Ecuadorian President Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado smiles secure in the knowledge that while he may not be the most powerful Bolivarian revolutionary, he, like Che before him, will get all the girls.


MEET RAFAEL CORREA
Until two years ago, Ecuador's flamboyantly socialist new president was just a relatively well-paid economics professor at Quito's pricey San Francisco University. That's when previous President Alfredo Palacio, himself replacing ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez (Ecuador has had eight presidents in the last decade), appointed Correa as Finance Minister. Though he only served four months, the young economist made quite an impression.

A former Boy Scout from the steamy, mercantile port city of Guayaquil, whose lower-middle-class family couldn't even afford to replace 15-year-old Rafito's broken reading glasses (sniffle), Correa decided to use his new post as a bully pulpit, and make a stand for Ecuadorian economic sovereignity. For instance, by threatening to default on payments toward the nation's US$10.2 billion debt.

Guayaquil, rarely recommended by the guidebooks, has a fabulous riverwalk, great museums, fantastic views and notably gorgeous Guayaquilianos, including President Correa and the current Miss Ecuador, pictured below.


Note that Correa isn't your typically clueless revolutionary economist. Though he claims to support "socialism for the 21st century," he has a masters in economics from Louvain Catholic University in Belgium, and a PhD from the University of Illinois, both paid for with scholarships he won as an overachieving young man.

His hero isn't Karl Marx, it's Nobel Prize-winning former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, a fierce critic of the global banking system, sure, but hardly a Bolivarian socialist advocating a state-run economy. Regardless, Correa began his public career by diverting profits from an oil stabilization fund set up by the International Monetary Fund to repay interest on Ecuador's international debt, and instead invested the money in much-needed social programs.


Despite robust resources - oil, tourism, agribusiness, fishing, and being a US military client state - the Ecuadorian economy actually shrank 14% between 1980 and 2000. Go figure.


Neither the World Bank nor IMF was amused by Correa's wildly popular antics, and both threatened to cut off the impoverished nation's line of credit unless he simmered down. Just when it seemed that Ecuador would once again be forced to bow down before their capitalist neocolonial oppressors restore the debt payment schedule, Bolivarian alpha male and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez arrived to save the day.

Chávez loudly offered to buy US$300 million in Ecuadorian bonds, effectively replacing the loans that Correa had just blown off. The World Bank, angered by the uppity Andeans' insolence, did the unthinkable, at last minute cancelling yet another US$100 million loan that they knew Ecuador had already spent.

Point, set and match: President Palacio feigned shock and surprise that IMF "recommendations" had been ignored, then asked Correa to resign.


The Bolivarians thought Palacio was a rebel; the USA thought he was an ally. Palacio, evidentally a pragmatist, confused everyone by kissing up to the IMF, then nationalizing Occidental Petroleum.


Correa opted not to apologize in his snarky letter of resignation, saying, "the real problem is the strong pressure seeking to block any relationship with a brother country like Venezuela...it was evident and even embarrasing the lack of executive support of the Ministry of Energy and Mines to advance the oil refining and direct gas trade projects."

Apologies would be offered two months later, when replacement Finance Minister Magdalena Barreiro visited Washington DC to wave the white flag. The World Bank rewarded her humility with a US$536 million line of credit, enough to keep Ecuador sputtering along for a few more months. The move, necessary but unpopular, earned Palacio a 38.1% approval rating. Correa, however, was clocking in at 57.4%.

More tellingly, another poll was showing that 86% of Ecuadorians "admired" Hugo Chávez, Correa's partner in what the World Bank apparently considered a crime.




Emboldened once again by the numbers, Correa threw his hat into the ring along with 12 other candidates, and began his ride to the presidency.


2006: THE GREAT AMERICAN LEAP LEFTWARD
It was an election year throughout the Americas, celebrated with a notable, international jolt to the left led by politicians including House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and everyone's favorite socialist demogogue, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

In addition to Hugo's own landslide win, "another defeat for the devil, who tries to dominate the world," 2006 also saw the superstar strongman support Fidel Castro's doddering regime while using his nationalized oil money to run Bolivarian candidates in elections throughout Latin America.

Athough Latin America's leaders have not seen eye-to-eye since the first Bolivarian Revolution, leftists across the region have been offering uncharacteristic public support for Hugo's second attempt at a pan-Latino revolution - and getting elected. Despite the Venezuelan president's...um...idiosycrasies.

