{"id":8309,"date":"2010-11-15T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2010-11-14T23:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=8309"},"modified":"2010-11-09T03:10:47","modified_gmt":"2010-11-09T02:10:47","slug":"ecuador-venezuela-danger-south-of-the-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2010\/11\/ecuador-venezuela-danger-south-of-the-border\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecuador, Venezuela: Danger South of the Border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Canadian socialist and writer Paul Kellogg looks at recent attempts by some to explain away the coup attempt against Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It is not difficult to see that the events of September 30, in the Latin American country of Ecuador, amounted to an attempted right-wing coup d\u2019\u00e9tat.[1] Mass mobilizations in the streets and plazas of Quito (the capital) and other cities \u2013 in conjunction with action by sections of the armed forces which stayed loyal to the government \u2013 stopped the coup before the day was out. But those few hours highlighted, again, the deep dangers facing those fighting for progressive change in Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n<p>Remarkably, the first task is to re-assert that in fact a coup attempt took place. In the wake of the failure of the coup, commentator after commentator was trying to minimize what happened. Peruvian \u201clibertarian\u201d \u00c1lvaro Vargas Llosa \u2013 darling of the World Economic Forum and outspoken critic of Che Guevara and the current governments of Bolivia and Venezuela \u2013 insists that it was not a coup just an \u201cill-advised, violent protest by the police against a law that cut their benefits.\u201d[2]<\/p>\n<p>Let us examine the facts. Rafael Correa is the democratically elected president of the country, re-elected in 2009 winning 51.99 per cent of votes cast, on a turnout of almost 75 per cent (in an electorate of more than 10 million people). His nearest rival \u2013 ex-president and oil company friend Lucio Gutierrez \u2013 received just 28.24 per cent of the vote.[3]<\/p>\n<p>September 30 \u2013 thousands of police rebelled, taking control of several cities, shutting down roads and airports.[4] In the capital city, Quito, they took over their barracks. When President Correa, went to the main barracks to confront the policemen, he was attacked with tear gas and injured. He was allowed to go for treatment in a police hospital, but confined there for 12 hours until rescued \u2013 after a \u201cfierce gun battle\u201d (according to Atilio A. Boron)[5] which resulted in the death of two policemen (including the police sergeant protecting Correa), a soldier and a student.[6] Felipe Stuart indicates that there were many other casualties on the day. \u201cFour people were killed in Quito, and five in Guayaquil. Perhaps more telling is that 274 people were wounded by snipers or from crossfire, most of them unarmed.\u201d[7]<\/p>\n<p>During these tense hours, there was a rebellion in sections of the armed forces (members of the Ecuadoran air force took over and shut down Quito\u2019s international airport)[8] and anti-Correa political figures \u2013 including the lawyer for defeated presidential candidate Gutierrez \u2013 tried to force their way into the buildings of Ecuador National Television.[9]<\/p>\n<p>When the democratically-elected president of a country is attacked, injured and confined against his will: when police take over towns and sections of the air force take over and close the country\u2019s major airport: when pro-business political figures try to storm the national television statement \u2013 that is called an attempted coup d\u2019\u00e9tat. If it were to happen in Ottawa, Washington or London, there would be no dispute.<\/p>\n<p>A photograph accompanying an important article by Mark Weisbrot (co-writer of Oliver Stone\u2019s South of the Border) showed masses of people taking to the streets of Quito to defend Correa. In the article, Weisbrot persuasively argued that \u201cto anyone who watched the prolonged, pitched gun-battle on TV last night, when the armed forces finally rescued President Correa from the hospital where he was trapped by the police\u201d this could only be seen as an attempted coup, \u201can attempt to overthrow the government.\u201d[10]<\/p>\n<p>The reason there is a bizarre attempt to pretend that this coup attempt never happened, is to hope that people won\u2019t ask who might have benefited from such an action. A quick examination of the actions of President Correa sheds considerable light on that.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2006, working with      President Hugo Ch\u00e1vez of Venezuela, Correa moved to increase state control      over oil production in the country.[11]<\/li>\n<li>In 2008, he announced      that Ecuador would not pay several billions of its more than $10 billion foreign      debt, calling it \u201cillegitimate.\u201d[12]<\/li>\n<li>In 2009, he refused to      renew the lease of the U.S. military airbase in Manta, saying that \u201cthe      only way the US could keep their military base in Ecuador, is if Ecuador      were allowed to have one of its own in Florida.