Ecuadorean Opposition Plans Parallel Congress After Shooting

By Alex Kennedy and Bill Faries

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador's suspended lawmakers, in a challenge to President Rafael Correa, plan to hold a parallel session outside Quito after police blocked their entry to the capitol and two supporters were wounded in a drive-by shooting.

Congresswoman Gloria Gallardo said opposition leaders now have backing from more than two-thirds of the 100-member congress to meet as an alternative assembly next week. Riot police used tear gas yesterday to stop the lawmakers from reaching their offices after the electoral court suspended the ``political rights'' of 57 opposition members last week.

``We're seeing a regime that's an authentic dictatorship,'' former President Lucio Gutierrez, a leader of the opposition Patriotic Society party, said in a telephone interview from Quito. ``Violence has been rising in a dangerous way, and it could at some point turn into a civil war in Ecuador.''

The shooting, which occurred outside the Marriott Hotel, where the lawmakers retreated, deepens a clash over Correa's plans to remake the country along what he calls socialist economic and political lines. Correa's proposal for a new constitution -- the trigger for the current showdown -- echoes steps taken by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales to consolidate their control over the congress, courts and election authorities.

``They abused their power, they thought they were immune,'' Correa said in comments broadcast on the Cablenoticias television station after the legislators were shut out of their offices. ``Now they're getting a taste of their own medicine,'' he said.

`Quiet For Now'

Ecuador's congress voted March 6 to replace Supreme Electoral Tribunal President Jorge Acosta after the court backed Correa's plan for a national referendum on re-writing the constitution. The next day, the court suspended the lawmakers who sought to remove the judge, ruling their votes violated the constitution. Correa supported the court's decision and said the lawmakers would be replaced.

The top constitutional court yesterday rejected a request by the president of congress to rule on the legality of the suspension.

``With this situation, Correa's ability to govern will be reduced,'' said Claudio Loser, former director of Western Hemisphere affairs at the International Monetary Fund and a political analyst at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.

The U.S. Ambassador in Ecuador, Linda Jewell, said on Cablenoticias that the conflict among Correa, the congress and the courts is a domestic situation.

``We're going to be quiet for now,'' she said.

Correa, 43, a U.S.-trained economist who served a five- month stint as finance minister in 2005, won 57 percent of votes in a Nov. 26 run-off election in which he ran without the formal backing of any political party.

`Government Crisis'

During and after the campaign, Correa aligned himself with Chavez's socialist vision, vowing to boost spending on the poor, renegotiate foreign oil contracts and review Ecuador's approximately $10 billion in foreign debt obligations. Venezuela on Feb. 22 offered Ecuador as much as $500 million of ``financial cooperation.''

Correa took office in January as Ecuador's eighth president in about a decade. On Jan. 30, about 5,000 of his supporters tried to storm congress to demand lawmakers approve plans for a referendum on the constitution.

``Correa is forcing a government crisis,'' Loser said. ``This is going to get investors even more nervous.''

Ecuador has twice backed away from threats to default on debt payments since Correa took power. Finance Minister Ricardo Patino said March 8 that the country wouldn't ignore foreign debt obligations.

``Our creditors should know that we're very responsible,'' Patino said.

Congresswoman Sylka Sanchez said in an interview that the shots were fired from a passing motorcycle carrying two people. One of the opposition lawmakers' supporters outside the hotel was hit in the back, the other in the leg.

Ecuadorian Constitutional Reform: A Bend or a Break?

Stratfor, Feb 28, 2007
Summary
Ecuadorians are likely to approve an April 15 referendum to revise the constitution. President Rafael Correa aims to use the constitutional reform process to consolidate his power and kick the country's entrenched party elite out of Congress. With a weak judiciary and an unpopular legislature, Correa could become nearly as powerful in Ecuador as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has become in his country. However, opposition groups appear to be stronger in Ecuador than in Venezuela, so compromises are more likely. Correa's presidency -- which probably will last longer than most recent Ecuadorian presidencies -- is a boon to Chavez's regional ambitions, but Ecuador is peripheral to the region and the overall effects of its domestic politics will be limited.

Analysis
Ecuadorians will vote in a popular referendum April 15 on whether to create an assembly for constitutional reform. Since constitutional reform was one of President Rafael Correa's central campaign promises when he was elected in the November 2006 runoff, the referendum is likely to have enough public support to pass.