Many of Hugo's outspoken allies now hold office: Bolivian President Evo Morales, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Brazillian President Lula de Silva, listed in descending order of how much they owe Hugo politically. (Lula, it should be stressed, owes Hugo nothing, nothing at all!) In Mexico, Colombia and Peru, conservatives retained power, but even those leaders are getting cozy with the increasingly powerful Bolivarian crowd.


Presidents Hugo Chávez and Rafael Correa aren't just allies, they're pals. When Rafael went to visit Hugo in his home state of Barinas, Venezuela, he slept over at the Chávez family's modest home.


Center-left Peruvian President Alan García defeated devout Bolivarian Ollanta Humala with a towering 52.62%, a loss made even more embarassing by García's unbelievably lousy record of unchecked terrorism, rampant hyperinflation and shameless theft. Peruvians really didn't want another Hugo Chávez.


Movement of Socialism candidate Evo Morales triumphed in Bolivia, becoming the Americas' first indigenous national leader. And, yes, he really did present US Vixen of State Condi Rice, in town to discuss the War on Drugs, with a charango (Bolivian ukelele) decorated in coca leaves. Classy. He's my favorite Bolivarian revolutionary, and will definitely get his own slog entry.


Ecuador, however, was ripe for change. The nation's ultra-politicized population, which has ousted three presidents since 1996, seemed to be demanding another Hugo Chávez. Correa's former professor, Werner Baer, argues that much of the president's ultra-leftist persona may exist only to win over these voters, and that Correa will soon move to the center, perhaps becoming like "extremely orthodox in his economic policy."

But that's not why Correa was elected; his electorate wants a revolutionary. Three subjects dominated his campaign, all of them issues of Ecuadorian sovereignity: Debt, oil and Manta Air Base, the United States' only real military outpost in South America. And Correa's constituency will run him out of office if he backpedals on any of them - and it looks like he won't. Well, OK, maybe on the oil. (Can you blame him?)

Ecuador's Ridiculous Debt
"I strongly believe that government-run industry is inefficient and will lead to more poverty," explained US President Bush, when asked his opinion of Bolivarian economics. He's right - if you compare state-run socialism to a US-style free market economy. But in Ecuador, and much of the developing world, joining the global economy means submitting to IMF and World Bank policies, which are anything but free.

The Washington DC-based IMF and World Bank were both set up in 1947, one year after the CIA began operations, to keep the global economy running smoothly. In the 1970s, the IMF began loaning huge sums of money to semi-democratic developing nations - well, to their richest, most powerful families, anyway - then assumed control of their economies as each government defaulted. The resulting debt crisis of the 1980s affected almost all of Latin America.


The Sacagawea coin, received with abject indifference by the US public, has for some reason become quite popular in Ecuador since 2001, when the US dollar replaced the downward-spiraling sucre as the heavily indebted nation's official currency.


The average Ecuadorian makes around US$2300 per year, with at least 55% of Ecuadorians living in poverty and 1.5 million unable to procure sufficient food. In the indigenous Andes and Amazon, the poverty rate is 87%, child malnutrition 57%, and support for the Bolivarian Revolution getting close to 100%.


Debt in the developing world increased five-fold between 1973 and 1982, thanks to IMF loans sometimes characterized as predatory. Interest also increased, and between 1980 and 1992 the World Bank's net earnings rose 172%. Over the past three decades, the gap between rich and poor has widened, child mortality risen and life spans fallen in many debtor nations; the UN noted that 45% of Latin Americans were below the poverty line in 2001, compared to 41% in 1980.

Ecuador's elite, for example, blew most of their nation's original IMF loans in sleezy pyramid schemes that eventually collapsed the banking system, then fled the country. In 1983, the government renegotiated this debt and even qualified for another US$1.5 billion loan - on one condition. They had to allow the IMF to restructure the economy, making it friendlier for international investment, which would bring with it jobs and infrastructure. It sounded good, in theory.

IMF "Austerity Measures" included cutting back social services, raising taxes, discouraging minimum wages and unions, privatizing state-run industries (often by selling them off to foreign companies) and requiring massive layoffs of state employees. These well-intentioned economic strategies backfired tragically, and most debtor nations - including Ecuador - are in worse shape today than they were 30 years ago.

