<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><h2 class="date-header"><span>Friday, October 1, 2010</span></h2>
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<a href="http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/10/behind-coup-in-ecuador-rightwing-attack.html">Behind the Coup in Ecuador – The Attack on ALBA</a>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5nhnOiM93Mk/TKZL0rplK6I/AAAAAAAAAaI/YoDu7klEvtA/s1600/ecuador.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5nhnOiM93Mk/TKZL0rplK6I/AAAAAAAAAaI/YoDu7klEvtA/s320/ecuador.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5523185361458899874" border="0"></a><br><br><br>By Eva Golinger<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">Translation: Machetera</span><br><br>The
latest coup attempt against one of the countries in the Bolivarian
Alliance For The People of Our America (ALBA) is attempt to impede Latin
American integration and the advance of revolutionary democratic
processes. The rightwing is on the attack in Latin America. Its
success in 2009 in Honduras against the government of Manuel Zelaya
energized it and gave it the strength and confidence to strike again
against the people and revolutionary governments in Latin America.<br><br>The
elections of Sunday, September 26th in Venezuela, while victorious for
the Venezuelan United Socialist Party (PSUV), also ceded space to the
most reactionary and dangerous destabilizing forces at the service of
imperial interests. The United States managed to situate key elements
in the Venezuelan National Assembly, giving them a platform to move
forward with their conspiratorial schemes to undermine Venezuelan
democracy.<br><br>The day after the elections in Venezuela, the main
advocate for peace in Colombia, Piedad Córdoba, was dismissed as a
Senator in the Republic of Colombia, by Colombia’s Inspector General, on
the basis of falsified evidence and accusations. But the attack
against Senator Córdoba is a symbol of the attack against progressive
forces in Colombia who seek true and peaceful solutions to the war in
which they have been living for more than 60 years.<br><br>And now,
Thursday, September 30th, was the dawn of a coup d’etat in Ecuador.
Insubordinate police took over a number of facilities in the capital of
Quito, creating chaos and panic in the country. Supposedly, they were
protesting against a new law approved by the National Assembly on
Wednesday, which according to them reduced labor benefits.<br><br>In an
attempt to resolve the situation, President Rafael Correa went to meet
with the rebellious police but was attacked with heavy objects and
teargas, causing a wound on his leg and teargas asphyxiation. He was
taken to a military hospital in Quito, where he was later kidnapped and
held against his will, prevented from leaving.<br><br>Meanwhile, popular
movements took to the streets of Quito, demanding the liberation of
their President, democratically re-elected the previous year by a huge
majority. Thousands of Ecuadorans raised their voices in support of
President Correa, trying to rescue their democracy from the hands of
coup-plotters who were looking to provoke the forced resignation of the
national government.<br><br>In a dramatic development, President Correa
was rescued in an operation by Special Forces from the Ecuadoran
military in the late evening hours. Correa denounced his kidnapping by
the coup-plotting police and laid responsibility for the coup d’etat
directly upon former President, Lucio Gutiérrez. Gutiérrez was a
presidential candidate in 2009 against President Correa, and lost in a
landslide when more than 55% voted for Correa.<br><br>During today’s
events, Lucio Gutiérrez declared in an interview, “The end of Correa’s
tyranny is at hand,” also asking for the “dissolution of Parliament and a
call for early presidential elections.”<br><br>But beyond the key role
played by Gutiérrez, there are external factors involved in this
attempted coup d’etat that are moving their pieces once again.<br><br>Infiltration of the Police<br><br>According
to journalist Jean-Guy Allard, an official report from Ecuador’s
Defense Minister, Javier Ponce, distributed in October of 2008 revealed
“how US diplomats dedicated themselves to corrupting the police and the
Armed Forces.”<br><br>The report confirmed that police units “maintain
an informal economic dependence on the United States, for the payment of
informants, training, equipment and operations.”<br><br>In response to
the report, US Ambassador in Ecuador, Heather Hodges, justified the
collaboration, saying “We work with the government of Ecuador, with the
military and with the police, on objectives that are very important for
security.” According to Hodges, the work with Ecuador’s security forces
is related to the “fight against drug trafficking.”<br><br>The Ambassador<br><br>Ambassador
Hodges was sent to Ecuador in 2008 by then President George W. Bush.
Previously she successfully headed up the embassy in Moldova, a
socialist country formerly part of the Soviet Union. She left Moldova
sowing the seeds for a “colored revolution” that took place,
unsuccessfully, in April of 2009 against the majority communist party
elected to parliament.<br><br>Hodges headed the Office of Cuban Affairs
within the US State Department in 1991, as its Deputy Director. The
department was dedicated to the promotion of destabilization in Cuba.