Ecuador seems to have caught the constitutional reform fever spreading in Latin American countries within Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's sphere of influence. Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia are all taking steps to amend their constitutions, and Nicaragua might join in. In each country, the rationale for reform is that the current structure favors the elite and foreign business interests at the expense of the general population. Meanwhile, in the grip of populist socialist ideology and charismatic leadership, these countries are edging toward increasingly authoritarian regimes. Though Bolivia and Ecuador broadly support Chavez's regional ambitions, they are much less likely to succumb to a concentration of unchecked power.

Concerns that Correa wishes to expand executive power at the expense of the judiciary and legislature are not mere right-wing paranoia. The judicial and legislative branches in Ecuador have become so discredited that the idea of reform without their constraint is very popular. Judicial appointment processes have deviated from the law that authorizes them, and competing judges are issuing more frequent conflicting rulings. Furthermore, according to a Feb. 15 Cedatos/Gallup poll, Correa's approval rating is just above 70 percent, while Congress, opposition groups' main vehicle for action, is polling at 8 percent. Though Ecuador most likely will bend toward Bolivarianism under Correa's leadership, it is possible that the president will override Congress and undertake a more dramatic break with Ecuador's current governmental structure and political elite.

Correa wanted Ecuador's referendum to take place sooner -- March 18 -- and for the resultant constitutional assembly to have unlimited powers, including the power to dismiss current members of Congress. Unsurprisingly, Congress denied the assembly such powers in the same vote that set the referendum for April 15. The 100-member body voted 57-1 (most of the opposition walked out of the vote in protest of the constitutionality of the proposed assembly), indicating that though almost 60 percent of Congress supports Correa, even that portion does not fully support him. Signaling that he does not intend to be deterred by a deliberative body that requires compromise, Correa threatened Feb. 17 to resign if his agenda does not receive support from at least 70 percent of the constitutional assembly. This is likely a bluff, however, and Congress apparently aims to drive a hard bargain. On Feb. 26, a coalition of congressmen from the National Action Institutional Renewal Party, Patriotic Society Party (PSP), Social Christian Party and Christian Democratic Union announced its intent to further restrict the powers of a constituent assembly. Though confirming a new attorney general, these legislators made statements to the effect that any decisions related to altering Ecuador's companies law, judicial appointments or the formation of assemblies must be brought before the legislature for debate and a vote.

Correa has not announced many details regarding the modifications he proposes, but he has an easy case to make for reforming some aspects of the constitution. Ecuador is hardly a model of effective checks and balances; the most obvious structural problem is that the Supreme Court's members are elected by the Supreme Court itself (though this did not prevent Congress from appointing an entirely new court in 2004). Also, presidents cannot serve two consecutive terms (although this has hardly been an issue lately, considering Ecuador has had eight presidents since 2006). Ecuador also has a unicameral legislature; though this is not necessarily bad in and of itself, it can exacerbate abuses of power and is an easier scapegoat for executive complaints than a bicameral legislature.

If Correa's objective were only to improve the structure of the government, it might be welcome. But his rhetoric suggests that his fundamental objective is to remove a semi-entrenched political class (the "Party-ocracy," as he calls it) from power, inevitably expanding his own power in the process. This players-based approach is an alarming motivation for legal reform, and even more so for constitutional reform.

As long as Congress is not disbanded and the press is not curtailed, Ecuador is not on the brink of becoming another Venezuela. For example, Venezuela's legislature voted Jan. 31 to give Chavez total special powers; in contrast, Ecuador's legislature denied granting similar powers to a constitutional assembly -- and that was the part of the legislature that supports Correa's general direction. Furthermore, in March 2005 Venezuela reformed its criminal code to increase penalties for "insulting" public authorities and institutions; Ecuador has not yet attempted any such infringement upon freedom of the press, and there are no indications that such moves are on the horizon.

Correa needs to navigate between a system badly in need of reform, a public primed for change, deeply concerned business interests and the temptation to push the limits of power consolidation. Indigenous groups such as Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, as well as former President Lucio Gutierrez, leader of the PSP, support constitutional reform. PSP is not monolithically behind Correa, however, and many of its members have voiced concerns that Chavez might rule Ecuador through Correa as a proxy.