\u201d[13]<\/li>\n<li>In 2009, he officially      brought Ecuador into ALBA \u2013 the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas led      by Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When a country increases state control, challenges illegitimate foreign debt, pushes the U.S. military out of the country and joins a regional alliance with Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba \u2013 it is clear that the forces that would benefit from a coup would be: a) corporate interests inside Ecuador; b) International Financial Institutions; and c) the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n<p>There is another reason why the right-wing, corporate elite and the imperialist countries might have an incentive to minimize what happened September 30. There is now a shamefully long list of recent coup attempts in Latin America and the Caribbean \u2013 four of them against members of ALBA.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>April 2002, President      Ch\u00e1vez of Venezuela was briefly taken into exile in a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat which      was stopped when one million of his supporters surrounded the presidential      palace.<\/li>\n<li>February 2004, President      Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forcibly overthrown in a coup backed by the      military forces of Canada, the United States and France.<\/li>\n<li>September 2008, in the      Santa Cruz area of Bolivia, right-wing forces used armed fascist gangs to      try and break the hold of President Evo Morales.[14] They were stopped      through a combination of mass mobilizations, and the intervention by loyal      sections of the armed forces.<\/li>\n<li>June 2009, Honduran      President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown by the military.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All but Haiti were members of ALBA \u2013 and one of the main acts of the coup regime in Honduras was to withdraw from ALBA.<br \/>\nIt is not, therefore, an exaggeration, to say that the coup attempt in Ecuador is the latest in a series of violent attempts to roll back the anti-neoliberal movement, whose main institutional shape is represented by the ALBA countries.<\/p>\n<p>The dangers facing the anti-neoliberal movement, and the region, were also highlighted by the results of National Assembly elections in Venezuela. At one level, they represent a remarkable achievement \u2013 the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) topping the polls and winning 98 seats out of 165. But within that victory, there were troubling signs.<\/p>\n<p>First while the PSUV won more than five million votes in both the nationwide vote for the Latin American parliament and the state-wide party lists, its right-wing rival, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) also topped five million in both votes, trailing the PSUV by around 200,000.<\/p>\n<p>Second \u2013 key states along the border of Colombia (the principle base for the U.S. military in the region) fell to the MUD.<\/p>\n<p>Finally \u2013 while 98 seats is a majority, it is short of the two-thirds majority necessary for key constitutional changes. Important advances \u2013 such as creating a favourable legislative framework for workers\u2019 control of industry \u2013 will be much more difficult.[15]<\/p>\n<p>There is disillusionment in sections of the base of the PSUV. The recession hit Venezuela harder than many other countries in Latin America. The old state bureaucracy is still largely intact (and quite reluctant to support Ch\u00e1vez\u2019 reforms), and the bulk of the media remains in the hands of the right-wing. In addition \u2013 while the PSUV has been a remarkable school in politics for millions of people \u2013 it has also been a source of career advancement for a few thousand. Nepotism and bureaucratic tendencies have become a drag on many of the reform projects launched by the regime.<\/p>\n<p>In each of the ALBA countries, internal difficulties are immense, and in each there an array of positions which are often difficult for Global North observers properly to understand. In Ecuador, for instance, it wasn\u2019t just darlings of the right-wing like \u00c1lvaro Vargas Llosa who denied that the September 30 events were a coup. Unfortunately, Ecuador\u2019s important coalition of social movements, the Federation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) took the same position. \u201cWe energetically announce that there never was any attempted coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, much less a kidnapping, but an event that responded to the uncertain political management of the government that causes popular discontent through permanent aggression, discrimination and violations of human rights consecrated in the Constitution.\u201d[16]<\/p>\n<p>CONAIE\u2019s importance in the social movements in Ecuador is not to be doubted. Its mobilization of the Indigenous community has been a key factor in the social advances made in Ecuador this century. And Correa has not always been an easy president to defend. In 2009, CONAIE was involved in a \u201cweek of marches and road blockades\u201d in protest against certain of Correa\u2019s policies. At issue were \u201cthe autonomy of the indigenous bilingual education system,\u201d the new water law and the new mining law passed in January 2009 which CONAIE has \u201cappealed before the Constitutional Court.\u201d[17] But even with legitimate grievances against Correa, it is clearly a mistake for CONAIE to minimize the dangers represented by the September 30 events.