Ecuador's Congress swears in 21 alternate lawmakers to achieve quorum amid political crisis

IHT, Mar 20, 2007
QUITO, Ecuador: Ecuador's constitutional crisis took a new twist as alternate lawmakers were escorted into Congress under the cover of darkness and sworn in to replace some of the legislators fired by the country's highest electoral court.

The 21 alternate lawmakers were shuttled to the congressional building before dawn Tuesday as hundreds of national police stood watch, allowing the 100-seat unicameral legislature to begin a session with a quorum of 55 lawmakers for the first time in two weeks.

The crisis deepened in early March when a majority of congressmen voted to oust the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for approving President Rafael Correa's version of an April 15 referendum plan on the need for a new constitution. The tribunal responded by dismissing 57 lawmakers, accusing them of trying to block the referendum.

Correa, a leftist whose party holds no seats in the current Congress, is pushing for a new charter to limit the power of the country's traditional political parties, which he blames for the country's corruption and political instability. Ecuador has had eight presidents in the last decade.

Correa has acknowledged that administration officials met with groups of alternate congressmen to encourage them to take up the posts left by the dismissal of the regular legislators, but it is unclear what affect the alternate lawmakers will have on Correa's influence in Congress. The 21 alternate lawmakers installed Tuesday belonged to the three major opposition parties.

Congress president Jorge Cevallos said the installation of the lawmakers was intended to "overcome the political crisis."

The fired congressmen, however, immediately condemned the alternate congressmen as traitors.

"They have betrayed their political party," Alfonso Harb, an ousted Social Christian lawmaker said, referring to three alternates from his party who took the oath of office. "We don't recognize the legitimacy of today's session."

Although the 21 alternate lawmakers allow for a 51-member quorum in Congress, many congressional decisions need a two-thirds majority — or 67 votes — to pass. That means if the remaining 36 alternate lawmakers are not sworn in, Congress may not be able to pass important legislation.

Cevallos said he hopes to have those alternates installed by next week. If not, he said he will call on the second alternates.

The alternate lawmakers were elected at the same time as the regular congressmen, and are supposedly hand-picked by the lawmakers they stand in for and represent the same political parties.

Alvaro Noboa, the billionaire banana baron defeated in November's presidential election runoff, accused Correa of offering the alternate lawmakers money or other favors to get them to take up their posts in Congress, which the president has called "a sewer of corruption."

Noboa said it was an example of the "the system of the briefcase man" at work, Ecuadorean slang for political bribes.

Correa's administration has denied bribing the alternate lawmakers.

"This is not a good start," Cevallos said of the substitute lawmakers' sneaking into Congress before dawn. "They should come in through the front door. No one has any reason to hide."

Former President Lucio Gutierrez also criticized the alternate congressmen for entering the building with police protection.

"What kind of democracy is this?" said Gutierrez, who was forced from office in April 2005 by Congress amid street protests. "This is a de facto government that intimidates, that persecutes people."

Dozens of angry protesters gathered in front of the congressional building early Tuesday, most in support of an assembly to write a new constitution.

Ecuador Congress replaces lawmakers, convenes

By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO, March 20 (Reuters) - Ecuador's Congress replaced fired lawmakers and convened on Tuesday in an apparent victory for President Rafael Correa over opposition legislators resisting his plans to curb their influence.
Correa, a left-winger elected in November, has been locked in a power struggle with lawmakers since March 7, when a court sacked 57 of them from the 100-member chamber for obstructing his plans for a referendum on rewriting the constitution.
The fired lawmakers had said they would seek to take their seats in the building, which was ringed by hundreds of police wielding batons to prevent a repeat of last week's clashes when opposition members tried to force their way inside.
But Congress President Jorge Cevallos on Tuesday swore in 21 substitutes and allowed the legislature to hold a session without the fired lawmakers.
"We will obey the will of the people," substitute lawmaker Cesar Alonso said. Congress needs at least 51 lawmakers to hold a session and 55 were present.
Correa was monitoring developments and "hopes that Congress will start working in line with the people's demands," a government spokeswoman said.
Elected in November, Correa is popular for promising to sweep away the influence of traditional political parties whom many Ecuadoreans blame for the instability that has ousted three presidents in the last decade. He wants an April 15 vote on holding a popular assembly to rewrite the constitution.
With his strongest opponents now out of Congress, Correa should be able to push ahead with his political proposals and key economic reforms, experts said.
"This is an evident victory for Correa... the opposition has lost a lot of power," said Simon Pachano, analyst with Ecuador's branch of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences. "The government also probably has struck a deal with the substitutes."
Correas opponents fear the U.S.-trained economist and former finance minister will seek to rewrite the constitution to strengthen presidential powers as his left-wing ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, did after his 1998 election.
Wall Street has been monitoring Ecuador's political developments closely after Correa promised to use his mandate to restructure bonds and rewrite foreign oil contracts in South America's fifth-largest crude producer.

