularities in the global bonds, which they say resulted from unfair negotiations of former government officials in cahoots with Wall Street bondholders.

However, analysts say it's very unlikely that the cash-flushed government will stop repaying its debt this year and jeopardize future financing for widely publicized infrastructure projects.

Finance Minister Wilma Salgado, a member of a group that advocates debt cancellation for poor nations, has said she would prefer "friendly" deals with creditors in any restructuring.

Paez also said negotiations with creditors should be friendly, but the government is not afraid of negative fallout stemming from any restructuring.

"This government will not be blackmailed. ... We will not allow the debt's blackmail via the international financial community," Paez said.

Ecuador Polls Give New Constitution More Than 50% Approval

By Stephan Kueffner

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuadorean polls show more than 50 percent of likely voters plan support a new constitution promoted by President Rafael Correa, even as many people remain undecided, pollsters said.

In mock votes, 55 percent to 57 percent of voters approved the new charter, rival pollsters Polibio Cordova and Santiago Perez said in a joint interview today on Quito-based Ecuavisa television's network.

``In rural areas, the 'yes' vote has been rising tremendously,'' said Cordova, of polling agency Cedatus Gallup. Correa has previously said he estimated a victory of around 60 percent in the referendum.

Should more than half of those casting votes in this month's referendum approve, Ecuador's constitution will allow the government to control sectors of the economy including natural resources, transportation, and telecommunications, along with monetary and exchange policy. There are almost 10 million registered voters in the Andean nation.

Today is the last day that opinion polls can legally be published ahead of the Sept. 28 referendum.

Cordova, of Cedatos, and Santiago Perez each surveyed people by asking them to fill out a mock ballot. Both pollsters asked people to vote even if they were undecided.

In Cedatos's results, the simulated vote resulted in 55 percent favoring the constitution, 27 percent against, and 18 percent dropping blank or voided ballots. The survey of 1,970 people had a margin of error of 2.5 percent, with 29 percent undecided, Cordova said. The government-orchestrated campaign has major financial resources and is well-organized, he added.

Santiago Perez' data had 57 percent voting 'yes,' 23 percent 'no,' and 20 percent blank or voided. Out of 7,440 people surveyed, 35 percent said they were undecided, with a margin of error of 3 percent. Perez also carries out surveys for the Correa administration.

Key details of Ecuador's mining bill draft

Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government plans to tighten control of the country's mining sector with a new law that will set hefty royalties and tougher environmental checks.

A copy of the draft mining bill can be downloaded from the country's mining chamber website (www.cme.org.ec.).

Following are some key details of the mining bill that is currently under review by President Rafael Correa before it is introduced to the legislature later this year:

ROYALTIES

Ecuador is to set a 3 to 8 percent, sliding-scale royalty based on the sales of minerals extracted. The royalty percentage scale will move depending on production levels.

CONTRACTS

Ecuador and companies will negotiate new mining extraction contracts on a case-by-case basis. A general mining contract is being drafted by the government to serve as the starting point for negotiations.

COURTS

Contract disputes between mining companies and Ecuador will only be resolved by local or South American courts.

SPECIAL MINING AREAS

Ecuador will be able to designate special mining areas where the state mining company will have preferential rights to develop properties. Mining officials have said those areas are mostly for mining of construction minerals such as sand.

EXPLORATION

Mining companies will have up to eight years to explore for minerals in concessions. Another two years will be granted to evaluate the economic viability of the deposit before requesting a mining permit.

CONCESSIONS

There will be no limits on the number of concessions a company can hold during exploration.

ENVIRONMENT

Mining companies will have to issue detailed environmental impact studies to get exploration and extraction permits. Some of the requirements also include water-use permits and periodic on-site examinations.

Concessions can be revoked by the state if companies are deemed to have inflicted grave environmental damage on concessions.

COMMUNITY VETO

Local communities will not hold veto power to shut down mining projects.

Ecuador: Opposition and Dissent

Global Voices Online, September 8

by Milton Ramirez

With the political activity heating up as Ecuadorians come closer to September 28th referendum to approve the new Constitution, many may think that this country only revolves around politics. Ecuadorian bloggers [es] are aware of this social phenomenon in their country. Even though the polls may indicate that the Constitution is likely to pass, there are still many that retain a differing opinion.

Many see the new constitution as progress, not only in its effort to redefine the relationship between human beings and the natural world but changes regarding abortion, electronic government, the open source software, just to mention a few.

However, the opposition refutes the new constitution completely without considering any of the good aspects of it. Carlos Jumbo, [es] who usually doesn’t write about politics but rather about internet security, thinks that arguments come from both sides, the opposition and the people who support president Correa, and that there are 'small leaders' who do not represent anybody and they believe their truth is absolute:

Los seudos abanderados como Lucio Gutierrez, Jaime Nebot, Carlos Vera, entre otros, no entienden que lo único que logran es fortalecer y darle la razón a la tesis de Rafael Correa, lo más lógico desde su posición seria la de promover (adelantarse) sus “figuras” como potenciales candidatos presidenciables y derrotar a Correa en las urnas, si tanto odio y si tanto daño les ha causado Correa. como lo afirman, ¿no creen que el pueblo lo castigaría en una nueva elección presidencial?, o es que como dice el mismo Correa “les tiembla las piernas”.

