Yes! Ecuadorians for Change

The challenges of the Constituent Assembly and the government of President Rafael Correa on September 28 had its reward with the majority Yes vote, approving the new constitution that will guide the country's future.

By Marcos Alfonso, Cuba News Agency, September 30, 2008 According to surveys carried out by Cedatos revealed on Sunday, 70 percent of the Ecuadorians said Yes to the new constitution. Correa characterized the outcome as “a new historic victory.” Analysts estimate that this victory is part of the changes underway in several Latin American nations. The recently approved Constitution, made up of 444 articles, is characterized as socialist and introduces benefits for the broad sector of the population in Ecuador. Although the news is cheerful, everyone expected the results. Weeks before the popular referendum, countless numbers of people showed support for the document and President Correa. The population voted for the Constitution that proclaims the country a Sovereign Homeland, clearing the way for the necessary transformations demanded by the nation, though not exempt from pressure by reactionary sectors. “Lets leave the bitterness, darkness, the old country to the No,” pointed out the Ecuadorian President during a rally that followed the referendum. He criticized the opposition and the traditional political parties of corruption, poverty and political crisis in which the country suffered in recent decades. “Yes and a thousands times Yes, he said, we have lived the No,” said Correa. “We will smother the old nation, the oligarchy, the worn out structures and the usual tricks,” said President Correa during the rally held in Quito. During his government, the Ecuadorian head of state has taken solid steps aimed at benefiting the vast majority of the nation, during which he had to face the opposition as always, used as puppets by Washington. This approved Yes by the majority of the population gives the government of the PAIS Alliance important legal instruments to begin the program of social reforms that the government has ready to push the country ahead. The constitution approved by the people is ready to reorganize Ecuador, which was subjected for years to the oligarchy whose objectives were not aimed at benefiting the majority. On the contrary, they looked for ways to loot the country’s richness for its own benefits. In barely two years, President Rafael Correa, elected in 2006, has taken important steps to revert the reigning situation in the country before taking office and which was characterized with neoliberal policies of the great transnationals. Among the measures adopted was the rupture with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the suspension of the corrupt Congress reigning in the country and demanding the additional money that the transnationals looted from the country at the expense of the oil exports. This September 28 another victorious page was opened for the demands of the people in Latin America. Ecuador already has its new Constitution. Steps taken up until now in favor of radical and substantial changes, they will be seen as benefits with the legal instruments that sustains the future and indispensable transformations. The 444 articles of the legalized document reaffirms the state’s role over the country’s main resources and constitutes the “Law of Laws” that will benefit millions of Ecuadorians.