[NYTr] Historic Left Victory in Ecuador

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Counterpunch - Oct 1, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/burbach10012007.html


Historic Victory in Ecuador

Left Triumphs, Nation's Institutions to be Transformed

By ROGER BURBACH

"We have won an historic victory," proclaimed President Rafael Correa
of Ecuador. On Sunday the political coalition he heads won an
overwhelming majority of the seats in the Constituent Assembly that is
tasked with "refounding" the nation's institutions. Taking office early
this year in a land slide victory, Correa has repeatedly called for an
opening to a "new socialism of the twenty- first century," declaring
that Ecuador has to end "the perverse system that has destroyed our
democracy, our economy and our society." His government marks the
emergence of a radical anti-neoliberal axis in South America,
comprising Venezuela, Bolivia and now Ecuador.

"The Assembly elections are a devastating blow for the oligarchs and
the right wing political parties who have historically pulled the
strings on a corrupt state that includes Congress and the Supreme
Court," says Alejandro Moreano, a sociologist and political analyst at
the Andean University Simon Bolivar in Quito. Even Michel Camdesseus,
the former director of the International Monetary Fund, once commented
that Ecuador is characterized "by an incestuous relation between
bankers, political-financial pressure groups and corrupt government
officials."

The victory in the Constituent Assembly is the result of years of
agitation and struggle by Ecuador's indigenous and social movements
along with an unorganized, largely middle-class movement of people
known as the "forajidos," an Ecuadoran term meaning outlaws or bandits
who rebel against the established system. In March when the Congress
and the right wing political parties tried to sabotage the elections
for the Assembly, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the
streets of Quito, blocking the entrances to Congress and backing the
disbarment of the Congressional members who wanted to suppress the
elections.

The "Country Movement," the popular political coalition lead by Correa,
will convene the Assembly at the end of October. Its charge is to draft
a new constitution that will break up the dysfunctional state,
establish a plurinational, participatory democracy, reclaim Ecuadoran
sovereignty, and use the state to create social and economic
institutions that benefit the people. One of its first acts will be to
abolish the existent Congress.

The Assembly will also facilitate an international realignment of
Ecuador's international relations. The Correa government has already
moved assertively in its relations with the United States. María
Fernanda Espinosa, the dynamic Minister of Foreign Relations, declared
that Ecuador intends to close the U.S. military base located at Manta,
the largest of its kind on South America's Pacific coast. "Ecuador is a
sovereign nation," she said. "We do not need any foreign troops in our
country." The treaty for the base expires in 2009 and will not be
renewed.

Thus far there have been no direct confrontations with the United
States, but the Pentagon has manifested its displeasure. Every year
since 1959, the US Southern Command, together with the Pacific coast
nations of South America, have undertaken joint naval exercises called
Unitas. This year they were to be hosted in Ecuador, but the United
States opted to conduct them in Colombia, its closest regional ally.
Ecuador responded by announcing it would not participate in this year's
exercises, with Correa proclaiming, "It appears the Southern Command
believes we are a colony of the United States, that our navy is just
one more unit controlled by their country."

Correa is also standing up to Occidental Petroleum, a U.S.-based
corporation whose Ecuadoran holdings were taken over by state-owned
PetroEcuador last year for selling off some of its assets to a Canadian
company in violation of its contract with the Ecuadoran state. With the
takeover of Occidental's holdings, PetroEcuador now controls more than
half of the country's petroleum exports, which themselves account for
about 40% of Ecuador's total exports and one third of government
revenues. Correa has denounced Occidental's "lobbying" of the Bush
administration to regain its holdings. "We are not going to allow an
arrogant, portentous transnational that doesn't respect Ecuadoran laws
to harm our country," he said.

At the same time, Ecuador is negotiating special bilateral trade and
economic agreements with presidents Chávez and Morales. Venezuela has
agreed to refine Ecuadoran oil and help fund social programs in
Ecuador, while the Bolivian government has concluded an agreement to
import foodstuffs from small- and medium-size producers in Ecuador.
Correa has also signed several petroleum accords with Venezuela, of
which the most important is a $4 billion project for a refinery backed
by PetroEcuador and the Venezuelan state petroleum company.

Alejandro Moreano of the Andean University worries that "that all of
the interests involved in the Country Movement may not back the tough
steps needed to end neo-liberalism and bring the banks and
multinationals under control. This will depend on the strength of
popular mobilizations as the Assembly undertakes its work." For his
part Correa has repeatedly denounced the private banks in Ecuador for
their exorbitant profit-taking and high interest rates. And he has
expelled Ecuador's World Bank representative for meddling in the
country's affairs and has virtually terminated the country's relations
with the International Monetary Fund.

There is already a steady drum beat by the indigenous and popular
movements to have the Constituent Assembly take over all multinational
mining interests. In early June, the local populace in the gold-mining
southern highland province of Azuay, backed by environmental and human
rights organizations, blockaded major highways, demanding the
expropriation of the mining companies, many of which are controlled by
transnational corporations that have polluted local rivers and
aquifers. Alberto Acosta, an internationally renowned anti-neoliberal
economist who will be president of the Constituent Assembly, met with
the protesters. He told them the mining concessions couldn't be
annulled outright. "This is a task of the Constituent Assembly," he
said. "It can establish a legal framework that will enable us to revise
all the concessions." This month on October 22 a national mobilization
will take place that will call upon the Assembly to nationalize all
foreign mining interests in the country.


[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."]