So, when the Bolivarians ask their impoverished constituencies to question the US example, and instead look to Communist Cuba (rarely considered an economic success story) for inspiration, more and more people appreciate the view. They aren't comparing Havana to Miami anymore - they're comparing it to Managua, to La Paz, to the indigenous Andean backwaters of oil-rich nations, where even basic medical care is a pipe dream.

With this shifting paradigm in mind, Correa specifically promised voters that he would be "open-minded" about defaulting on bond payments; ask for international arbitration over "corrupt" sovereign debt; and ignore IMF austerity measures in order to rebuild the social safety net.

"It is necessary to overcome all the fallacies of neoliberalism," Correa explained. "We are not against the international economy, but we will not negotiate a treaty under unequal terms."

The Problem with Oil
Oil was discovered in Ecuador in the early 1960s, and rapidly became the small nation's most important export. The economy has since expanded and contracted with global oil prices, as well as the corruption level of whatever short-lived government or military junta was managing the flow. Political instability remains the only constant in the Ecuadorian equation.


José María Velasco Ibarra (1893-1979) served as president of Ecuador 1934-1935, 1944-1947, 1952-1956, 1960-1961 and 1968-1972. The populist's populist, who famously boasted "Give me a balcony and I will become president," was overthrown four times by the military.


Ecuador had no environmental protection laws until 1990, when Texaco transferred operations to PetroEcuador, the state oil company. Most foreign companies just ignored new regulations, until Amazonia Indians forced ChevronTexaco to fund a massive cleanup in 2003. In 2006, they protested Occidental Petroleum on the same grounds, resulting in the nationalization of 132 wells. Oxy is suing Ecuador for US$1 billion in reparations.


Protests by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorean Andes (CONAIE), which focused on pollution and profits, won members of 20 participating tribes more three million acres of land - but not including mineral rights. They are now asking for 1% of oil profits earned from their land, and a 15-year moratorium on oil exploration.


Ecuador's elite rarely questioned the international oil business's hold over the country, until the 1990 Indigenous Uprising set off a series of protests against foreign oil companies. They were led by the famously insular tribes of the Amazon, who complained that their water was being contaminated, land confiscated, and poverty deepened by the unconcerned owners of oil wells scattered through their thickly jungled homeland.

In 1991, a Huaorani protest stopped the Texas-based Maxus Corporation from building an unwanted highway; in 1993, a New York federal court upheld a US$1 billion suit against Texaco by a confederation of tribes. (Texaco countersued the Ecuadorian government for US$570 million.) In 2002, protests in the Sucumbios and Orellana provinces forced the government to declare a state of emergency.

The same provinces went on strike in August 2005, shutting down Occidental Petroleum (Oxy). Hugo Chávez came through with replacement crude at the last minute, salvaging the Ecuadorian economy and Palacio presidency.

Oxy workers went on strike again in March 2006 - but this time, Palacio decided to back them up. After putting three provinces under military rule, just to keep the oil kept flowing, Palacio found a legal loophole: The oil giant had sold stock without notifying the Ecuadorian government, as stipulated in their contract.

On May 15, Palacio transferred 132 Oxy oil wells to PetroEcuador. If the state-run company can pull it off, this field - which represents perhaps 20% of Ecuador's oil ouput - stands to generate US$1.3 billion for the country in 2007. The Venezuelan government has helpfully offered to refine the stuff, should the "imperialist opressors" decline.

Although Correa has vowed to make oil contract renegotiations his highest priority as president, he not hinted that he might nationalize any other operations, the largest of which are Brazil’s Petrobras and Spain’s Repsol. He does plan to enforce a 2006 hydrocarbon law that requires foreign oil companies to give Ecuador 50% of all profits (they currently tithe about 20%), and increase that share to 85% by the end of his term. Good luck.

Manta & Eloy Alfaro Air Base

Ecuador's largest and second-most-important port, Manta is also a resort destination where tourists come to tan, visit Montecristi (home of the real Panama hat) then head Machalilla National Park, with country's very best beaches. The port also handles most Ecuadorian oil shipments.


Eloy Alfaro Air Base, often referred to as "Manta," for the town and beaches nearby, was built in 1978 by the Ecuadorian Air Force as part of their on-and-off territorial war with Peru (1941-1995). Pilots stationed here heroically defeated Peru's superior air force in a glorious 1981 battle that restored Ecuadorian pride and military moral, as well as control over the totally insignificant Tiwintza region.