The pseudo-bearers like Lucio Gutierrez, Jaime Nebot, Carlos Vera, among others, do not understand that the only thing achieved is the strengthening and rationalizing of Rafael Correa's arguments, the most logical from their position would be to promote (anticipating) their “status” as potential presidential candidates and defeat Correa in the polls, if so much hate and harm has been caused by Correa as they say, don't you think that the people would punish him in a new presidential election? or is it as Correa says, they are 'shaking in their boots?'

You might want to remember the saying, “do not always believe everything you see.” Juanpi of Babahoyo [es], reposts a post written by Febres “Bird” Cordero, who says the discussion on the new Constitution is closed. The president is the only authoritative one who can decide what is right and what is wrong, and that he is infallible:

La culpa, para él, es siempre de los otros. De todos aquellos que disienten. Por eso, si son economistas, pasan sin más trámite al rol de contadores. Si son ricos, al de pelucones. Si periodistas, al de bestias (salvajes o no, pero bestias, al fin), mediocres, mentirosos, pitufos. Si jóvenes, al de majaderos. Si compañeros de su movimiento, al de infiltrados. Si emigrantes, al de idiotas. La lista, que puede resultar interminable, no deja fuera a nadie que haya osado discrepar. Y a nadie, tampoco, que haya sido sorprendido haciendo un gesto considerado contrario a esa majestad que él encarna: para ellos, la cárcel.

For him, it is always someone else's fault. It is the fault of all those who disagree. So if you are economists, move on without any further delay to the role of accountants. If you are rich, to the role of pelucones (opposition). If you are journalists, to the role of beasts (wild or not, but beasts, in the end), mediocre, liars, smurfs. If young, to the role of idiots. If you are part of the movement, to the infiltrators. If migrants, to that of idiots. The list, which may be endless, does not leave out anyone who has dared to disagree. And nobody who has been caught making a gesture considered contrary to his majesty: for them, jail.

And finally, Raul Farias from Un granito de arena [es] (A little grain of sand) making an analogy between the Ralph Fiennes’ movie, Land of the Blind movie and the Ecuadorian political reality, where he says that society is the blind.

Casi nunca he estado de acuerdo con los escritos de Gabriela Calderón para el diario EL UNIVERSO, pero no tengo más que darle la razón y compartir el pensamiento, en su articulo “Utopía y violencia”, de que para librarnos de la corrupción, la pobreza y todos los males anteriores, no necesitamos ceder nuestros derechos o libertades, ni dar paso a la violencia. Es que con los actos del gobierno de Rafael Correa y la Asamblea Constituyente, muchos no volveremos a creer en la palabra revolución.

I almost have never agreed with the writings of Gabriela Calderon from the newspaper The Universe, but I have to give her credit and share her ideas, in her article “Utopia and violence,” where she says that in order to get rid of corruption, poverty and all previous evils, we need not to cede our rights or freedoms, nor give way to violence. It is because of the acts of the Rafael Correa government and the Constituent Assembly, many will not return to believe in the word revolution.

Ecuador plans 3-8 pct mining royalty on sales-bill

QUITO, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Ecuador plans to charge mining companies a 3 to 8 percent sliding-scale royalty based on sales and will negotiate terms of new extraction contracts, according to a draft of the mining bill obtained by Reuters on Monday.

The highly anticipated bill sets tougher environmental controls, limits exploration and forbids companies from filing suits on courts outside South America. However, it also offers miners a few tax breaks and doesn't limit the ownership of mining assets as some analysts feared.

A top mining ministry official confirmed the authenticity of the bill document released by the the country's mining chamber website (www.cme.org.ec.).

However, the official, who asked not be named because he was not allowed to speak publicly, said the draft bill could be changed as it is reviewed by President Rafael Correa.

The new mining law, which is expected to be introduced after September, is key for the development of the country's nascent sector that has recently found massive gold, silver and copper deposits coveted by industry giants.

Correa, a leftist economist who took office last year, says he supports big mining projects, but he has kept investors jittery with his erratic mining policy that allowed for a ban on mining activity and the takeover of hundreds of concessions in April.

Ecuador lacks significant output of precious metals, but a handful of foreign companies including Corriente Resources and IamGold Corp are exploring for minerals.

Popular movement in Ecuador rocks politics as usual

By PHILLIP BANNOWSKY • Delaware Online, September 7, 2008

Ecuador, set to approve a new constitution Sept. 28, is bent on change. In this nation of 14 million on the western side of South America, a movement of indigenous activists and civic reformers has struggled to end political corruption and what they call "neoliberalism."

It has forced the resignations of three recent presidents and helped to elect the latest, Rafael Correa.

The question is whether these popular movements can overcome past inertia and pressure from the North to fulfill aspirations for indigenous rights, participatory democracy, and what they call "socialism in the 21st century." In other words, change they can believe in.

