PRES/BROTHER CORREA IS FREE: THE EMPIRE CAN TRY WHAT IT LIKES, BUT THE PEOPLES ARE RECLAIMING THE WHOLE CONTINENT

Troops free Ecuador president

Al-Jazeera

Security forces loyal to Ecuador's president have stormed a hospital

in the capital, Quito, where Rafael Correa was trapped by police

officers protesting over plans to cut their benefits.

Twelve hours after police surrounded the hospital on Thursday,

soldiers moved amid heavy gunfire and Correa was rushed out of the

building.

Two policemen were killed when the army attacked the hospital, the

Red Cross said. At least 37 others were injured as Correa supporters

skirmished with police outside the hospital.

Addressing supporters after his release, the president said the

uprising was not a simple police insurrection over pay-related

grievances but an attempt to overthrow him.

"There were lots of infiltrators, dressed as civilian and we know

where they were from," he shouted from the balcony of the

presidential palace.

Correa said those responsible for the rebellion would be punished.

"There will be no pardon," he said, as celebrating crowds waved flags

and cheered.

Miguel Alvear, a journalist in Quito, told Al Jazeera late Thursday

night that the president appeared to be fully in control.

"He has the support of the armed forces and the attorney-general has

already announced that he will investigate and prosecute the people

behind this."

'Banks looted'

However, Al Jazeera's Monica Villamizar, reporting from the capital,

said the situation was still tense and roads empty.

"Most people are locked in their houses, as police have warned that

they are not going to protect them, that they are on strike and

anything could happen," she said.

"There are also reports of looting. Banks have been looted, some in

the capital and some in the commercial city of Guayaquil."

The government has declared a state of siege, putting the military in

charge of public order, suspending civil liberties and allowing

warrantless searches.

Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, summoned the South American Union

to an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires while Correa was still held

in the hospital.

Heads of states on Friday denounced the police rebellion as an

"attempted coup", saying they were determined "not to tolerate any

new assault against the institutional authority."

Al Jazeera's Craig Mauro, reporting from Buenos Aires, said the

meeting was a show of of South American unity and concern for

democratisation across political lines.

"The presidents span a wide ideological spectrum from those on the

socialist left, Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez, to right-wingers like

Sebastian Pinera of Chile and Alan Garcia of Peru," he said.

"But all of them are saying the same thing – that this must be

condemned. There will be unanimous agreement here that Correa should

stay in power in Ecuador."

President teargassed

Correa had been attacked by police demonstrating against cuts to

their bonuses and frozen promotions when he tried to talk to them

earlier on Thursday.

A tear-gas cannister exploded close to the president's face and

overcome by the fumes, he was taken to the nearby National Police

Hospital.

Once inside, though, Correa was unable to leave, surrounded by

mutinous police as clashes broke out in the streets of the capital.

A state of emergency was called after police stormed congress,

blocked roads and set fires outside their barracks.

Though the high-ranking military officials stayed loyal to Correa,

some soldiers joined the protests and seized Quito's main

international airport, halting flights for several hours.

After his rescue, Correa gave special thanks to an elite police

special operations unit that remained loyal and protected the

hospital from the mob outside.

"If not for them, this horde of savages that wanted to kill, that

wanted blood, would have entered the hospital to look for the

president and I probably wouldn't have been telling you this because

I would have passed on to a better life," he said.

Peru and Colombia closed their countries' borders with Ecuador in

solidarity with Correa. Along with the rest of the region's leaders

and the United States, they expressed firm support for Correa.

Political instability

The law which provoked the unrest was approved by congress on

Wednesday but has not yet taken effect because it must first be

published.

Ecuador, with a population of 14 million, has a long history of

political instability. Street protests toppled three presidents

during economic turmoil in the decade before Correa was elected in

2006.

More than half of the 124-member congress are officially allied with

Correa, but some in his left-wing Country Alliance party have been

blocking budget proposals aimed at cutting state costs.

To solve the deadlock, Correa has said he is considering dissolving

congress. Ecuador's two-year-old constitution allows the president to

declare a political impasse that could dissolve congress until a new

presidential and parliamentary elections can be held.

The measure would, however, have to be approved by the Constitutional

Court to take effect.

Correa, a US trained economist, was first elected in 2006 promising a

"citizens' revolution" aimed at increasing state control of Ecuador's

natural resources and fighting what he calls the country's corrupt

elite.

Once in power, Correa backed the rewriting of the constitution to

tilt the balance of power towards the executive. He easily won

re-election under the new constitution in 2009, and he is allowed to

stand again in 2013.