This is similar to accusations leveled against Bolivian President Evo Morales. Correa and Morales both have good reason to distance themselves from perceptions of being Venezuelan puppets; but such perceptions do not play well domestically, and burning bridges with leaders other than Chavez could prove dangerous if Chavez cannot be Morales and Correa's eternal patron. And with oil prices falling and Venezuela's hostility to foreign investors impeding expanded oil production, Venezuela increasingly will have to use its cash to solve problems at home rather than renting friends abroad.

Constitutional reform is a dangerous moment for Ecuadorian politics. However, the country's still-vigorous opposition and free press, plus the fact that Correa does not seem to have the same appetite for alienating the United States as Chavez, will make it difficult for power in Ecuador to fall into one man's hands. If Correa chooses to play hardball, however, the deck is stacked in his favor; the judiciary is weak, Congress is unpopular and public sentiment is behind him.

Whatever the outcome of the constitutional reforms, it appears that, geopolitically, Chavez has secured an ally -- and U.S. ally Colombia is flanked on both sides by a reinvigorated Bolivarian revolution. This could particularly concern Colombia since border tensions with Ecuador have escalated over the past few months -- including Ecuador's decision to open a new port authority on the border, and Ecuadorian threats to have its air force escort Colombian crop-dusting planes to the ground if they get too close.

Correa will take steps from time to time to assert his independence from Chavez, but Chavez clearly inspires him, and the two leaders are unlikely to disagree on major regional policy initiatives. Nonetheless, Ecuador does not hold a geographically central position on the continent like Bolivia, nor is it an economic force to be reckoned with like Brazil. Ecuador's momentum will help keep Chavez's regional ambitions alive, but it will not be a major player in the region.

Ecuador Stands Up to the US

By ROGER BURBACH.

From Counterpunch, February 19, 2007

Quito, Ecuador.

The leftist government of Rafael Correa has moved assertively in its relations with the United States during its first month in office. The Minister of Foreign Relations, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, in a meeting with the Foreign Press Association in Quito declared that Ecuador intends to close the US military base located at Manta. "Ecuador is a sovereign nation, we do not need any foreign troops in our country," she said. The treaty for the base expires in 2009 and will not be renewed.

The largest US base on South America's Pacific coast, it was ostensibly set up to help monitor narco-trafficking over the ocean and in the nearby Amazon basin. But it has become a major operations center for US intelligence gathering and for coordinating counterinsurgency efforts against the leftist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia. The base's air runway, built at a cost of eighty million dollars, is capable of accommodating the largest and most sophisticated US spy and intelligence gathering air craft. Manta is also used as a port for US naval operations in the Pacific. Upwards of 475 US military personal are continually rotated between Manta and the US Southern Command headquarters in Florida.

Popular sentiment in Ecuador overwhelmingly supports the closure of the US base at Manta. Since its establishment in 1999 the civil war in Colombia has spread to Ecuador, bringing refugees, violence and social conflict, particularly in the Amazon region. Aerial spraying of herbicides by planes originating in Colombia eradicates food crops and has deleterious health effects on Ecuadorian children and adults. The Colombian and US governments claim that the defoliants are only sprayed on the Colombian side of the border and that there are no flights over Ecuador. But President Correa vehemently disagrees: "We will not permit the continual violation of Ecuadorian air space by planes, that are not even Colombian, but from the United States. They enter our country, and then fly back to Colombia." Correa has ordered the Ecuadorian air force "to intercept any planes that violate our air space."

The Correa government is preparing a case for the World Court at the Hague against the Colombian government for the conflict and damages in northern Ecuador. Foreign Minister Espinosa is emphatic in saying that this is a "violation of human rights. It is not only a question of the health effects, but also of the psychological traumas caused by the constant over flights and the terrorization of the local population, particularly among the children who hear planes flying overhead and are subjected to war-like conditions." Special teams comprised international health and human rights representatives are being formed to investigate the conditions on the border. "We want to replace the conflictive conditions with a Plan for Peace and Development in the region," says Espinosa.