Ecuador's warring congresses vie for control

Euro2day, Mar 20, 2007.

By Hal Weitzman in Caracas
Ecuador slipped further into political chaos on Tuesday, with the likely creation of rival pro- and anti-government legislatures, each claiming legitimacy under the constitution.

The institutional crisis – pitting all the main arms of government against each other – underlines the fragile state of democracy in Ecuador, one of the most politically unstable countries in South America.

One legislative body, including lawmakers who support president Rafael Correa, met under heavy guard in Congress.

The other, made up of 57 opposition legislators sacked after a fight with the country's judiciary, was expected to meet in northern Quito.

"If [the sacked members of Congress] meet elsewhere, it will be an illegitimate body, because those legislators were legally sanctioned," said Jorge Cevallos, the president of Congress, who appears to have switched loyalties from the opposition Prian party.

The situation follows electoral results last year that handed the presidency to Mr Correa, a radical leftwinger determined to enact sweeping political reform, but which gave control of Congress to his rivals.

Mr Correa has called for a referendum on April 15 on whether to convoke an assembly to rewrite the constitution. This month the legislature tried to delay the poll by sacking the head of the electoral court. The court deemed that move illegal and fired the 57 Congress members who supported it.

Mr Cevallos said he would instead convene the Congress with substitute deputies, elected last year in case members of Congress needed to be replaced. "With the substitutes we will have a quorum," he said.

If the opposition proceeds with its rival legislature, the country will be presented with two Congresses, both of which can claim electoral legitimacy and a quorum of at least 51 members.

The opposition lobbied substitutes and urged them not to attend the government-backed Congress. That tactic appeared to have failed on Tuesday, as 22 substitute deputies were ferried to Congress with an escort of hundreds of armed police.

The deposed politicians refused to outline their strategy, saying they feared they would be attacked by pro-government activists. They had threatened to try again to take up their seats in Congress, a move that resulted in violence last week. In response, the government installed about 1,450 police outside the building.

Gloria Gallardo, one of the most outspoken opposition members of Congress, said if Mr Cevallos convened the government-backed legislature with substitutes, "it will be a caricature, because it will not be a proper check on the government".

At his weekly radio broadcast last week, Mr Correa attacked the opposition legislators. "If these so-called 'fathers of the country' have any dignity left, they should go home quietly and ask the people for forgiveness," he said.

Mr Correa's struggle with Congress is a gamble. On one hand, the body is very unpopular, with approval ratings of about 13 per cent, while there is much support for political reform. On the other hand, the legislature has deposed two of Mr Correa's recent predecessors, and the opposition is experienced and tenacious.

Critics of Mr Correa accuse him of provoking the crisis to shore up his popularity ahead of the referendum and subsequent elections to the constituent assembly later this year.

Mr Correa will have been studying the opinion polls: his approval rating is falling at a rate of about 2 percentage points a month, according to Cedatos, a pollster.

Patrick Esteruelas, an analyst at the Eurasia group in New York, noted that Mr Correa could emerge stronger from the chaos in the short term, but that there could be "negative medium and long-term ramifications".

Ecuador ends Congress stalemate

BBC, March 20, 2007.
Ecuador's Congress has held a session after 21 substitute members were sworn in to replace 57 sacked legislators.

They were unseated for trying to block a referendum on constitutional changes that President Rafael Correa wants.

The substitutes mean Congress now has a quorum and can meet - a small victory for the president, say correspondents.

More than 1,000 police officers surrounded the Congress building in Quito to prevent the sacked legislators from trying to disrupt the session.

The BBC's South America correspondent, Daniel Schweimler, says the 21 substitute congressmen and women were smuggled into the building at dawn.

Power struggle

Some of the 57 sacked legislators had promised to force their way in to claim their seats.

They were unseated by an electoral tribunal on 7 March for trying to block a referendum on constitutional reform proposed by President Correa and now set for 15 April.

The Congress had been in recess for two weeks as a resolution was sought to the stalemate.

Mr Correa has been embroiled in a bitter conflict with the opposition Congress since he took power in January.

A government spokesman said that Mr Correa "hopes that Congress will start working in line with people's demands".

The president is a leftist who enjoys little congressional support. He has argued that Congress is corrupt and the cause of many of the country's problems.

He wants the people to have a greater say and is organising a referendum next month as the first step in setting up a series of assemblies that would by-pass the power of the Congress.

The established politicians, not surprisingly, do not want to relinquish power and are fighting back, says our correspondent.

The dispute is threatening to provoke more turmoil in a country that has had eight presidents in the past 10 years.

Congress needs to have at least 51 members present to have a quorum.

With the 21 substitutes, 55 were present at Tuesday's session.