<\/p>\n<p>Global North solidarity activists need to be aware of internal conflicts in the ALBA countries, take them very seriously, and try to sort out our attitude towards them. But from a distance, that is not such an easy task. In very general terms, we can say that the way forward in all the ALBA countries will be found in popular mobilizations at the base. Political tendencies which base themselves on the developing organs of popular control, in the neighbourhoods and workplaces, are the only long-term alternative in all the ALBA countries. It is also very clear that no break from imperialism will be possible which is not deeply rooted in Indigenous sovereignty.<\/p>\n<p>But we need to be absolutely clear, for us in the Global North, these are not the key issues. We won&#8217;t be the ones addressing and solving them. That task will of course fall to the workers and campesinos inside the ALBA countries themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Our job is to know the importance of the push-back to imperialism represented by the ALBA countries and the grim seriousness of our states in their determination to reverse this process. Our job is to build solidarity with the ALBA countries against attacks from the United States and Canada. To the extent we can do that, we can modestly increase the space for the struggles against neoliberalism, unfolding in Latin America and the Caribbean.<\/p>\n<p>This task is not easy. In Canada and the U.S., there is a virtual blanket of silence around the enormous movements against imperialism which have broken through in Latin America and the Caribbean. We need education to demonstrate the importance of the struggles in Latin America and the Caribbean. We need to encourage worker-to-worker and student-to-student exchange programs, so that we can see for ourselves the challenges and possibilities in Latin America and the Caribbean. All of this, done properly, will lay the basis for a bigger solidarity movement should there be a sixth coup d\u2019\u00e9tat attempt in the months to come.<\/p>\n<p>This is not an act of charity. It was the poor of Cochabamba in Bolivia who, ten years ago, rose up and defeated the privatization of water in their region \u2013 the first big victory against privatization in all the Americas. It was the masses of Latin America and the Caribbean who defeated the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2005. It was the new government of Bolivia which convened the alternative conference on climate justice \u2013 again in Cochabamba \u2013 after the Global North failed miserably in Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>In every sense of the word, their struggle is our struggle.<\/p>\n<p>Upcoming solidarity events in Ontario:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oct. 27, 7pm: Toronto      Premiere, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/event.php?eid=160792427264647&amp;index=1\" >South of the Border<\/a> \u2013 a film by Oliver Stone      \u2013 Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W., Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Oct. 31, 2pm: \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/event.php?eid=152584804769027&amp;index=1\" >How Can Bolivia Resist the Empire?<\/a>\u201d Study      Group organized by Toronto Bolivia Solidarity, 489 College St. (Third      Floor), Toronto<\/li>\n<li>Nov. 6, 9:30 am to 6:00      pm: Conference: \u201cCanada-Bolivia Relations in the Next Decade\u201d with special      guest Dr. Hugo Salvatierra Guti\u00e9rrez (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), University of      Guelph, Guelph<\/li>\n<li>Nov. 13, 9:30 am \u2013 5 pm:      Teach-In, \u201cFrom Cochabamba to Canc\u00fbn: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/event.php?eid=158523620837654&amp;index=1\" >Building a Movement for Climate Justice<\/a>,\u201d      with Keynote speaker Erika Duen\u00e3s, Bolivia Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires, Washington      D.C.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><br \/>\nReferences:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] 2 November: This is a revised version of the original, based on comments posted both here and at <em>Links<\/em>. See Endnotes 7 and 17 below.<\/p>\n<p>[2] \u00c1lvaro Vargas Llosa. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/news\/opinion\/ecuador-police-protest-was-no-attempted-coup\/story-e6frg6zo-1225935110160\" >Ecuador police protest was no attempted coup<\/a>.\u201d <em>The Australian<\/em>. 7 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[3] European Union Election Observation Mission. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.eueomecuador.org\/es\/pdf\/final_report\/final_report_english.pdf\" >Ecuador Final Report: Presidential and Parliamentary Elections \u2013 26 April 2009<\/a>.\u201d 8 June 2009.<\/p>\n<p>[4] Max Fisher. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlanticwire.com\/opinions\/view\/opinion\/fallout-of-failed-coup-in-ecuador-5237\" >Fallout of Failed Coup in Ecuador<\/a>.\u201d <em>The AtlanticWire<\/em>. 1 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[5] Atilio A. Boron. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.tlaxcala-int.org\/article.asp?reference=1649\" >A Note About the Failed Coup in Ecuador<\/a>.\u201d Translation: David Brookbank. 