Ecuador is one of nine Latin American nations that have veered left from the U.S. orbit in the past decade. I have taught and reported from Ecuador. I wrote a novel, "The Mother Earth Inn," about an American working among the indigenous population during the Clinton years and struggling to disentangle himself from neoliberalism. I returned this summer to see if I could shed more light on that lovely patch of the empire.

Neoliberalism is classical liberal capitalism redux, characterized by rule of the market, slashed public expenditures, deregulation, privatization and no such thing as the public good. Neoliberal regimes were imposed on debt-heavy countries in Latin America by the International Monetary Fund and free-trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. Prosperity was promised with gospel conviction, but Gross Domestic Product growth fell from 82 percent in the two pre-neoliberal decades before 1980 to just 9 percent ever since.

The results were increasing income inequality, environmental degradation, emigration, and government capitulating to the North while feeding at a rapidly diminishing public trough. Civic resistance by labor, environmental, women's, gay, professional, religious, student and especially indigenous organizations is responding to this economic and political cesspool.

These popular forces reject guerrilla violence in neighboring Colombia and Peru. They have strengthened themselves through mobilizations and sophisticated discourse of literature and public forums since the '90s. They are the bulwarks of Rafael Correa's Alianza Pais party and hold the majority in the Constitutional Assembly.

The media, dominated by the oligarchs and traditional parties, are almost universally opposed to their reforms, but have been unable to undermine the consensus for change. Correa's inner circle, however, includes pragmatic technocrats and old capitalists wedded to the old model. They are willing to recalibrate the balance between market and state and compromise with indigenous Ecuadorians, but only so far. They support including in the new constitution the concept of Pacha Mamma, or Mother Earth, with her own rights and needs. But they reject indigenous veto power over exploitation of natural resources.

Indeed, police have come down hard on the indigenous and environmentalists who protest rainforest damming, mining and oil drilling.

And while Correa's decision to close the U.S. base in Manta and pursue economic collaboration with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has been cheered by popular forces, environmentalists are distressed that Correa and Chavez plan to build a petrochemical factory in El Aromo, a major source of water for Manta.

Correa said this period in Latin American history is not only an "epoch of change," it is a "change of epochs."

What I saw in Ecuador was significant, but not always clearly positive. I saw job-creating public works, labor rights protected by reformed courts, banishment of transgenic seeds, and enforcement of remedies after 10 years against the Isaías brothers, who, aided by the Congress and the courts, stole billions from the Ecuadorian people.

At the same time, Correa favors tax breaks for agribusiness and leftist members of the Constitutional Assembly who complained of being "infiltrators."

Even when agents of change like Correa are bolstered and pressured by a mass movement that brings down governments and endures beyond elections, change is elusive.

How much more elusive is change, when a transitory band gels around one quadrennial candidate, wraps hope in one ballot and promptly dissolves?

Phillip Bannowsky, of Newark, is a member of The News Journal Community Advisory Board.

Ecuador says to halt debt payments if oil collapses

QUITO, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday said his government would halt debt payments if a free-fall of crude prices sparks an economic crisis in the oil-production country.

"If oil prices fall we would not stop spending on irrigation (projects), education and health, but stop servicing debt," Correa said during his weekly radio show.

"In case of a crisis the variable of change for us will not be the social debt, it's not going to be our people, but the pockets of creditors."

Correa, a left-wing ex-college professor who took office last year, has repeatedly spooked investors with pledges to stop debt payments to prioritize spending on education and health for the poor.

The U.S.-trained economist has so far honored debt payments, but continues to keep bondholders jittery with pledges to annul "illegitimate" debt, or loans he says are riddled with irregularities.

A government commission auditing the debt to determine "illegitimacy" is expected to deliver its final report to Correa the week of Sept. 15, a top auditor told Reuters.

Oil prices have been on a steep downtrend since hitting a record of over $147 a barrel in mid-July, closing down nearly $2 to $106.23 a barrel on Friday.

Earlier this week the Ecuadorean government proposed a $15 billion 2009 budget plan of which $1.63 billion is allocated for debt payments, matching Wall Street expectations.

In recent years, Ecuador has gradually reduced its debt burden in the government's budget. In 2008, around 16.6 percent of the country's budget was earmarked to service debt.

The budget proposal is in large part financed by oil revenues and the government has tagged a referential oil price of $85.40 per barrel for next year. Some local economists worry the optimistic oil projections could lead to a massive government deficit if world crude prices continue to fall.

Correa, who since his presidential campaign in 2006 has vowed to put "life before debt," dismissed charges he has flip-flopped on his debt policy by timely honoring loan obligations.

"We have said we would pay debt if there are funds and because there are funds we have paid," Correa said. "If we don't have those funds ... we will stop or limit debt payments."

Venezuela and Ecuador in “Revolutionary Integration”

Diarios las Americas, 5 September, 2008

A meeting – another one- has just taken place between Hugo Chávez, of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador at Camp Ayacucho, a 850 sq. kilometer area in the oil-bearing strip of the Orinoco, to sign a petroleum agreement. However, more than a petroleum agreement it is one of “revolutionary integration” and they have made clear that it means the revolutionary integration of Latin America. Actually, they are determined to convince other governments of Latin America to imitate Fidel Castro’s communist revolution that has been scourging the Cuban people for fifty years now.

