Ecuador's Correa heads for resounding referendum win

[Joanne98]

Source: reuters

QUITO (Reuters) - From the gloomy Andes mountains to the tropical Amazon rainforest, Ecuadoreans on Sunday voted in a referendum expected to boost the sway of leftist President Rafael Correa in a battle with a Congress seen as corrupt.

The latest Cedatos-Gallup poll tipped the U.S.-educated economist to win an emphatic 66 percent of the vote in a referendum to set up an assembly to rewrite the constitution.

This body could strip powers from a Congress seen as having vested interests in state firms and the judiciary.

"What is at stake today is whether the country strives toward the future or remains mired in the past," Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea told Ecuadorean television. "The 'yes' vote will have a resounding victory."

Correa, wh


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1424273920070415

---

YAYYYYY!!!!

[whistle]

1. Leftist governments in South American countries means that U.S. imperialists

....and their criminal henchmen will be kicked out of those countries. That means America retaliates by eliminating the legitimate governments and installing a puppet right wing government usually one headed by a strong man ready and willing to commit whatever atrocities are deemed necessary to restore and secure America's interests.

<snip>
The Atrocities of Augusto Pinochet and the United States

by Roger Burbach

December 12, 2006

In Santiago on September 11, 1973 I watched as Chilean air force jets flew overhead. Moments later I heard explosions and saw fireballs of smoke fill the sky as the presidential palace went up in flames. Salvador Allende, the elected Socialist president of Chile died in the palace.

As an American the death of General Augusto Pinochet brings back many memories of the military coup and the role played by my government in the violent overthrow of Allende. From the moment of his election in September, 1970 the Nixon administration mounted a covert campaign against him. Henry Kissinger, then Nixon’s National Security adviser, declared: “I don’t see why we need to stand idly by and watch a country go Communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people.” Weeks later the pro-constitutionalist head of the army, General Rene Schneider, was assassinated in a failed attempt to stop the inauguration of Allende.

For the next three years CIA-backed terrorist groups bombed and destroyed state railroads, power plants and key highway arteries to create chaos and stop the country from functioning. The goal was to “make the economy scream” as Nixon ordered. US corporations such as IT&T also participated in the efforts to destabilize the country.

In the midst of this struggle for control of Chile, Allende insisted, almost stubbornly, on maintaining the country’s democratic institutions. He enjoyed immense popular support from below, even in the waning days of his government when the economy was in shambles and virtually everyone believed a confrontation was imminent. I’ll never forget the last major demonstration on September 4, 1973, when the Alameda, the major avenue of downtown Santiago, was packed with tens of thousands of marchers, all intent on passing by the presidential palace where Allende stood on a balcony waving to the crowd. This was no government-orchestrated demonstration in which people were trucked in from the barrios and countryside. These people came out of a deep sense of commitment, a belief that this was their government and that they would defend it to the end.
<MORE>

http://www.newsocialist.org/index.php?id=1123

[Joanne98]

2. Well, we'll just have to cut the Imperialists part of the budget..

[Pavulon]

5. It is worth noting

the make up of congress during the decades of dabbling in south america. The us can be counted on to protect its interest, no matter what party is in power.

[Peace Patriot]

3. Look to the south, friends! Really! They are teaching us what democracy looks like!

All those "Banana Republics" down there have had it. They are throwing the Banana Republicans out, and their Bushite buddies with them.

It is a glory to behold!

1. Transparent elections.
2. Grass roots organization.
3. Think big.

-------------------------------

As for Whistle's dire warning--while it is well for us to be aware of this history--I don't think that this is any longer possible (US-backed military coups and fascist juntas). I believe that it has been headed off, by some kind of concerted action by Latin American leaders that I don't have the full outline of, or the full details for, but which I am certain has occurred.

1. The Venezuelans' repulsion of a rightwing military coup in 2002. A pivotal event. In fact, unprecedented. People power. One million people came out into the streets, surrounded Miraflores Palace (the seat of government) and demanded that their Constitution be restored and their kidnapped president returned. They won!

2. The successes of the Chavez government since then--not only with Venezuelans (63% of the vote in the last election) but ALSO among its neighbors and other So. American countries on projects such as the Bank of the South (helping each other out of onerous World Bank debt), and Mercosur (So. American trade group, probable precursor to a So. American "Common Market"). Paraguay and BRAZIL have just joined the Bank of the South, started by Venezuela. This is momentous--a real turning point. Also, Uruguay turned down Bush "free trade" deals in favor of Mercosur. The Bolivarian revolution's principles of Latin American self-determination and regional cooperation are having a profound effect.