Few US citizens remember that when Peru originally invaded Ecuadorian territory in 1941, the USA was already working with Ecuador as an ally in World War II, even building US military bases there. Regardless, when Ecuador asked its powerful new friend to help broker a treaty, the USA declined. The resulting "peace" treaty rewarded all occupied territory to Peru, an unjust ruling that led to 50 more years of war. This has not been forgotten.

The US military was forced to ask Ecuador to use Manta Air Base, just before the 1999 handover to Panama of massive Howard Air Force Base, lynchpin of America's anti-drug operations. Ecuador agreed, but offered the USA no help. "Problems plaguing Manta range from runways so dilapidated that they are unusable by military aircraft to lax safety standards and extremely limited supplies of electricity and water," complained Inside the Pentagon magazine.

The relocation was already a rush job, as the USA had naïvely expected Panama to renegotiate at the last minute, and allow the US to remain at Howard. Which just didn't happen. And, oh-so-surprisingly, few Latin American countries wanted to invite the US military into their homes. [Incidentally, pacifist Costa Rica said the USA was free to use their territory for anti-drug operations - as long as none of the planes were armed. Heh.]


Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde Terry reviews captured Ecuadorian hardware after losing a series of 1981 skirmishes referred to, a bit dramatically, as the Protocolo or Paquisha Wars.

             
USSOUTHCOM, and its not-at-all-imperialist-looking emblem, were created in 1947 to take charge of all US military operations in Latin America - except Guantánamo, Cuba, which is handled by Northern Command.


Even in Ecuador, a reliable ally for half a century, the US Air Force was not received with open arms. Although the government had agreed to lease the Manta to the United States for ten years, expiring in 2009, most Ecuadorians considered support for the US anti-drug (read: anti-FARC) operation as evidence that their nation was taking sides in neighboring Colombia's brutal, 40-year-old civil war. And they wanted no part of it.

"There is a widespread feeling that Washington is carrying out an extensive, mostly security, anti-drug program with Colombia, with little regard for the severe consequences - growing violence and refugees - on Ecuador," explained US think-tanker Michael Shifter.

The United States stuck it out, however, and today Manta-based anti-drug operations are responsible for 60% of all drug seizures in Latin America. Negotiators hoping to renew the lease also point out that Manta contributes US$7 million (out of US$4 billion earmarked for Plan Colombia) to the Ecuadorian economy annually. And that Manta is now even more important for anti-drug efforts, since Puerto Rico's Vieques Range was also shut down by irritated leftists in 2003.

Correa, who repeatedly promised to close the base if elected, recently replied to hopeful envoys that he would at least think about it: "We can negotiate with the US about a base in Manta, if they let us put a military base in Miami. If there is no problem, we'll accept." He was joking, but the USA didn't laugh.

Instead, the USA is now claiming that Ecuador is becoming "Colombianized," and therefore needs a strong US military presence. They also offered to fund the construction of a long-dreamt-of international airport, should they be allowed to stay. This last announcement coincided with an International Conference on the Abolition of Military Bases, held in Manta March 5-9.

And, shortly after receiving the generous offer, Correa spoke at the conference, telling delegates from 40 countries that he had "ratified the closure" of Manta, whatever that means. He then called for the destruction the USA's 737 non-secret military bases worldwide. I guess it's time to start thinking about Barranquilla, eh?

And Then, There's Congress

Letting the Ecuadorian Congress know what you think, such as this 2005 request to remove then-President Lucio Gutiérrez from office, often takes more than just a clearly composed email.


The main obstacle to achieving Correa's socialist revolution would obviously be that pesky system of democratic checks and balances. Ecuador's Congress, for example, has the power to depose any president - a power they've exercised several times (often after massive demonstrations) in past years.

Happily for Correa, no institution in Ecuador - including the presidency, which is saying something - is more hated by the average Ecuadorian for its blatant nepotism, apparent racism against indigenous Ecuadorians and alleged underhanded dealings with foreign oil companies. In one 2006 poll, Congress got a 5% approval rating.

Thus, Correa's unorthodox strategy had another twist: His Alianza País party ran no candidates for Congress, which he called a "sewer of corruption." Instead, Correa promised elections for a new parliamentary body, a Constituent Assembly, that would rewrite the 1998 Constitution. This was probably his most potent populist promise.

As pollster Polibio Córdova noted, "The Congress that will be elected on October 15 will by definition be anti-Correa...if they try to block him, he will mobilize the people against Congress." Córdova had a crystal ball.