BREAKING NEWS: COUP ATTEMPT AGAINST ECUADOREAN LEFT NATIONALIST PRESIDENT: CORREA

History cannot be turned back in Latin America

[The nationally assembly says that it will not give in, or dialogue with the protesting police and armed forces until the president has been safely returned to his office at the national palace. People are going in masses to RETIEVE THEIR PRESIDENT from the police hospital. - Sons of Malcolm]

Eva Golinger

Z Space

A coup attempt is underway against the government of President Rafael

Correa. On Thursday morning, groups of police forces rebelled and

took over key strategic sites in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. President

Correa immediately went to the military base occupied by the police

leading the protest to work out a solution to the situation. The

police protesting claimed a new law passed on Wednesday regarding

public officials would reduce their benefits.

Nonetheless, President Correa affirmed that his government has

actually doubled police wages over the past four years. The law would

not cut benefits but rather restructure them. The law was used as an

excuse to justify the police protest. But other forces are behind the

chaos, attempting to provoke a coup led by former president Lucio

Guitierrez, who was impeached by popular revolt in Ecuador in 2005.

“This is a coup attempt led by Lucio Guitierrez”, denounced Correa on

Thursday afternoon via telephone. Correa was attacked by the police

forces with tear gas. "Kill me if you need to. There will be other

Correa's", said the President, addressing the police rebellion. He

was hospitalized shortly after at a military hospital, which has now

been taking over by coup forces. As of 1pm Thursday, police forces

were attempting to access his hospital room to possibly assassinate

him.

Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño called on supporters to go to the

hospital to defend Correa and prevent his assassination. Military

forces took over an air base in Quito to prevent air transit and took

over nearby streets to prevent Correa's supporters from mobilizing

towards the hospital. Other security forces took over the parliament,

preventing legislators from accessing the state institution and

causing severe chaos and violence. Thousands of supporters filled

Quito’s streets, gathering around the presidential palace, backing

Correa and rejecting the coup attempt.

At 2pm EST, the Ecuadorian government declared an emergency state.

Countries throughout the region expressed support for Correa and

condemned the destabilization. The Organization of American States in

Washington called an emergency meeting at 2:30pm EST. ALBA nations

and UNASUR are also convening.

Ecuador is a member of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA)

and a close ally of Venezuela. Last June, Honduras, a prior ALBA

member, was victim of a coup d'etat that forced President Manuel

Zelaya from power. The coup was backed by Washington. In 2002,

Venezuela was also subject to a Washington-backed coup d'etat that

briefly ousted President Chavez from power. He was returned to office

within 48 hours after millions of Venezuelans protested and defeated

the US-backed coup leaders.

Ecuador is the newest victim of destabilization in South America.

USAID channels millions annually into political groups against Correa

that could be behind the coup attempt.

Information in development

www.chavezcode.com

CRISIS IN LATIN AMERICA AFTER RIGHT-WING COUP IN HONDURAS

Chavez: North American Imperialism and the
Extreme Right are Behind Coup in Honduras

June 28th 2009, by ABN / Tamara Pearson
Venezuelanalysis.com

This morning military personal kidnapped Honduran president Manuel Zelaya. According to one witness, 200 soldiers arrived at the president's house at 6am this morning, 4 shots were fired and later they left in vehicles towards the air base. The soldiers also took over the government television station, Channel 8, and took it off air. Zelaya is currently speaking live on Telsur TV, from Costa Rica.

In Venezuela, protests are starting in main city plazas and outside the Honduran Embassy. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez spoke on Telsur earlier, with this statement, reported by the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) and translated by Venezuelanalysis.com.

The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, manifested his rejection, this Sunday, of the kidnapping of the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, by that nation's military, and said that North American imperialism and the extreme right are behind this act.

"It's a brutal coup d'etat, one of many that happened over 10 years in Latin America. Behind these soldiers are the Honduran bourgeois, the rich who converted Honduras into a Banana Republic, into a political and military base for North American imperialism," said the Venezuelan head of state.

In telephone contact with the television channel Telesur, President Chavez urged the North American president [Barack Obama] to declare his opinion on the subject and said he considers the abuse against Honduras as being against all the peoples of Latin America.

Chavez said that from different mechanisms of regional integration, the Latin American people have started to mobilize, and he indicated that this coup will be defeated in order to return dignity to [Honduras].

"We say to the coup plotters, we are standing up. Honduras is not alone," Chavez said.

He also urged the Honduran soldiers who "acted in a cowardly way" to retake the constitutional thread and return the legally and democratically elected President [Zelaya] to his duties.