3. In Colombia--the last bastion of outright Bushism--a huge scandal has hit the Uribe government (Bush's pal) with the top echelons of the government involved in rightwing paramilitary drug trafficking, murders of leftists, union organizers and peasants, and a plot to assassinate Hugo Chavez and destabilize the Andean democracies. The CHIEF of the Colombian military has been named--the Bush Junta has been larding billions of our taxpayer dollars on the Colombian military for the phony, murderous "war on drugs." These fascist plots and cabals have been seriously disrupted.

4. When Bush visited Latin America, recently--just after the Colombian scandals hit the newsstream--he was greeted with public lectures by Latin American leaders, from Brazil to Mexico, from left and right, on the SOVEREIGNTY of Latin American countries. Even Mexico's rightwing/corporatist president did this, and he mentioned Venezuela as an example. I was astonished. Whatever Calderon's sincerity, he felt obliged to issue the same "butt out" message to Bush that the leftwing governments were issuing. Something's up with this. I think maybe they all know that Bushites were involved in those Colombian plots. Also, it appears to me that Venezuela's declaration of independence is affecting all Latin American leaders--with pride and with new power, in dealing with the U.S.

5. Here is a list of the countries where leftist (majorityist) governments have been elected: Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. And there are strong leftist movements in progress in Peru, Paraguay and Mexico--likely to win future elections. Possibly also Guatemala. The times they are a-changin'. Yes they are. The left now dominates the OAS, and this new leftist coalition t is moving fast on the economic and political fronts to establish principles of self-determination and social justice for the whole region.

6. And there have been a whole lot of little things--little hints, but a lot of them--that add up to this: It is no longer okay in South America to side with Bush against Chavez. The leftist president of Chile, Michele Batchelet, recently suffered an embarrassment when Chile's ambassador to Venezuela publicly criticized her for not supporting Venezuela's bid for a UN Security Council seat. Chile abstained--directly pressured by Condi Rice, I believe--and Venezuela lost its bid (to Panama). That was then (last year). This is now. Things were still fluid then, as to how things would go with Chavez and the Bolviarian revolution. But they are not fluid any more--as to succumbing to Bushite bullying or bribery. The Bushites are on the outs. They possibly blew it, with Bush's appointment of John "death squad" Negroponte as Asst. Sec of State for Latin America. A very insulting appointment. But there is so much more--all of it pointing to: The Bush Junta has "lost" South America, and Bush, on his trip, was unable to produce sufficient "deliverables" to the global corporate predators who sent him on the mission. Bush is toast, in my opinion. And this is at least a part--and possibly a large part--of the reason why. And democracy has won.



--------------------------

I recommend the following:

www.venezuelanalysis.com (--excellent site for background on the Bolivarian revolution, and current Venezuela/Chavez events).

www.AxisOfLogic.com (where you can obtain a DVD of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"--an Irish film crew's documentary on the attempted overthrow of the Chavez government, and its failure--possibly the most important event in the history of Latin American democracy since the anti-colonial revolution led by Simon Bolivar).

[rcdean]

4. Good to see them blowing off the right, the IMF and Bushistas. BUT...

talk to us about the degree to which legislative power appears to be diminishing in favor of executives who rule by fiat.

[reprobate]

7. I just had a terrifying thought. If you're right about Bush's corporate

puppet masters being so disillusioned with his efforts, what is to keep them from terminating his presidency with prejudice? AND PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I DO NOT SUPPORT ANYTHING LIKE THIS, I'M JUST NOODLING POSSIBILITIES.

If that were to happen it would put the DARK SIDE (cheney) in the catbird's seat, with the freedom to attack any leftist regime in Latin America.

What do you think?

[Peace Patriot]

9. Naw, I think this is all prep for installing Hillary with some nice new "unitary executive"

powers to deal with the anti-globalization, war veterans and old grannies in wheelchairs "riots" that these fuckheads are going to inspire. I think this all goes back to Seattle '99: 50,000 trade unionists, human rights groups, environmentalists, teachers, postal workers, steel workers, parents, children--broad band of people--shutting down the WTO. The American people have the theoretical sovereign power to pull the corporate charters of our global corporate predators and seize their assets for the public good, or at least to severely curtail and regulate them--and, if Seattle '99 is any guide--and I think it is--the American people are of a mind to. These bad actors have not only gravely harmed other people and the planet, they are now killing the "golden goose"--the American middle class. They are turning US into the world's biggest "Banana Republic." So, after the Great Looting will come the Great Police State, presided over by a "liberal." The purpose will be to restore global corporate predatorship abroad (I'm thinking particularly of Latin America, which is in full rebellion against it), and preserve it at home. Maybe, too, to get some more cannon fodder--a Draft. Stuff Cheney simply cannot accomplish. Granted, some pretty scary things are in place for Darth Dick to take over. But I don't think that's the plan.