ECUADOR GOES TO THE POLLS: ROUND ONE

Correa's campaign anthem was set to the tune of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to Take It;" his slogan was "Dale Correa," or "Give them the belt." During rallies, he would wave his leather belt in the air and promise to whip Ecuador's government into shape, a kinky piece of populism that would have most certainly earned Dee Snider's approval.


The stage was set for the October 15 election, with 13 candidates vying to replace Palacio for the thankless job of Ecuadorian president. If none got more than 40% of the vote, with a ten-point lead over the next candidate, there would be a runoff.

I attended two Quito protests in early August, where all the candidates were passionately decried as nepotistic, out-of-touch US puppets eager to sell Ecuador's oil for personal profit - including Correa, who was barely noticeable at that point. Most speakers clearly wanted their own Hugo Chávez, but Correa, a foreign-educated, middle-class professional, didn't seem the type. None of them did.

Gradually, however, Correa began to set himself apart. His record as the Robin Hood Finance Minister lent credibility to an assortment of left-wing promises, although not everyone was convinced. He advertised his friendship with Chávez, which raised his profile against more well-known opponents, such as the leader of 1990 Indigenous Uprising, Luis Macas, and more experienced lefties like Gilmar Gutiérrez and León Roldós.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were two viable right-wing contenders: Fellow Guayaquiliana and Social Christian candidate Cythia Viteri, a successful lawyer and journalist who came off as the perky frontwoman for a less attractive conservative cabal, and billionaire banana magnate Álvaro Noboa, also from Guayaquil, and the richest man in Ecuador.


This campaign poster for capable, US-friendly, pro-market Cynthia Viteri, who earned a respectable 9.63% of the vote despite that silly bracelet, does not do her justice. I saw La Cynthia at the awesome Guayaquil Municipal Fiestas (July 24-25, highly recommended), and she was even hotter in person than fellow Guayaquilliana and 2006 Miss Ecuador, Katty Lopez.


Would you buy a pesticide-packed banana from this man? You probably already have. Álvaro Noboa's company is the fourth-largest bananero in the world, and has been accused of union-busting, terrible work conditions and child labor. Noboa was also the conservative Heritage Foundation's (and presumably, the Bush administration's) candidate of choice.


Noboa's shameless populism would have made even Hugo Chavez blush: After proclaiming himself "God's messenger," he began promising voters jobs, computers, chickens, wheelchairs, "822 homes a day" and low-cost private health care via the Álvaro Noboa Medical Brigade. "Like Christ, all I want is to serve, to serve, to serve...so that the poor can have housing, health care, education, jobs."

Noboa also outspent the other candidates, and will likely pay US$1.2 million in fines for breaking Ecuador's campaign finance laws (just as he did after his failed 2002 campaign). Noboa's melodrama and endless cash supply proved effective, however. As October 15 drew near, many predicted that the early favorites, Róldos and Viteri, would be sidelined by the showmanship of Correa and Noboa.

The polls opened October 15 to massive crowds, with 75% of the electorate turning out. (Ecuador has compulsory voting.) Correa was slightly ahead in the polls, though it was already clear that there would be a runoff - but between who? Stakes were high and the country - and continent - were on the edge of their seats.

Then, suddenly, the electronic voting machines broke down. E-Vote, a Brazillian company owned by a former OAS chief observer, had won a US$5 million contract from Ecuador's Supreme Election Tribunal (TSE) to tally the election. That night, just before 8pm, they announced that their machines would unable to count the last 30% of votes. All but one E-Vote employee had already fled the country; their unlucky spokesperson, Santiago Murray, was detained for questioning.


Correa supporters, concerned about fraud, claimed to have found this ballot box abandoned in a park. Diebold, eat your heart out.


It turned out that Murray was pals with OAS chief Rafael Bielsa (something Bielsa had previously denied), who had already undermined his reputation as a professional impartial observer by publically criticizing Correa's programs as "unrealistic." (Is that even criticism?) Both were also accused of being financially linked to E-vote, another big no-no.

This, combined with the TSE's reputation as tool of La Cynthia's conservative Social Christian party, made everyone suspicious, especially Correa. (Tin-foil-hatters should note that E-Vote gave lefty Lula more votes than any other Brazilian president in history).