Mr Correa came to power two months ago promising radical changes. He enjoys the support of about 70% of the people of Ecuador but most of the power and influence lies in the hands of his opponents, our correspondent says.

Ecuador lawmakers vow to reclaim seats in Congress

QUITO, March 19 (Reuters AlertNet) - Ecuador's fired opposition lawmakers on Monday vowed to break a police cordon and reclaim their parliamentary seats, keeping up the pressure on President Rafael Correa in the volatile Andean state.

Fifty-seven lawmakers have been fired for trying to block a referendum the populist president is proposing. The vote would set up a body to reduce the influence of congressmen in the judiciary and state companies.

The lawmakers refuse to accept their dismissal and last week barged through a police cordon to get into Congress. They promised to do the same on Tuesday.

"Either we all enter Congress or no one will," said Washington Vallejo, one of the 57 fired lawmakers. "We will defend Congress."

Correa, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, since taking office in January has vowed to break the power of political elites, largely seen as corrupt, in the world's top banana exporting nation.

The fight with the lawmakers is the first major challenge for a president who has vowed to restructure the national debt and renegotiate oil deals. Congress has been instrumental in ousting three presidents in a decade.

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.

Lawmakers, police clash at Ecuador’s Congress

The Peninsular, March 14, 2007

QUITO • Fired lawmakers scuffled with police and some forced their way into Ecuador’s Congress yesterday, intensifying a feud with President Rafael Correa in the politically unstable Andean country.

One legislator suffered a back injury when he was knocked to the ground. He was carried away on a stretcher and put in an ambulance, according to a health official.

“We are in a state of emergency and we are being hunted,” fired lawmaker Gloria Gallardo told a television station from inside Congress. “Police are willing to kill lawmakers.” Police wearing gas masks thrust riot shields at legislators as tear gas clouded the air around the building.

“They hit us,” said opposition lawmaker Sylka Sanchez, who also yelled at police, “You traitors!” Dozens of Correa supporters clashed with protesters backing opposition lawmakers, kicking and punching each other.

Fifty-seven legislators have refused to accept an electoral court decision to fire them last week for seeking to reverse an earlier ruling that would allow the highly popular Correa to hold a referendum to weaken Congress’ powers.

The ousted congressmen lost another legal battle on Tuesday, when the constitutional court rejected their appeal to overturn the earlier ruling. But they were expected to continue resisting their dismissals through legal channels.

Yesterday’s violence forced Congress to suspend its sessions for a week. “The country lives a moment of political crisis and my obligation is to protect lawmakers. Congress will not hold a session,” Congress president Jorge Cevallos said.

The dispute has become the biggest challenge to the leftist’s presidency since he took office in January in a country where Congress played a pivotal role in ousting three presidents in the last decade.

Ecuador's 'citizens' revolution'

Duroyan Fertl,
Green Left Weekly, 8 February 2007

Since his January 15 inauguration, President Rafael Correa has set about implementing his plan for changing Ecuadorian society, centred on a “citizens’ revolution” to refound the country and begin the construction of a “socialism of the 21st century” by investing economic wealth in social spending on health, education, housing and the environment.

In an effort to curb pollution, on February 3 Correa declared that Ecuador would suspend the contracts of oil companies who needlessly damage the environment. The decision follows the recent announcement that the Ecuadorian government had made US$1 billion from the oilfields of Oxy Petroleum, whose concessions were revoked a year ago for breach of contract. Correa has announced his intention to renegotiate contracts with other oil companies to give the government a larger share of the profits, to use for social spending.

Already under investigation is Brazil’s Petrobras, which holds the right to explore Oil Block 31, located in one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. Another target of the government’s ire is a mine planned by Ascendant Copper in Junin. Ascendant’s environmental impact statement was rejected in late 2006, and the company is also accused of using paramilitary groups to intimidate and assault local opponents of the mine.

On February 5, Ecuador announced that it will take Colombia to the International Court of Justice over the spraying of glyphosate near the border and over parts of Ecuador. In December last year, Ecuador temporarily withdrew its ambassador from Colombia over the issue. The spraying is part of the US-funded “war on drugs” and is designed to kill coca plants, the source of the raw material for cocaine. However, it also leads to massive environmental damage, birth defects and the poisoning of the watertable.

The government’s new budget, delivered on January 31, promised a $1 billion reduction in foreign debt payments and repeated the government’s intention to renegotiate much of the debt. The government also outlined a plan to reform the tax system, lowering the value-added tax from 12% to 10% while increasing company taxes. On February 1, Correa announced the doubling of social benefits to more than a million of the poorest and most vulnerable, including the sick and single mothers.

Correa has already suffered some setbacks, however. Banana-growers have protested his choice of agriculture minister, Carlos Vallejo — a former associate of Correa’s rival in last year’s presidential election, Alvaro Noboa. Noboa is Ecuador’s richest man and owns numerous banana plantations. He is accused of using child labour and violently breaking strikes. Another associate of Noboa’s, Francisco Cucalon, recently appointed attorney-general, resigned on January 31 amid protests by Correa and others that his appointment was unconstitutional.

