Festive Left Friday Blogging: El Ecuadorable is back!

And Ecuador’s military and citizens HAVE his back:

The elation and relief the people must have felt when seeing this cannot be described. But to give you a taste of what the rescue operation was like, and what the rescuers were up against, here’s my translation from Aporrea:

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, left the hospital where he was sequestered by national police at 9:25 pm, after 10 1/2 hours as a prisoner, in a very difficult military rescue operation.

President Correa left the hospital escorted by bodyguards, after a violent confrontation between the military and rebel police officers, which began at 8:46 pm and lasted until 9:25.

The president’s vehicle was allowed to leave in a convoy of various military vehicles which then left the hospital after the president was removed from the scene.

President Correa left the hospital in a wheelchair, with a gasmask on, due to the large quantity of tear gas fired by police around the hospital.

45 minutes is an eternity when you’re in a firefight. So far, the toll from yesterday’s violence is 8 dead and 274 injured.

And here’s an indication of just how serious the situation was. The grey minivan the military rescued him in was armored, and it was a good thing, too. This is what its hood looked like afterwards:

correa-hood.jpg

And here is the windshield:

correa-windshield.jpg

Yup, those are bullet holes. Someone fired off four shots at the president. This was not just a protest; they wanted him DEAD.

But luckily for the people of Ecuador, this murder attempt was an epic fail. The military is no longer under the influence of the School of the Americas, though it’s obvious the State Dept. has corrupted a certain sector of the police. According to Jean-Guy Allard (translated here by Machetera and cited by Eva Golinger), US “diplomats” are the infiltrators:

The report confirmed that police units “maintain an informal economic dependence on the United States, for the payment of informants, training, equipment and operations.”

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.”

An excuse that will no longer wash, and which will no doubt make for chilly relations between Washington and Ecuador before long. Remember how they demonized Evo when he turfed out the DEA? Remember how USAID got behind numerous coup attempts against Evo AND Chavecito?

One good thing to emerge from all this chaos: It is evident that the nations of South America are no longer banana republics, resigned to whatever dictator Washington picks out for them. They have a taste for democracy now, and the people will lay their lives on the line to defend it. It logically follows that self-rule in all matters, from corporate law to anti-drug operations, will come in leaps and bounds. And when the influence of foreign diplomats is purged out, I think we’ll be hearing a lot less about local officials’ corruption, too.

Already Ecuador has stopped sending military officers to the School of the Americas; it closed its Manta base to the gringos last year. And not only has this notoriously “unstable” and “ungovernable” country not gone to hell in a drug-filled handbasket, its democratically elected president is going to stay in office as long as the people decreed–with ballots, not bullets–that he stay there. And not one hour less.

We so-called democratic nations can learn a lot from these so-called banana republics.

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One Response to Festive Left Friday Blogging: El Ecuadorable is back!

  1. Slave Revolt says:

    Bina, I think that the time is now for Correa to take a more forward position with reguard to defining the way forward for the left in the Americas. He has a chance to go beyond Chavez and Castro. This is especially cogent given that he is degreed in economics.
    But, of course, he has to get Ecuador’s ship of state on more solid footing, and this, as this coup indicates, is pretty difficult.
    Chavez has been demonized to the point that the solid points and positions he takes are rejected out of hand.
    The goal, in my view, is to talk the privileged sectors off the neoliberal ledge. Clearly, this is an insane economic logic because it works to impoverish and super-exploit.
    Correa has the potential to bring forth a way of approaching problems that others do not==again, directed toward the Western world.

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