In a political and revolutionary speech, Rafael Correa called Hugo Chávez his “brother and colleague”. The speeches that both men give always, in the past, now, and possibly in the future, continue to attack the United States of America and all the governments that are not in solidarity with Hugo Chávez and the regimes that are fully identified with his regime. More than identified those regimes are subordinated because of the huge financial aid that they get from the Venezuelan petrodollars.

The Ecuadorian nation is experiencing a very serious political crisis that is shaking the foundations of its institutional life. Fortunately, at least up to now, Correa has not been able to fully subdue the people of his country who have important leaders, with popular support, and are confronting the oratory and arbitrary and menacing measures of the president.

Alarming for Latin American solidarity, and also for inter-American solidarity in general and significant terms, is this alliance of Chávez with several governments in the region, especially those of Bolivia and Ecuador. Of course, more serious yet is the overt and challenging alliance with the totalitarian Marxist-Leninist tyranny of Fidel Castro that began fifty-years ago in José Marti’s homeland; that homeland whose people suffer all the outrages of such a totalitarian tyranny.

In view of these alliances it is necessary that democratic governments and political leaders throughout the continent join forces to strengthen in their countries a democratic consciousness, which is so seriously threatened and attacked by its enemies who are now in power in several countries of the region.

Ecuador: Funds to Bank-Ruin Victims

Quito, Sep 4 (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian Government started on Thursday devolution of $19.17 million to more than 62,000 victims of the Filabanco bank, which fell into bankruptcy ten years ago.

These victims were clients of Filabanco, an entity that was closed down without giving back funds to savers during the bank crisis in Ecuador in 1998, also involving Banco Popular, Banco La Previsora, Banco del Progreso, and others.

Filibanco liquidation official Soraya Bajana confirmed that once the assets of Isaias brothers, the owners of Filibanco, were seized, the government has started returning the money to those affected by the bank's bankruptcy.

We have $19.17 million to pay borrowings. This money comes from profits reported by oil firm Petromanabi, also owned by the Isaias, which was confiscated in July, said Bajana.

Banco del Pacifico will be in charge of giving the money to the victims, who are required to present a Certificate of Deposit.

About $661 million are owed to the victims, according to estimates.

Ecuador's Correa has majority before key vote: poll

QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorian leftist President Rafael Correa has the majority he needs to win a key September 28 referendum to pass a new constitution that would extend his authority over the Andean nation, a poll showed on Tuesday.

Independent pollster Santiago Perez, who is often hired by the government to measure approval ratings, said his poll showed that backing for the new constitution rose 3 percentage points to 56 percent. Opposition stood at 23 percent.

Correa, a former economy minister, needs more than 50 percent of votes to pass the new constitution.

The proposed constitution, drafted by government allies, would allow Correa to run for re-election immediately after his first four-year term and bolster his sway over the oil-producing country's economy.

A feeble opposition says the former college professor is amassing dictatorial powers and turning the country into a Cuban-style socialist state.

The Santiago Perez survey interviewed 5,080 people across the country and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Putting nature in Ecuador's constitution

In an experiment worth watching, Ecuador will ask voters to decide whether nature has rights.

LA Times, September 2, 2008

This month, Ecuador will hold the world's first constitutional referendum in which voters will decide, among many other reforms, whether to endow nature with certain unalienable rights. Not only would the new constitution give nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," but if it is approved, communities, elected officials and even individuals would have legal standing to defend the rights of nature.

It sounds like a stunt by the San Francisco City Council. But Ecuador is engaged in nothing less than an effort to redefine the relationship between human beings and the natural world. And as crazy as it may seem, the movement to give nature legal rights didn't start in Ecuador's Amazon forest or its Galapagos Islands -- it started years ago in the United States, in cities and towns seeking to fight off coal mines, incinerators and factory farms. Aided by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Pennsylvania, about a dozen municipalities have abandoned the old-fashioned way of halting development -- through the appeals process -- and are placing outright bans on environmentally disruptive activities.

For example, in Pennsylvania, Southampton prohibits corporate ownership of farms, and Wayne passed an ordinance that gives the town the power to keep out corporations with criminal histories. The Defense Fund gets much of the credit (or the blame) for these decidedly anti-business, grass-roots efforts. It even offers ready-made ordinances to protect ecosystems. Ecuadorean officials called the group when they were crafting the new constitution, and now it's fielding calls from Australia, Italy, South Africa and Nepal, which is writing its first constitution.

No other country has gone as far as Ecuador in proposing to give trees their day in court, but it certainly is not alone in its recalibration of natural rights. Religious leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Constantinople, have declared that caring for the environment is a spiritual duty. And earlier this year, the Catholic Church updated its list of deadly sins to include polluting the environment.

Ecuador is codifying this shift in sensibility. In some ways, this makes sense for a country whose cultural identity is almost indistinguishable from its regional geography -- the Galapagos, the Amazon, the Sierra. How this new area of constitutional law will work, however, is another question. We aren't ready to endorse such a step at home, or even abroad. But it's intriguing. We'll be watching Ecuador's example.

