Now the Citizens Revolution is of everyone

• Affirms Rafael Correa during re-inauguration ceremony in Ecuador
• Sends an embrace to Fidel

QUITO, August 10. —Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa began his second constitutional mandate from today to 2013 with the express will of intensifying the Citizens Revolution and prioritizing the poor, youth and indigenous peoples.

"The Citizens Revolution has arrived and is now that of everyone," Correa affirmed during his vibrant and improvised speech at the end of an official ceremony in the National Assembly, attended by heads of state participating in summits of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).

The 46-year-old president, who has been leading the country for the past 31 months after his broad popular triumph in the November 26 elections, is initiating a new four-year term on the 200th anniversary of the independence of Ecuador, after winning the elections in April.

Referring to his government’s international policy, Correa emphasized Ecuador’s support in the OAS General Assembly for the repeal of the infamous resolution that excluded Cuba in 1962, and asked Cuban President Raúl Castro to pass on an embrace for the leader Fidel Castro and for all the people on the island.

In the same context, he reiterated the demand for the expulsion and trial of the usurpers of power in Honduras and the restoration of Manuel Zelaya, the legitimate constitutional president, to his post. Zelaya was present at the ceremony.

"A few days ago the last foreign soldier stationed in our country left Ecuadorian soil," Correa stated in reference to the former U.S. Manta base, adding: "Thus we have recovered the territorial sovereignty that submissive governments handed over in the past.

He strongly criticized Colombia’s decision to allow the installation of seven bases with U.S. troops in its territory and stated that hopefully these would not stimulate the Bogotá government’s warmongering policies and be utilized to combat progressive governments in the region, rather than to combat drug trafficking.

Rafael Correa was reelected within a new constitutional framework in the April, 2009 elections, after Ecuadorians approved a new constitution in September, 2008. (PL)