"Soldier, empty out your riffle against the oligarchy and not against the people," he said, adding, "These solders are going to know what the people are when the people start to go out into the streets."

CHAVEZ AND THE FARC's ARMED STRUGGLE

Chávez’s Blockbuster Proposal
Finally the Right Message for Peace

COHA

Chávez should call an immediate ceasefire and offer the
FARC a safe haven in Venezuela

President Hugo Chávez’s statement on Sunday regarding the
increasingly unproductive and ill-focused guerrilla war
being staged by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de
Colombia (FARC) could be a hugely positive step towards
reframing the terms and goals of hemispheric relations in
this era. But the full realization of this development’s
potential benefits hinge upon the Bush administration’s
willingness to engage in constructive diplomacy. It must
not allow itself to be gripped by a radical ideology or
drowned by repetitive propaganda that all along has
characterized its foreign policy making style. For once,
Secretary of State Rice should urge negotiations rather
than enflame the two warring sides to seek far-fetched
goals thus guaranteeing that the conflict will not be
resolved.

President Chávez’s comments reveal a dramatic reversal of
his previous stance in favor of the guerrilla group and
admirably contrasts with the sterile regional policy
embraced by Washington. It was only last January that
Chávez called for the FARC to be granted belligerent status
by the international community, which would give the
leftist guerrillas a sense of legitimacy and recognition
under the terms of the Geneva Convention. Whatever the
motivation for his move, Chávez’s statement is sure to
improve his reputation in the wake of the discovery of the
potentially embarrassing “FARC files” that were found on
laptops seized after the March 1 bombing of a FARC unit
camped just inside the Ecuadorian border. However, Chávez’s
recent declaration that the FARC has been bypassed by
history is too important a statement to be ignored or
explained away as a publicity stunt.

Chávez’s call for peace and the release of hostages held by
the FARC is a genuinely important and productive gesture
and is perhaps the most daring promulgation on the regional
dispute to date. Rather than continue his submissive role
as Washington’s most faithful servitor, Colombia’s
President Uribe should respond to Chávez in a sober and
fully participative manner. The possibility of a positive
relationship could represent the break that observers of
the decades-long internal strife in Colombia have been
waiting for.

As previously stated in ¡Necesitamos un Acuerdo
Humanitario!, COHA believes that international pressure
should now be directed towards all parties involved in the
conflict - the FARC, paramilitary groups, and the
Venezuelan, Ecuadorian, and Colombian governments – in
order to accelerate a negotiated settlement. Therefore,
President Chávez’s statement is to be thunderously
applauded and he should be encouraged to continue his
campaigns to end the violence in the region, affect the
immediate release of all those taken hostage during the
conflict and encourage the implementation of a immediate
cease-fire between the two sides.

Furthermore, Chávez and Uribe should give careful thought
to the transfer of the FARC’s entire force, estimated to be
between 10,000 and 15,000 fighters, to Venezuela as part of
a peace process. Once there, former combatants will be
guaranteed their security as well as receive a subsidized
pension and vocational training. The funding for such
programs – which is likely to be no more than $100 million
a year – will come, in large part, from Venezuela. This
strategy would negate the problem of impoverished, idle,
demobilized soldiers falling into organized crime rings. It
would also provide the former FARC fighters with the
personal security against possible political
assassinations, which no Colombian president could
guarantee with any certainty.

This analysis was prepared by COHA Director Larry Birns
and Research Associate Jessica Bryant

21st CENTURY SOCIALISM ADVANCES IN LATIN AMERICA

Unity Will Win Us Victory, Said Cuban Parliament Chairman

Havana, Oct 30 (acn) Cuban Parliament President, Ricardo
Alarcon, said on Tuesday in Quito, Ecuador that Latin
America is going through a turning point of its history
while building the socialism of the 21st century.

In statements to PL, Alarcon emphasized that Latin
Americans will be able to build their own socialism, and
that a single model will not be imposed. He quoted
Ecuador's president Rafael Correo as saying that each
nation will build their own system based on its own
traditions and characteristics.

He also stressed that even when the systems will be
different; there will be a unity of principles, based on
solidarity and human fraternity.

Alarcon mentioned Ecuador as one of the countries
undergoing changes that could lead to the so called 21st
century socialism under Correa's leadership.

The Cuban parliament leader concluded by emphasized that
only unity will win us the victory.

HISTORIC VICTORY IN ECUADOR

Left Triumphs, Nation's Institutions to be Transformed
Counterpunch

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."