In Search of the Other Ecuador

By Nestor Núñez

The beginning of Ecuador’s official campaign in support of the “Yes” vote backing a new constitution opens a crucial stage in the efforts of the Rafael Correa government to construct a new participatory, unified and independent Ecuador.

Barely a few days ago, thousands of Ecuadoreans took the streets in support
of the official efforts to change the “Fundamental Law,” which should turn into an instrument for guarding the order and institutions that up until now have served the local oligarchy and foreign interests.

The priorities of the popular processes underway in various Latin American
nations, which got there after breaking with the traditional electoral mechanisms imposed in the region, are establishing new revolutionary norms
to truly control power democratically.

This is evidenced in the battles in Venezuela, Bolivia and in Ecuador itself to affect reforms and total change in their respective constitution as original sources of true possibilities for positive changes.

Call it the Bolivarian Revolution or the socialist project of Citizen´s Revolution, these processes to achieve the consensus needed to move forward and make their promises of progress come true.

Meanwhile, the opposition and their imperial allies are adopt measures —among institutional ones— to halt, erect obstacles, destroy programs and
organize destabilizing actions.

Rafael Correa urged the Ecuadorean people to vote “Yes” in September for the
recently drafted constitution and to confront all types of campaigns and actions of the oligarchy and foreign interests in their attempt to block and destroy the process.

Preliminary figures indicate that a significant majority will respond with YES. Among other reasons is the draft constitution’s urge for social justice, and the just redistribution of the country’s riches.

It also promises recognition of the large and eternal indigenous masses, equality before the law between all men and women, the dismantling of foreign military bases in the country, and the prohibition of agreements which promote the presence of foreign troops in the country –measures that have been accepted by the vast majority of the population.

Taken from the Cuban News Agency

Ecuador: Abortion a Controversial Topic in New Constitution

Global Voices Online, August 31, 2008

With a little more than one month until the Constitutional Referendum in Ecuador, the campaign has intensified, especially on the internet. Both the “pelucones” (the nickname given to the opposition) and the supporters are finding their arguments and their reasons why to support or oppose the draft Constitution. More attention is being given to the support or opposition within the universities.

Alianza Pais (Correa's political party) is more interested in winning sympathizers inside local universities in order to alleviate the discontent among university students. A group of students from the Catholic University of Guayaquil has expressed their opposition to the new Constitution, which produced a music video with this sentiment. “Yo también digo no” (I also say no), is a post written by La Alharaca [es] and refers to a musical video with a theme song in which criticize to the “pelucones” and makes mockery of presidential remarks to silence demonstrators at the Catholic University of Santiago of Guayaquil (Santiago is a surname people of Guayaquil feel proud of and that was the original name of the Guayas province).

The Catholic University Votes ‘No' - Theme: I want to be the ward's pelucon

However, one of the most controversial topics in the new Constitution is abortion and the right to choose by women in Ecuador. Don Javier [es] compares the section regarding Families in different Ecuadorian constitutions, such as the 1979 and 1998 versions, including all their various reforms, stresses why he will be voting YES in the referendum of September 28th.

Según veo desde 1979 nadie nunca lo oí pegar el grito al cielo diciendo que eran constituciones abortivas o que permitían el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo. Ni oí a ninguno de esos curas de Mercedez Benz y tenedores de deuda externa decir que estas constituciones protegían el aborto….Yo Voto SI y mil veces SI.

As I see it that ever since 1979 I never heard the heavens crying out that Constitution was pro-abortion of that it allowed same-sex marriages. I have not also heard from those priests with Mercedez Benz and the holders of the foreign debt that have Constitutions what protect abortion… I vote YES and a thousand times YES.

Kevinhurl [es] writes about a long online debate with his friend, who supports the NO in the next electoral process in Ecuador, and points out intentions of Antonio Arregui Yarza (President of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference) and strongly makes his point that the Constitution to be submitted into referendum does not establish the right of any women to abort:

El derecho de la madre a abortar se termina donde empieza el derecho del niño a vivir: desde la concepción, ya que el artículo 46 dice claramente que El Estado reconocerá y garantizara la vida, incluido el cuidado y protección desde la concepción. En ninguna parte dice que se podrá abortar en ejercicio de un derecho, ya que en ningún lado está estipulado el derecho a abortar.

The mother's right to abort ends where the child's right to life begins: from conception, since Article 46 clearly states that the State recognizes and guarantees life, including the care and protection from conception itself. Nowhere has it been said that the abortion is a right, and nowhere is it stipulated that there is a right to an abortion.

In a deeply religious country like Ecuador, this topic will continue to be a topic of controversy up until the date of the Referendum

Ecuador, Venezuela to launch joint oil exploration in Venezuela

QUITO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador and Venezuela will explore oil reserves in Venezuela, Ecuadorian Mining and Oil Minister GaloChiriboga said Wednesday.

Ecuador's state-owned oil company Petroecuador will sign an agreement Friday with Venezuelan oil giant PDVSA on the joint exploration of the oil reserves at Campo Ayacucho in Venezuela's Orinoco Strip, said Chiriboga in a statement.