Last week the Vice-President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, in a trip to Caracas, Venezuela, stated that the Colombian government "should act more as a friendly neighbor and not respond only to the orders of the empire." Commenting on the upcoming trip in March of President Bush to Latin America that excludes Ecuador, Moreno added: "Every time Bush comes to visit our region we worry because we don't know what proposals he comes to impart and what sorts of statements he will make." His comments caused an uproar, and in an effort to calm the diplomatic waters, Espinosa said that Moreno's remarks were not officially sanctioned. "We want cordial, normal relations with the US embassy and government in order to resolve any issues between us," she said.

The Correa government is also moving adroitly to break with the neo-liberal trade and commercial policies that have been imposed on Ecuador by Washington and international lending agencies. In line with his campaign platform, Rafael Correa has made it clear that he will never sign the Free Trade Agreement with the United States that was being discussed with previous governments. At the same time, Ecuador is negotiating special bilateral trade and economic agreements with Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Venezuela has agreed to refine Ecuadorian oil and provide financial assistance for social programs in Ecuador, while the Bolivian government has concluded an agreement to import food commodities from small and medium producers in Ecuador.

For the moment Correa has not opted to join the People's Trade Treaty signed last year between Cuba, Bolivia, and Venezuela. But as Rene Baez, an economic analyst at the Catholic University of Ecuador says: "The treaty is really a series of special accords and financial agreements, and in that sense Ecuador is already an informal member of this alternative bloc."

The financial news that captured the headlines last week was the announcement of Economics Minister Ricardo Patino that Ecuador would make a scheduled debt payment of $135 million to foreign bond holders. Known for his long-held belief that paying off the foreign debt undercuts critical social spending programs and keeps Ecuador in a state of perpetual poverty, Patino's decision came just two days after he had announced that Ecuador would not make the $135 million payment.

Informed sources close to the government say that after high level discussions, Correa opted to pay the bond holders, preferring to concentrate on the upcoming negotiations with international creditors over a reduction in the schedule of debt payments and on the annulment of part of the debt that was the result of corrupt practices by prior Ecuadorian governments and foreign creditors. As Rene Baez says, "the Correa government decided to be selective in the battles it is taking on for the moment. A default now would have caused an international reaction and possibly provoked a domestic financial crisis, just as the government is trying to get its legs under it."

Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) and a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Studies, University of California, Berkeley. He is co-author with Jim Tarbell of "Imperial Overstretch: George W. Bush and the Hubris of Empire," His latest book is: "The Pinochet Affair: State Terrorism and Global Justice."

Ecuadorian Native movements turn up the heat

From Indian Country, February 19, 2007.
By Lisa Garrigues
LA PAZ, Bolivia - On Jan. 15, Native leaders handed the ceremonial ''staff of power'' to Ecuador's new president, Rafael Correa. Now indigenous movements in Ecuador are putting the pressure on the Ecuadorian government to meet their demands, which include the convocation of a Constitutional Assembly and increased territorial rights in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

During the ceremony of Tantarimuy, held in Cotopaxi province, Correa said his government would be ''a government of the indigenous.''

His leftist views align him with Bolivia's Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who attended the ceremony wearing Andean ponchos given to them by Native authorities.

''Latin America will keep changing, because what we are living is not an era of change, it is the change of an era,'' Correa said.

He has promised to build an Ecuador with ''Ecuadorians in charge,'' opposing the free market economic policies of the United States and the International Monetary Fund, and taking back the country's oil wealth from multinational corporations.

Like Morales, he has also promised to convoke a constitutional assembly that will write a new constitution, a move that has the approval of 75 percent of the population of urban centers Quito and Guayaquil, according to recent surveys.

The Constitutional Assembly would have the power ''to limit, restructure (or) dissolve'' any branch of government.

But he faces stiff opposition from Congress and the TSE Supreme Electoral Court, whose members say a constitutional assembly is illegal and fear Correa would use it to consolidate his own power.

''We want the established order to prevail,'' Congressman Federico Perez, of the opposition party, told the radio station Democracy.

Correa has blamed ''mafias'' within the current government who want to hold on to their privilege and power for blocking the constitutional assembly.

CONAIE, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, supported its own candidate in the 2005 elections: Luis Macas, Quichua.

But Macas and other indigenous leaders support Correa's efforts to create a new constitution, and have already begun meeting to discuss what should be included in it - like the nationalization of Ecuador's natural resources, agrarian reform, the defense of biodiversity and sovereignty of indigenous lands.