Another setback for Correa was the death on January 24, after only nine days in office, of Guadalupe Larriva, Ecuador’s first ever female defence minister. Larriva died in a collision of two military helicopters near Manta air base. She was a former president of the Socialist Party of Ecuador and head of the teachers’ union, and had been planning to renovate the armed forces, including increasing wages for low-ranking soldiers.

An independent investigation initiated by the government found nothing suspicious about the death. Nevertheless, Correa has replaced the head of the army. He has appointed another woman, Lorena Escudero, as defence minister. Since coming to power, Correa has also replaced three police chiefs, the latest on January 27, as he attempts to reform an institution rife with corruption.

The most important part of Correa’s reform program, the convoking of an assembly to rewrite the constitution, similar to efforts in Venezuela and Bolivia, has set the scene for a major showdown with the political forces traditionally dominant in Ecuador. The Constituent Assembly, which is supported by upwards of 75% of Ecuadorians, has been hindered by the traditional parties that dominate the Congress and Supreme Electoral Court (TSE), which fear it will reduce their power.

The TSE deliberately dragged its heels on declaring the legality of a planned March 18 referendum on the Constituent Assembly, before handballing the decision to the Congress after hundreds of pro-assembly protesters broke into the courtroom on January 23. Congress, also hostile to Correa, has since been stalling on the bill, as the parties debate the exact powers that the assembly will have and attempt to water it down to ensure their continuing control.

On January 30, thousands of protesters stormed the Congress, demanding it pass the bill, chanting “Death to the rats!” and “Down with the Congress, yes to the assembly!” Authorities evacuated the building and dispersed protesters with tear-gas. Protesters were also incensed that members of Congress, regarded by most Ecuadorians as corrupt, had also just voted to increase their salaries.

On February 6, the Congress blocked a vote on the assembly. The Patriotic Society Party of former president Lucio Gutierrez, who was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2005, had previously promised to support the bill but refused to vote for it. The PSP is the second largest party in Congress with 24 out of 100 seats, giving it the balance of power. It is widely believed that the PSP’s support for the bill will be conditional on them gaining key positions in the assembly and in the government.

Correa, who described Gutierrez as a “viper”, has threatened that if the Congress continues to stall or doesn’t pass the bill, it will be bypassed. Vice-President Lenin Moreno has suggested that an “ad hoc” committee could be convoked to set the parameters for the Constituent Assembly. Correa has also threatened to call further mass demonstrations to force the Congress to pass the bill, saying “The fight here is between the Congress and 13 million Ecuadorians”.

The social movements are feeling similarly frustrated. Humberto Cholango, of the indigenous organisation ECUARUNARI, has threatened that an indigenous uprising could be organised to force the issue. Similar uprisings have led to the overthrow of three presidents in the last decade. ECUARUNARI, the main indigenous federation CONAIE and dozens of other social movements and organisations have united to form the National Front for the Plurinational Constituent Assembly. A massive march on Quito is planned for March 13 to demand the Congress obey the popular mandate.

Ecuador names another police chief

SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2007

Al Jazeera

Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, has appointed his third police chief this week and his fourth since taking office on January 15.

Correa, a leftist former economy minister who has promised to reform the agency hit by corruption scandals, replaced Paco Teran with Bolivar Cisneros late on Friday.

Teran had replaced Mario Moran, who was sacked after less than one day on the job.

"Many top police officers have had serious accusations of being linked to corruption and we want to tap on young officers with a new mentality," said the 43-year-old president on Saturday.

Some analysts said Cisneros may be the president's final choice to the top police job because Correa has successfully removed older officers from the institution.

An ally of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, Correa has asked senior police officers for their resignation letters.

A common practice in Ecuador, it allows presidents to decide who keeps their jobs in a new administration.

Shake-up

But the officers have refused to comply. Some analysts say Correa may have decided to name each of them to the top job, then fire them to purge the police department without appearing to conduct a major shake-up.

Ecuador has struggled with instability over the last decade during which three presidents have been ousted by political turmoil, street protests and congressional battles.

Many Ecuadorians were attracted by Correa's call for change. But he could face a struggle with ministers who want to ensure he does not erode their political influence.

Death of a minister

Correa said on Saturday that he will name a woman to the top security job after the death of Guadalupe Larriva, the country's first female defence minister.

"It's important for the ministry to be headed by a woman. Guadalupe's maternal heart was able to do more than the strong hand of the generals," Correa said in his weekly radio interview show.

He said that the next minister will also come from Larriva's home province of Azuay

Guadalupe Larriva was killed in a mid-air collision of two helicopters after only nine days in office.