Under the agreement, the two oil giants will create a joint venture to perform the task, Chiriboga said, adding that the PDVSAwill hold majority shares of the company.

The move marks the beginning of the internationalization of Petroecuador's operations, according to Chiriboga.

Ecuador and Venezuela, which have close cooperation in economy,oil and culture, are the only two Latin American countries that are part of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Chiriboga said that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will attend the signing of the agreement.

In the coming months, Petroecuador will also forge an alliance with Chilean state oil firm ENAP to explore gas in the Magellan Strait, Chiriboga added.

The field at Campo Ayacucho, located in Venezuela's Orinoco Strip, has oil reserves of 14 billion barrels, according to preliminary reports.

Ecuador is the fifth oil producer in South America, with a daily production of about 511,000 barrels.

Ecuador seizes more companies as debt payment

QUITO, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Ecuador seized more companies for payment of debt the government says it is owed, which could increase President Rafael Correa's popularity before a vote on a new constitution that would give him more power.

Correa sent police to take control of six companies owned by the Penafiel group as payment for millions of dollars Ecuador invested in a bank the group owned about 10 years. The bank subsequently closed.

The government also confiscated stakes held by the Penafiel group in 413 companies, including several gas stations.

A representative of the Penafiel family, which owns the group, was not available for comment.

One of the seized companies is oil services firm China Petroleum Technology and Development Corp Ecuador S.A. (CPTDC). On its website, www.cptdc.com/index.htm, CPTDC is identified as a subsidiary of China's National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the parent of listed PetroChina.

A spokesman for CPTDC was not available for comment.

Ecuadorean oil officials could not confirm if the company is affiliated with CNPC or if it had been bought by the Penafiel group.

CNPC is part owner of an oil consortium, Andes Petroleum, that extracts crude from several fields in Ecuador.

Other Penafiel companies that were seized include small oil service operators, the government said in a statement.

In July, at the behest of Correa, the government took over more than 200 companies, including two television stations, owned by the Isaias group. At the time, Ecuador said it was as payment for debts, which the group contested.

Pollsters say the government's actions have helped Correa muster votes before a September referendum on a new constitution that would bolster his powers over political institutions and the economy. He is inching closer to the 50 percent majority he needs to win the vote, recent surveys show.

Many Ecuadoreans support confiscation of the companies because people lost money when banks owned by business groups collapsed. The public has demanded that bank owners, some of whom fled the country after the collapses, be jailed.

The government has vowed to continue seizing companies owned by powerful business groups linked to a financial crisis that gripped the country about a decade ago. (Reporting by Jose Llangari and Alonso Soto; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Toni Reinhold)

Energy integration between Ecuador and Venezuela keep progressing

ABN 27/08/2008

Quito, Aug 27. ABN.- Ecuador's Minister of Mining and Oil, Galo Chiriboga, announced that the internationalization process of Ecuador state-owned oil company Petroecuador keeps progressing through the creation of joint ventures with Venezuela and Chile. Chiriboga said that he will take advantage of this Friday's visit to Venezuela, in joint with Ecuador's President, Rafael Correa, to sign an agreement to exploit Venezuelan oil located in the Orinoco Oil Belt. “The visit that we are going to render this Friday and Saturday are aimed, precisely, to know the field, sign an agreement to carry out a feasibility study, which will help us to make a decision,” Chiriboga said in a press conference. “The idea is to work in Venezuela, as Petroecuador, and we are going to do it, possibly, at the Ayacucho field in the Orinoco,” Chiriboga stated that it is expected to create a mixed company. The mixed company would be Ecuadorian, Venezuelan and Chilean and the study will determine if it is feasible to exploit the Ayacucho field, which has a reserve of 2.5 billion of heavy oil barrels. Chiriboga explained that Ecuador is studying also Chilean market for Petroecuador's internationalization, to exploit gas. Another mixed company would be created in this case as well. He acknowledged that the work to make Petroecuador operate in Venezuela has advanced more than with Chile, however, he assured that his ministry will speed up the process when they come back from Venezuela. President Correa will travel to Venezuela this Friday to deal economic and oil issues with President Hugo Chávez. Last July 15, Chávez visited the coast province of Manabí, Ecuador's west, to start the construction of the Refinería del Pacífico (Refinery of the Pacific), which will be the larger petrochemical complex of South America's west coast. Presidents Correa, Chávez and Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's, attended, by then, to constitute a mixed company between Petroecuador and Pdvsa to build the refinery. This petrochemical complex will process about 300,000 oil barrels a day and it will be necessary about 5 billion dollars of investment to construct it. Translated by Ernesto Aguilera

Vietnam, Ecuador for Cooperation

Hanoi, Aug 27 (Prensa Latina) Vietnam and Ecuador signed several cooperation agreements in the field of energy during the visit of the Industry and Trade Ministry Vu Huy Hoang to the South American nation.

The agreements signed with the Ecuadorian Ministries of Mines and Oil and Electricity and Renewable Energy (MEER) are aimed at strengthening links between PetroEcuador and Petrovietnam companies, among other priorities, reported Tin Tuc National newspaper.