Humberto Cholango, president of ECUARUNARI, the Confederation of Quichuan Peoples of Ecuador, called on indigenous and social movements to take to the streets of Quito to pressure Congress to approve the Constitutional Assembly.

''If they try to stop it, and an indigenous rebellion is necessary, we'll do it,'' he told one reporter.

Five thousand supporters of the Constitutional Assembly clashed with police when they surrounded the congressional building on Jan. 30.

Cholango said CONAIE, ECUARUNARI and dozens of other organizations have banded together to form the National Front for the Plurinational Constituent Assembly.

Meanwhile, Ecuadorian indigenous groups from the Amazon met in Quito the last week of January in what they called an ''extraordinary'' event, bringing together 304 delegates from the Shuar, Kichwa, Shiwar, Andoa, Zapara, Huaorani and Achuar nations to reconstruct the indigenous organization CONFENIAE.

CONFENIAE, the Confederation of Indigenous Nations of the Ecuadorian Amazon Confederation of the Nationalities Indigenous to the Amazon of Ecuador, is associated with CONAIE and COICA, the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin: two groups that have been working for indigenous rights for the past 20 years.

Delegates said the organization ''was able to put back together its organizational structure, which was damaged by various economic and oil interests that had brought it to the brink of profound division.''

In their statement following the meeting, delegates affirmed their support for Correa and reminded him of the importance of including representatives of indigenous nations and organizations in the new constitutional assembly.

They also asked that CONFENAIE be given more power over administration of Ecuadorian Amazonian indigenous territory and regional development, as well as a budget of $11 million.

Other demands included the withdrawal and/or renegotiation of mining, logging and oil contracts, reparations for damages sustained by oil development, government intervention in the lawsuit brought by indigenous people against Texaco and the strengthening of education, health and cultural services.

Ecuador's indigenous population is about 25 percent, less than that of neighboring Peru or Bolivia, and clustered in 12 different nations throughout the country's diverse terrain, which include high Andes, Amazon and coastal lands.

But Ecuadorian indigenous movements have wielded enormous power in shaping the political, social and economic history of the country in the last 20 years.

By successfully creating alliances with other dispossessed groups, they were instrumental in bringing populist President Lucio Gutierrez to power in 2003, then in bringing him down again when he didn't fulfill campaign promises.

Repeated protests by indigenous organizations against California-based Occidental Petroleum caused the Ecuadorian government to revoke its contract with the oil company in 2006.

Massive demonstrations by Ecuadorian Native groups have also managed to stall a free trade agreement between the United States and Ecuador, which many indigenous people say will harm local agriculturists with an influx of U.S. products.

Ecuador: dignity, sovereignty on the rise

W. T. Whitney Jr., Feb 15, 2007
People's Weekly World

Rafael Correa, upon his inauguration as Ecuador’s president on Jan. 15, immediately called for Congress to approve a referendum for a constitutional assembly which he sees as crucial for “a profound transformation” of the country. While campaigning, Correa promised a new constitution, demanded that U.S. troops leave the country and condemned Washington-backed “free trade” agreements.

Despite 80 percent popular support for the assembly, Ecuador’s Congress, controlled by right-wing parties, had rejected the proposed referendum as unconstitutional. Since Jan. 30, widespread demonstrations, led by indigenous groups, have kept the issue open.

Marchers descended upon Congress on Feb. 12, demanding immediate action on the referendum. Indigenous leader Humberto Cholango told the crowd, “We can’t keep on leaving things up to a discredited, neoliberal political sector,” referring to those who advocate NAFTA-like pacts, privatization and public austerity.

Correa promised, if need be, to bypass Congress and set up a special entity to authorize the referendum. The next day, however, Congress, in a compromise, approved the referendum.

The government has also had to deal with a border dispute with Colombia, a U.S. ally. On Dec. 11, Colombian airplanes, fumigating coca plants in Colombia, dispersed the herbicide Glyphosate over inhabited areas in Ecuador, repeating the incursion on Feb. 5. Colombia called off further spraying five days later, after Ecuador announced plans to go to the International Court at The Hague.

The Correa government has outlined a “foreign policy peace initiative” on border problems, especially the humanitarian crisis affecting 250,000 Colombians displaced by that nation’s civil war.