And you know why I think this--the thing that really crowns it for me?: The mind-boggling silence of the Democratic Party leadership as rightwing Bushite corporations took over our vote counting system, between 2002 and 2004, with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code in all the new electronic voting systems, and no audit controls. What can this mean, that the Democrats allowed them to do this, with not one peep of objection? That what we are looking at is not so much a Bush Cabal plot as a Global Corporate Predator plot. The Diebold/ES&S election theft capability is useful for perpetrating unjust war and looting us blind, but it is also useful for "free trade." Spook us with Cheney. Hit us with Hillary. It will look like an improvement.

And, of course, the deep, structural rot in our democracy--the monster of corporate rule--cannot be addressed, cannot be solved, if that very same monster is "counting" all our votes under a veil of corporate secrecy.

[Judi Lynn]

6. UPDATE 2-Ecuador's Correa heads for large referendum win

UPDATE 2-Ecuador's Correa heads for large referendum win
Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:37pm ET

By Alonso Soto

QUITO, April 15 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa appeared set for a landslide win in a referendum on Sunday that could enable him to wrest control from a Congress reviled as corrupt in the politically unstable country.

The latest Cedatos-Gallup poll tipped Correa, a leftist and friend of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to win an emphatic 66 percent of the vote to set up an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
(snip)

A clear win on Sunday will bolster Correa's mandate and allow him to push ahead with initiatives such as ending the lease on a major U.S. military base, renegotiating oil deals and reworking the national debt.

More:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-04-15T183657Z_01_N15205638_RTRIDST_0_ECUADOR-REFERENDUM-UPDATE-2-PICTURE.XML&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=InvArt-C1-ArticlePage1

[Judi Lynn]

8. FACTBOX-Facts about Ecuador's proposed assembly

FACTBOX-Facts about Ecuador's proposed assembly
Thu Apr 12, 2007 12:08PM EDT

~snip~
Here are some details of Correa's proposed assembly:

* If Ecuadoreans back setting up the assembly in Sunday's referendum, they will choose its 130 members in an election later this year, most likely in September or October.

* Political parties or movements fielding candidates for the assembly would have to gather signatures from at least 1 percent of the Andean nation's 9 million registered voters.

* One hundred members of the assembly would be elected in their respective provinces and voters would pick another 24 from a national list of candidates. The remaining six would be elected by more than 140,000 registered voters living abroad.

* The government would finance the publicity campaign of assembly candidates; private funding will not be allowed.

* The assembly would last for six months and could only be extended once for two months. Continued...

* The assembly would have broad powers to write a new constitution. All reforms would need support from the majority of assembly members, meaning at least 66 votes.

* A new constitution would then have to be approved by voters in another referendum.

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1232734420070412

[gorbal]

10. They won!

By almost 80 percent no less!!!!

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEN20070416&articleId=5394

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

11. kick! n/t

[Judi Lynn]

12. Ecuador heads for constitutional reform

Ecuador heads for constitutional reform
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

QUITO - Agence France-Presse

Leftist Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa celebrated victory yesterday after voters apparently approved his plan to rewrite the country's constitution, by a larger than three to one margin.

According to unofficial national exit polls, 78.1 percent of voters, in a national referendum held Sunday, backed his plan for convening an assembly to draft a new constitution. Early official returns indicated the president's proposal had the support of 84.1 percent of Ecuadorans.

"For the government's part, we will always respond with more democracy, as we have done this Sunday," the president said at a news conference in the southwestern port of Guayaquil.

The leftist economist's remark appeared aimed at deflecting criticism that he wants to take Ecuador down the path of his ally, Venezuela's firebrand socialist president, Hugo Chavez.

More:
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=70842

[gorbal]

13. Everyone should see this...

Everyone should see this Speech Chomsky did on South America- (with a bit on the middle east in the end)

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/01/155215&mode=thread&tid=25