During his stay in Quito Huy Hoang hold talks with acting minister Jose Valencia and with Alecksey Mosquera and Galo Chiriboga from the MMP and MEER ministers, respectively, noted the source.

Just late in July the two countries' oil groups signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the view to obtain a joint work in prospecting and exploitation, transportation, storage, industrialization and commercialization of crude.

ECUADOR: President "Stabbed In the Back" by Church Over Constitution

By Rosa Rodríguez

QUITO, Aug 25 (IPS) - The campaign for the Sept. 28 referendum on Ecuador’s newly rewritten constitution has got under way, with fierce arguments between the document's supporters and opponents.

At the moment the main conflict is between those in favour of the new constitution, approved Jul. 24 by the Constituent Assembly, and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

Church prelates are vigorously opposed to the proposed constitution because they allege it opens the door to the legalisation of abortion and same-sex marriage, although the word "abortion" is not mentioned in any of its articles.

"Certain aspects of the text are unacceptable to a Christian conscience," the president of the Ecuadoran Episcopal Conference (CEE), Antonio Arregui, said earlier this month. He added that the Roman Catholic faithful would be offered "catechism" about the content of the new constitution so that they would be properly informed when it came time to vote.

Ecuador is a secular state, but over 90 percent of its 14 million people are Roman Catholics.

President Rafael Correa and the former president of the Constituent Assembly, Alberto Acosta, responded forcefully to the CEE statement.

The Catholic Church hierarchy is taking a political stance by openly supporting the No vote against the constitution, clearly aligning itself with rightwing sectors, Correa said.

Acosta publicly released a document he had received from the CEE, making a number of proposals to the Constituent Assembly, including recognition of de facto unions between same-sex couples.

Acosta told IPS that as president of the Constituent Assembly, he had on several occasions met with Catholic bishops. At one of these meetings they gave him a document, dated Apr. 1, 2008, signed by Arregui among others, which included a proposal for recognising "stable unions between couples, no matter what their gender or sexual orientation."

"A good many of these proposals were included" in the draft constitution, Acosta added.

Last Thursday, in an interview broadcast by La Luna radio station in Quito, Correa said he felt the opposition by the Catholic hierarchy to be a betrayal, "like a stab in the back."

A practising Catholic himself, he said that when he met with other South American presidents he used to brag about being the only leftwing president who had a good relationship with the Catholic hierarchy, but now that has changed.

Former CEE presiding bishop Néstor Herrera told the Internet news portal Ecuadorinmediato.com that the Catholic hierarchy would "make war" on Correa during the referendum campaign.

"If President Rafael Correa is looking for a battle with us, unfortunately we will have to make war on him," the bishop said.

Maintaining that the Church "has never looked for a fight before, nor is it looking for one now," the bishop said the Catholic Church is carrying out its pastoral task, which is "to make the faithful aware of the scope of this political instrument (the constitution), in the light of Catholic convictions."

Herrera said the president was "mistaken" when he alleged that the Church was being "political" by announcing it would offer "catechism" about the text of the constitution now under consideration. Catechism, he said, "is broad and detailed teaching on the foundations of our faith, so that Christians may understand and direct their lives by it."

The Church has clearly stated it will not take a stand on either side of the matter of the referendum, he insisted.

But immediately afterwards he contradicted himself: Correa should not worry, he said, because the Yes vote looks like it will win by a comfortable margin, while the Church "has neither the government's publicity apparatus nor the president's popularity" to promote the No vote.

Bishop Mario Ruiz Navas also complained that the proposed constitution is too "statist," and puts an end to state support for private schools, particularly religious schools.

But several priests and laypersons expressed disagreement with these views.

A new constitution was a key campaign pledge by President Rafael Correa, who took office Jan. 15, 2007. Although over 81 percent of Ecuadoreans voted in April 2007 for the convening of a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country's constitution, the process of producing the document which will be submitted to the will of the electorate next month has been arduous.

Tens of thousands of small farmers, indigenous peoples and social organisations rallied last Saturday in Quito to hear Correa speak in favour of the constitution, according to international press reports. The atmosphere was festive and upbeat, with music, singing and dancing.

According to surveys published by Santiago Pérez Investigaciones and Perfiles de Opinión, two polling firms, 66 percent of interviewees have already decided how they will vote on Sept. 28.

The poll results differ in the percentages of voter intentions for Yes or No to the new constitution, and in the numbers of blank or spoiled ballots they forecast.

According to Pérez Investigaciones, which carries out surveys for the government, 50 percent of interviewees would vote Yes and 29 percent would vote No. The survey by Perfiles, in contrast, indicates 41 percent voting Yes, while the sum of No votes, blank and spoiled ballots would come to 45.9 percent.

For the constitution to be approved, Yes votes must reach over 50 percent of the ballots cast.

Given the current uncertainty as to the outcome of the referendum, in the view of consultant Paulina Recalde of Perfiles de Opinión, the Church is a significant political factor because it enjoys broad credibility.