3 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[6] Alexander Martinez. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/hostednews\/afp\/article\/aleqm5iaqjabszalca4tsps3_y7qqgsbag?docid=cng.269d5b4d24611193b334b94159602133.f81\" >Correa declares victory over rebel forces in Ecuador<\/a>.\u201d AFP, 2 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[7] Felipe Stuart. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/links.org.au\/node\/1960#comments\" >Comment: Ecuador, Venezuela: Danger south of the border<\/a>.\u201d <em>Links<\/em>, 28 October, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[8] Wayne Madsen. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voltairenet.org\/article167155.html\" >Obama administration fingerprints on Ecuador coup attempt<\/a>.\u201d <em>voltairenet.org<\/em>. 3 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[9] Boron 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[10] Mark Weisbrot. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/links.org.au\/node\/1925\" >Ecuador: Coup attempt encouraged by Washington<\/a>.\u201d <em>Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal<\/em>. 1 October, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[11] \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voltairenet.org\/article139755.html#article139755\" >Venezuela to Build New Refinery in Ecuador<\/a>.\u201d <em>voltairenet.org<\/em>. 5 June 2006.<\/p>\n<p>[12] \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/7780984.stm\" >Ecuador defaults on foreign debt<\/a>.\u201d BBC News. 13 December 2008.<\/p>\n<p>[13] Mankh (Walter E. Harris III). \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/axisoflogic.com\/artman\/publish\/article_61299.shtml\" >\u2018South of the Border\u2019 Documentary Film Review<\/a>.\u201d <em>Axis of Logic<\/em>. 6 October 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[14] Federico Fuentes and Stuart Munckton. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.greenleft.org.au\/node\/40311\" >Bolivia: Fascist right launches \u2018civic coup.\u2019<\/a>\u201d\u00a0<em>GreenLeft<\/em>.\u00a013 September 2008.<\/p>\n<p>[15] Federico Fuentes. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.greenleft.org.au\/node\/45599\" >Venezuela: Left wins, but right makes gains<\/a>.\u201d <em>Green Left<\/em>. 2 October.\u00a0Much of this analysis is based on discussions which took place at a seminar in Toronto. Raul Burbano, Nicolas Lopez. &#8220;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/event.php?eid=156392097719490&amp;index=1\" >VenezuelaVotes: Eyewitness to a People in Struggle<\/a>.&#8221; Venezuela With You Coalition (CVEC), Barrio Nuevo and Centre for Social Justice. Toronto. 3 October.<\/p>\n<p>[16] Marlon Santi. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/narcosphere.narconews.com\/thefield\/4149\/statement-ecuadors-most-important-social-movements\" >The Alleged Coup d\u2019Etat, Democracy, and the Indigenous Organizations<\/a>.\u201d In Al Giordano. \u201cStatement by Ecuador\u2019s Most Important Social Movements.\u201d <em>The Field<\/em>.\u00a06 October, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>[17] Jennifer Moore. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/upsidedownworld.org\/main\/ecuador-archives-49\/2146-ecuador-conaie-and-correa-begin-dialogue-\" >Ecuador: CONAIE and Correa Begin Dialogue<\/a>.\u201d Upside Down World: Covering Activism and Politics in Latin America. 6 October, 2009. In the original version, this read as follows: \u201cAnd Correa has not always been an easy president to defend. In June, in response to CONAIE protesters, he was quoted as saying: \u2018These people are gringos who are coming here with NGOs. Take it somewhere else. These people\u2019s stomachs are full enough.\u2019 (Telesur TV, source: www.telesurtv.net, 25 June 2010. Cited in Ra\u00fal Zibechi. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazonwatch.org\/newsroom\/view_news.php?id=2135\" >Bolivia and Ecuador: The State against the Indigenous People<\/a>.\u201d <em>Amazon Watch<\/em>. 19 July, 2010. Thanks to Martin Huber who pointed out that Zibechi\u2019s quotation is distorted and taken out of context. For those who want to check, the original can be found at Telesur. \u201c<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.telesurtv.net\/noticias\/secciones\/nota\/74233-nn\/correa-insta-a-sacar-de-la-pobreza-a-pueblos-ancestrales-de-america-latina\" >Correa insta a sacar de la pobreza a pueblos ancestrales de Am\u00e9rica Latina<\/a>.&#8221; <em>www.telesurtv.net<\/em>.\u00a025 June, 2010.\u00a0The main point of the paragraph remains, however. There have been tense relations between CONAIE and Correa, and CONAIE does have legitimate grievances.<\/p>\n<p><em>(c) 2010 Paul Kellogg<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poleconanalysis.org\/2010\/10\/ecuador-venezuela-danger-south-of.html\" ><\/a><\/em><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poleconanalysis.org\/2010\/10\/ecuador-venezuela-danger-south-of.html\" ><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poleconanalysis.org\/2010\/10\/ecuador-venezuela-danger-south-of.html\" >Go to Original \u2013 poleconanalysis.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canadian socialist and writer Paul Kellogg looks at recent attempts by some to explain away the coup attempt against Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}