Correa became Ecuador’s eighth president in 10 years after a 57 percent runoff victory on Nov. 26. Speaking partly in the Quechua language, he joined thousands of indigenous people on Jan. 14 for a symbolic inaugural ceremony. “This nation is one of the five Latin American countries with the least investment per inhabitant,” he said, and he has prioritized education, health care and support for the most vulnerable as his goals. Women occupy seven of 17 cabinet posts in his government.

“The neoliberal night is reaching its end,” Correa declared. “A sovereign, dignified, just and socialist Latin America is beginning to rise.”

President Evo Morales of Bolivia, on hand for the ceremony with Venezuelan President Chavez, responded, “The struggle of the Cuban people and Fidel against imperialism was not in vain.” According to the Mexican daily La Jornada, Correa is “taking on responsibility for Indo-America socialism epitomized by José Carlos Mariátegui,” a Peruvian Communist leader of the 1920s.

Under Correa, Ecuador plans to cut its ties with the International Monetary Fund. On Feb. 2, officials announced a 10 percent reduction in foreign debt repayments, allowing for a 6 percent funding increase for social services. Ecuador owes $11 billion, approximately 25 percent of its GDP, to foreign lenders.

In response, Thomas Shannon, U.S. undersecretary of state, advised caution. President Correa, he suggested, should “not place Ecuador in conflict with institutions and countries it needs and that can provide the most help,” adding, “We have an idea of how to do it, based on our experience [which] we are inclined to share.”

According to Correa, Ecuador will re-evaluate foreign debt obligations. He has proposed “an international debt arbitration court” to determine “legitimate foreign debt” and use of the “Bank of the South,” proposed by Venezuela, as repository for monetary reserves.

Under agreements ratified Feb. 9, Venezuela will help modernize Ecuador’s refineries and hydroelectric facilities, process 100,000 barrels of Ecuador’s oil on a daily, no-cost basis, and allow Petroecuador to drill for oil in Venezuela.

A cloud of tragedy, however, pervades these new beginnings. Defense Minister Guadalupe Larriva died Jan. 24 when two helicopters collided during military exercises near the Manta U.S. Air Base installation. She, her 16-year-old daughter, and five officers were passengers. All died.

Larriva, head of Ecuador’s Socialist Party, had condemned Ecuador’s military ties with Colombia, projected military reforms, and confirmed U.S. troop departure from Manta in 2009 when bilateral agreements expire.

President Correa fired Army chief Pedro Machado because of the crash, which, according to an international team, was not caused by mechanical problems. Observers liken Larriva’s death to that of leftist President Jaime Roldos in 1981. His aircraft also crashed under mysterious circumstances.

Lorena Escudero replaced Larriva as defense minister, joining female counterparts serving in Argentina and Uruguay. At Larriva’s funeral, Rafael Correa bade farewell: “Guadalupe, you liked hearing this, from the song for Comandante Che Guevara: ‘Until victory, always.’”

atwhit @ megalink.net

Constituent Assembly advances in Ecuador

Hernan Etchaleco
Pravda.ru Feb 15

After weeks of disputes and frustrated sessions, the Congress approved the President’s request for a referendum on whether to rewrite the country’s constitution.

In what analysts consider as a stunning political victory of leftist President Rafael Correa, the Congress of Ecuador approved on Tuesday his request for a referendum on whether to hold a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the country’s constitution. The Congress meeting was originally scheduled for Monday but the negative of the opposition lawmakers to pass the bill delayed the session.

Early in the morning hundreds of supporters of President Correa gathered at the gates of the Congress building in Quito as they did two weeks ago when thousands stormed the building, battled police on the streets and forced lawmakers to evacuate the building to demand the referendum be approved.

Later on Tuesday, Ecuador's top election tribunal set April 15 as the date for the referendum, a court official told local radio.

To obtain the approval of the Congress, Correa introduced some amendments to the original proposal, which demanded two weeks of negotiations. Correa's movement has no formal representatives in Congress, but the former economy minister appeals to the public with his vows for a "citizens revolution" in a country where instability has toppled three presidents in a decade.

"This is a victory for the people," Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told reporters after the decision. Larrea said the government sees no significant changes in Congress-approved reforms to the referendum plan.