"The scenario is a complicated one for the president, because if he makes comments denigrating or offending the Church in any way, he may hurt the feelings of believers," she said.

The questionnaire administered by Pérez Investigaciones included the question: "Are the groups that oppose the constitution against it because it is a bad constitution, or because they fear losing their privileges?"

Sixty-three percent answered that their opposition was for fear of loss of privilege, and 25 percent replied that it was because it was a bad constitution.

According to the same survey, 55 percent of interviewees said that the work of the Constituent Assembly had been done well, or very well.

Cedatos, another firm, published the results of a survey of 1,400 people in 15 cities, indicating that 41 percent would vote Yes and 35 percent would vote No.

On Aug. 16, in Guayaquil, Ecuador's main port and largest city with over two million people, 250 kilometres southwest of the capital, during Correa's weekly nationwide radio programme, broadcast from the Catholic University of Guayaquil, groups of university students supporting the Yes and No votes clashed with police.

Both sides have tried to take the moral high ground by blaming their opponents for instigating the violence.

In early August, close to 100 rural and urban social organisations, in particular ECUARUNARI, the Confederation of Peoples of the Quechua Nation, the largest member of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), announced the formation of an autonomous "Social Front" to campaign for the Yes vote, while keeping a distance between themselves and the government.

Ecuador: Campaign for Charter Referendum

Quito. Aug 23 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa launches today the campaign in favor of a constitutional project to be submitted to referendum next September 28.

The governing party Alianza Pais, founded by Correa, summoned people to vote Yes in the referendum and called to meet this Saturday in Shyris Avenue, north of this capital.

The officialist party indicated the Executive will head a mass rally attended by delegations of several provinces to support the government´s initiative.

“According to the invitations made and the letters we have received (...) we calculate the attendance of 100 thousand persons”, affirmed Fernando Gavilanes, one of the campaign officials.

The head of State will receive the support of its followers at the end of a week in which he was physically attacked by opposers, but then supported by students and indigenous who in several rallies confirmed their vote for Yes in the upcoming poll.

Correa alerted that in the rally could occur incidents caused by opposition members and called his compatriots not to respond to aggressions.

“Incidents will occur. The same as rightwing forces did in Bolivia and Venezuela. They will try to provoke violence, but we are not going to respond,” expressed Correa in a Radio Luna broadcast.

The polls indicate the progressive support to the initiative of the Executive, which last August 16 reached 50 percent of the voters´preference, according to the firm SP Investigacion y Estudios.

Last August 10 that same polling company had reported that the Yes had 49 percent support, while on August 4, the yes had a 47 percent support.

Ecuadoreans will attend the polls to vote on the Charter, redacted and approved by the constituent National Assembly which aspires to displace the neoliberal model protected by current legislation and which sank this Andean nation into a deep crisis.

Indigenous languages added to new Ecuadorian constitution

August 22, 2008

by: Rick Kearns / Indian Country Today

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador could soon become the fourth country in the Western Hemisphere to have indigenous languages included in the list of the nation's official languages. In late July, the National Constituent Assembly - the political entity that is writing what could become the country's new constitution - decided to include Quechua and Shuar, along with Spanish, as official languages. The proposed constitution will be put to a national vote Sept. 28. Originally, assembly members had only listed Spanish in the first draft of that section of the constitution. This exclusion provoked a quick reaction from indigenous participants and their allies. Activists from two of the largest indigenous organizations, Ecuarunari and the Confederation of Quechua people of Ecuador, called the move racist as well as incongruous for an effort that purports to create a plurinational state. After stating their objections, assembly member Pedro de la Cruz then introduced the amended proposition to include Quechua and Shuar. The initiative passed by a vote of 90 to 40. The revised language section now reads: ''Spanish is the official language of Ecuador; Spanish, Quechua and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relation. The rest of the ancestral languages are of official use for the indigenous peoples in the zones where they live and in terms fixed by the law. The state will respect this and its conservation and use.'' In the week following the amendment's passage, Ecuarunari convened a special assembly meeting, bringing together more than 500 leaders that included representatives of 15 indigenous communities as well as people of African descent. Participants drafted a series of resolutions and amendments, most of which dealt with the new constitution and their conflicts with Ecuador President Rafael Correa. In the section titled ''Organizational, Social and International,'' Ecuarunari voted to ''promote the use of the Quechua and Shuar idioms and other indigenous languages, in the written as well as spoken form, in educational centers, public entities and other community spaces as a means of implementation of plurinationality.'' While activists had to advocate the placement of Quechua into an officially protected category, its presence in Ecuador and all of Latin America is significant. Quechua was the official language of the Incan Empire, when it was one of more than 1,750 indigenous idioms spoken by Native peoples. Approximately 700 indigenous languages are currently spoken on the continent. Of the 8.5 million Quechua speakers in contemporary Latin America, 2.3 million of them are in Ecuador, where the need for Spanish-Quechua translators is growing; whereas Shuar is spoken by about 30,000 people in Ecuador and 20,000 in Peru. Quechua is also one of the official languages of Peru and Bolivia. Both of these countries have Spanish as the other official idiom. The official languages of Paraguay are Guarani and Spanish.