The Peninsular On-line, 3/3/2007
QUITO, Ecuador • Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa on Thursday signed a bill to allow a tourist-oriented coastal region to become a new province, fuelling tensions with rivals in nearby business hub Guayaquil.
Correa, a leftist former economy minister, agreed to send Congress the bill to fulfill a campaign promise to three districts that asked to become a new province and split from the rich Guayas province and its capital Guayaquil.
Business leaders and politicians in the country’s largest city accuse Correa of backing the plan just to win votes for his proposed constitutional reforms. They fear a new province would strip Guayas of important tax and tourism revenues.
Television images showed a crowd in La Libertad city cheering a smiling Correa who said, “the time has come for your dreams to come true.” Correa was elected last year by a wide margin with pledges to curtail the powers of traditional political parties, whom many Ecuadoreans blame for instability. Guayaquil has been a stronghold for the Social Christian party.
“He is using all the tools he has to woo voters for his assembly proposal,” said Alexandra Vela, an analyst with Quito-based think tank Cordes. “This could create a serious political divide in the country.” The three districts — Salinas, La Libertad and Santa Elena — cover the Santa Elena peninsula, a coveted vacation spot for Ecuadoreans lined with ritzy hotels and key fisheries.
Status as a province would give the Santa Elena peninsula representation in the national Congress, more government funds and greater autonomy to administrate those funds.
But the plan could be stopped in the Congress, where Correa’s political movement has no representatives. Opposition lawmakers, mostly from Guayaquil, have criticised Correa’s move and say they plan to vote against the proposal.