Correa has not yet anticipated specific reforms he is willing to introduce in the new constituion. He has only advanced that constitutional reforms are needed to limit the influence of political elites on institutions such as the Supreme Court and the electoral authority. More than three-quarters of Ecuadoreans support Correa's referendum proposal, a survey by local pollster Cedatos Gallup showed in January.

Opposition lawmakers said they fear that granting a Constitutional Assembly broad powers will help consolidate Correa's presidential powers and usher in more instability. "Today the constitution has been broken," said opposition congressman Federico Perez. "I really hope our country doesn't fall in to communism."

The rewrtie of the constitution was the core of Correa’s proposals during the campaign last year. He has also pledged to restructure debt, renegotiate oil contracts with foreign companies operating in Ecuador and end a lease allowing the US military to une an air base.

Correa follows presidents of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez and Bolivia, Evo Morales, who have fuelled constitutional assemblies in their respective countries, shortly after taking office.

Ecuador's Correa calls for socialist Latin America

Duroyan Fertl, 19 January 2007

From GreenLeft.

On January 15, Ecuador’s new president, Rafael Correa Delgado, was sworn in, promising to build “socialism of the 21st century” to overcome the poverty and instability of the small Andean country.

The previous day, Correa attended an indigenous inauguration ceremony in Zumbahua, the small Andean town where he did volunteer social work in his twenties. The presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia — Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales — were present as special guests.

Correa, a 43-year-old economist, used his inauguration to call for a “citizens’ revolution”, using wealth to meet social and environmental needs, rather than maintaining the current “perverse system” that has led to over 60% of Ecuador’s 13 million people living in poverty and forced more than 3 million to emigrate in search of jobs.

“The long night of neoliberalism is coming to an end”, said Correa, “A sovereign, dignified, just and socialist Latin America is beginning to rise.”

In a speech laced with the indigenous language Quichua and references to revolutionary figures Simon Bolivar and Che Guevara, Correa called for Latin American integration on the basis of cooperation and complementarity, and called on governments to create regional legislation to protect workers’ rights.

Correa’s radical program for change has already begun. On January 16, Ecuador signed an energy agreement with Venezuela. Venezuela will refine Ecuadorian crude oil, and invest in developing new refineries there. Ecuador, despite being one of Latin America’s largest oil exporters, currently has to import fuel at unfavourable prices.

Correa has also promised to renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies, in order to free up money for spending on health, education, the environment and housing. The potential benefits for Ecuador are enormous: the oil company Oxy had its contracts cancelled a year ago, and the government has since made US$1.1 billion from those oilfields alone.

Another priority for Correa is Ecuador’s foreign debt, estimated in November last year at over 25% of the country’s GDP. Correa has suggested that at least part of the debt may be illegal, and is planning to renegotiate, or possibly default on it. He has also called for an international debt tribunal to prevent the exploitation of debt-ridden countries and has threatened to cut ties with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

On January 17, agriculture minister Carlos Valejo declared the government’s intention to redistribute idle arable land. Ecuador’s vulnerable agricultural sector was a key issue in mass protests last year against a proposed free-trade agreement with the US. Correa is firmly opposed to such an FTA, preferring to focus on national development and Latin American integration.

The most important part of the new president’s platform for change is the promise to convoke a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution to allow the recall of elected officials and greater participation by social movements and community sectors in government, weakening the traditional party system and making his reforms possible.

Correa, whose Alianza PAIS party ran no candidates for the Congress, faces a hostile legislature. His opponents in Congress, which is almost universally regarded to be run by a corrupt and inept “partyocracy”, formed a bloc of 76 out of 100 law-makers to oppose Correa’s reforms.

Correa threatened to call mass protests and to use his executive powers to bypass the Congress, but on January 12, the second largest party in Congress, the Patriotic Society Party (PSP), led by ex-president Lucio Gutierrez (who was overthrown in 2005), changed sides on the issue, giving Correa a temporary majority.

This was not before Gutierrez had expelled his own wife and another member of Congress from the PSP for supporting Correa’s proposal. Neither Correa nor many of the social movements, such as the indigenous federatation CONAIE, trust Gutierrez and the about-face is widely seen as proof of the corruption of the current political system.