Two years later she was sent to Nicaragua in order to consolidate the
administration of Violeta Chamorro, the president selected by the United
States following the dirty war against the Sandinista government, which
led to its exit from power in 1989.<br><br>When Bush sent her to
Ecuador, it was with the intention of sowing destabilization against
Correa, in case the Ecuadoran president refused to subordinate himself
to Washington’s agenda. Hodges managed to increase the budget for USAID
and the NED [National Endowment for Democracy] directed toward social
organizations and political groups that promote US interests, including
within the indigenous sector.<br><br>In the face of President Correa’s
re-election in 2009, based on a new constitution approved in 2008 by a
resounding majority of men and women in Ecuador, the Ambassador began to
foment destabilization.<br><br>USAID<br><br>Certain progressive social
groups have expressed their discontent with the policies of the Correa
government. There is no doubt that legitimate complaints and grievances
against his government exist. Not all groups and organizations in
opposition to Correa’s policies are imperial agents. But a sector among
them does exist which receives financing and guidelines in order to
provoke destabilizing situations in the country that go beyond the
natural expressions of criticism and opposition to a government.<br><br>In
2010, the State Department increased USAID’s budget in Ecuador to more
than $38 million dollars. In the most recent years, a total of
$5,640,000 in funds were invested in the work of “decentralization” in
the country. One of the main executors of USAID’s programs in Ecuador
is the same enterprise that operates with the rightwing in Bolivia:
Chemonics, Inc. At the same time, NED issued a grant of $125,806 to the
Center for Private Enterprise (CIPE) to promote free trade treaties,
globalization, and regional autonomy through Ecuadoran radio, television
and newspapers, along with the Ecuadoran Institute of Economic Policy.<br><br>Organizations
in Ecuador such as Participación Ciudadana and Pro-justicia [Citizen
Participation and Pro-Justice], as well as members and sectors of
CODEMPE, Pachakutik, CONAIE, the Corporación Empresarial Indígena del
Ecuador [Indigenous Enterprise Corporation of Ecuador] and Fundación
Qellkaj [Qellkaj Foundation] have had USAID and NED funds at their
disposal.<br><br>During the events of September 30 in Ecuador, one of
the groups receiving USAID and NED financing, Pachakutik, sent out a
press release backing the coup-plotting police and demanding the
resignation of President Correa, holding him responsible for what was
taking place. The group even went so far as to accuse him of a
“dictatorial attitude.” Pachakutik entered into a political alliance
with Lucio Gutiérrez in 2002 and its links with the former president are
well known:<br><br><span style="font-style: italic;">“PACHAKUTIK ASKS PRESIDENT CORREA TO RESIGN AND CALLS FOR THE FORMING OF A SINGLE NATIONAL FRONT<br><br>Press Release 141<br><br>In
the face of the serious political turmoil and internal crisis generated
by the dictatorial attitude of President Rafael Correa, who has
violated the rights of public servants as well as society, the head of
the Pachakutik Movement, Cléver Jiménez, called on the indigenous
movement, social movements and democratic political organizations to
form a single national front to demand the exit of President Correa,
under the guidelines established by Article 130, Number 2 of the
Constitution, which says: “The National Assembly will dismiss the
President of the Republic in the following cases: 2) For serious
political crisis and domestic turmoil.”<br><br>Jiménez backed the
struggle of the country’s public servants, including the police troops
who have mobilized against the regime’s authoritarian policies which are
an attempt to eliminate acquired labor rights. The situation of the
police and members of the Armed Forces should be understood as a just
action by public servants, whose rights have been made vulnerable.<br><br>This
afternoon, Pachakutik is calling on all organizations within the
indigenous movement, workers, democratic men and women to build unity
and prepare new actions to reject Correa’s authoritarianism, in defense
of the rights and guarantees of all Ecuadorans.<br><br>Press Secretary<br><br>PACHAKUTIK BLOQUE”</span><br><br>The
script used in Venezuela and Honduras repeats itself. They try to hold
the President and the government responsible for the “coup,” later
forcing their exit from power. The coup against Ecuador is the next
phase in the permanent aggression against ALBA and revolutionary
movements in the region.<br><br>The Ecuadoran people remain mobilized in
their rejection of the coup attempt, while progressive forces in the
region have come together to express their solidarity and support of
President Correa and his government.
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Posted by
<span class="fn">Eva Golinger</span>
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