Assuming it is approved, there will now be a referendum on March 18 to endorse the initiative, and a Constituent Assembly of 87 members will be elected soon after from provincial, national and immigrant sectors of the population. The assembly will have 180 days to rewrite the constitution.

The task facing Correa is a challenging one. Previous governments that have promised reforms along similar lines have been unable or unwilling to carry them out, making only small reforms in the hope of placating big business and the people alike. In response, mass popular mobilisations, especially by the indigenous movements, have led to the overthrow of the last three elected presidents.

The hope is that Correa has broken the mould. “We’re not talking about little reforms, about making things less bad”, he said during his inauguration. “Latin America isn’t living an era of changes”, he explained. “It’s living a change of eras.”

Ecuador's Correa takes oath, vows socialism shift

BY CHRIS KRAUL

from the Miami Herald

QUITO - Declaring that ''inhuman and cruel globalization'' has failed his country, leftist economist President Rafael Correa took office Monday with a promise to shift his nation toward socialism and to renegotiate its $10.2 billion foreign debt.

Correa, 43, who received his doctorate at the University of Illinois in the United States, became Ecuador's eighth president in 11 years. He is one of a half-dozen leftist Latin American leaders to win office or be reelected in little more than a year.

In the campaign that culminated in his November victory, Correa pledged to overhaul a political system that many people here view as corrupt, fragmented and inefficient.

At times, Correa employed the anti-American rhetoric favored by his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, promising not to sign a free-trade agreement with the United States or to extend the U.S. lease on an air base in western Ecuador used by surveillance planes to monitor drug traffickers.

Although he made conciliatory gestures after the election, including meeting with U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell here, Correa used the term ''empire'' to refer to the United States during a speech at an indigenous ceremony Sunday, before Monday's official inauguration.

LEADERS ASSEMBLED

Correa took the oath of office at the newly restored national assembly building as some 17 heads of state looked on, including Chávez, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Bolivia's Evo Morales. The highest-ranking U.S. official present was U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

Hours later, Correa delivered on one of his campaign promises by signing a decree requesting that the electoral tribunal organize a national plebiscite on March 18 to ''approve or reject'' a constitutional assembly.

An assembly to rewrite the constitution is the critical first step of his reform plan because Correa has no party allies in the Legislature to help enact his agenda. But the assembly would have to be approved by the sitting Congress, which effectively would be putting itself out of a job.

''Whether it's by consensus, a deal or through popular pressure, my expectation is that Correa will get his constitutional assembly this year,'' said Adrian Bonilla, a political scientist at a Quito think tank known by its Spanish initials, FLACSO. ``It's why he won the election.''

Bonilla said he doubts that Correa would use such an assembly to concentrate as much power in his hands as Chávez has done.

''Venezuela is different. Here, we are more heterogenous, more fragmented. I don't think Correa would succeed in what Chávez did,'' Bonilla said.

FOCUS ON FINANCES

Correa said he would begin immediate negotiations to alleviate ''the insupportable weight'' of Ecuador's external debt.

Fear that Ecuador would default on its debt, which it has done three times in the past quarter-century, has sent the value of its bond prices plummeting 20 percent since Correa won in November.

''It looks like he is going to play hardball,'' said Gianfranco Bertuzzi, an emerging-market bond specialist at Lehman Bros. investment bank in New York. ``Bond holders are bracing for some kind of renegotiation, but what it means is still up in the air.''

Bertuzzi said 15 Wall Street firms holding billions of dollars in Ecuadorean debt will meet with Correa's new finance minister, Ricardo Patiño, in Quito this week to find out how Correa plans to proceed with the renegotiation. In February, Correa probably will announce a comprehensive plan, he added.

OIL LEGISLATION

Correa also is expected to push legislation to make foreign oil companies turn over majority interests in their oil fields, taking a cue from Chávez in Venezuela. Legal analyst Diego Delgado of Quito said Correa might also follow Chávez's lead in reversing the privatization of some utilities, including telephone, power and water companies.

Economist María de la Paz Vela of Multiplica consultants said Correa is inheriting a reasonably healthy economy growing at a 4 percent annual rate, with low inflation of 2.8 percent.

The economy got a $1.1 billion boost from the confiscation of Occidental Petroleum's oil field in May and a new hydrocarbon tax that together bumped up Ecuador's total 2006 oil revenue to about $3.8 billion, she said.