Accusations of fraud, complaints of missing ballot boxes and a cavalcade of creative conspiracy theories erupted as Noboa was certified as the first place winner, with 26.7% of the vote, Correa coming in second at 22.5%.

Of course, Hugo just had to weigh in, using his typically diplomatic tone: "There are also strange things going on. A gentleman who is the richest man in Ecuador, the king of bananas, who exploits his workers, who exploits children and puts them to work, who doesn't pay loans - suddenly appears in first place in the first round." As if it even mattered.

The runoff was scheduled for November 26.

ECUADOR ELECTS A PRESIDENT: ROUND TWO

Dapper Latin American liberators Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín met in Guayaquil on July 22, 1822, to celebrate winning Round One of the Bolivarian Revolution. Welcome to Round Two.


In contrast to the October elections, where candidates discussed a wide range of special interests, the November 26 runoff presented a clear choice to voters: A right-wing ideologue claiming to have been chosen by God (hey, it worked for Bush), or a left-wing ideologue threatening to remove Ecuador from the global economy. Choose your delusion.

The election zeitgeist was perhaps best captured by Fernando, 25, who "is betting with his friends that, should Noboa win the second round, he will be ousted within 18 months, and should Correa win, he will not last more than one year."

The second round of campaign mudslinging began with Correa continuing to accuse Noboa (and Viteri, and Gutiérrez) of fraud in the first round, and warning his constituency to "brace themselves" for further electoral hijinks. He even asked citizens to follow military transports hauling the ballot boxes from various polling places to Quito, just in case.

Noboa responded with charges that the Correa campaign was being financed by Venezuela, declaring that "the Chavez-Correa duo has played dirty in an effort to conquer Ecuador and submit it to slavery." Noboa then promised that, if elected, he would break relations with Caracas.

Correa denied that Chavez had contributed anything to his campaign (other than star power), adding that their relationship was at least as legitimate as the Bush family's friendship with the bin Ladens. "My friend doesn't rule in my house," Correa would later declare. "I do."

As the month wore on, Noboa continued his unsophisticated but effective campaign, while Correa shrewdly began moving to the center, pitching himself as a family values Christian socialist. He stopped hanging out with his Bolivarian pals, backpedaled on plans to default on IMF loans, and sighed heavily over a decision to keep the US dollar as Ecuador's national currency, although it really hurts him, just because inflation has dropped from 96% in 2000 to 2.8% today.


Some worried that if Correa lost, he might emulate socialist Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has demanded recounts, staged scores of protests and threatened to set up his own darned government since barely losing the Mexican election. Which, incidentally, also used E-Vote.


After the E-Vote debacle, the TSE decided to go with paper ballots for the November 26 election. Bolivarians hope to export this technology to Florida and Ohio.


Things went more smoothly the second time around, and by the evening of November 26, Correa was clearly the unofficial winner with 57% of the vote, soundly defeating Noboa. Noboa, spunky as ever, declared himself the winner and demanded a recount. Everyone ignored him.

"Thank God, we have triumphed," said President-Elect Correa. "This is a clear message that the people want change...The people have given us a clear mandate, with the second largest margin in the last 30 years of democracy. We want a deep political reform."


CORREA TAKES POWER

No, those aren't doves of peace - "no justice, no peace," remember? Think of them as the pigeons of diplomacy.


"The long night of neoliberalism is coming to an end," brand-new President Rafael Correa announced in his January 15, 2007, inauguration speech. "A sovereign, dignified, just and socialist Latin America is beginning to rise.”

The cheering crowd attending Correa's coronation were treated to more than the usual Bolivarian bluster, however. He also offered a quick economics lesson (the guy's still a professor, which may or may not be a good thing) in a speech punctuated with Quichua and references to Simón Bolívar, as well as that other revolutionary economist.

Correa categorically criticized the tenets of "the so-called Washington Consensus," a package of economic policies including deregulation, privatization, reduced tariffs, unrestricted movement of capital (but not workers), and lower taxes, calling them "neo-liberal dogma...that subject people, lives and societies to market theories." Shockingly, Ecuadorian bond prices had already tumbled by 20% since the November elections.

"We’re not talking about little reforms, about making things less bad," he continued, undeterred. "Latin America isn't living an era of changes, it's living a change of eras."

Correa's inauguration was also a Bolivarian victory party, attended by Hugo Chávez, who presented Correa with a replica of Simón Bolívar's sword, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who I'm hoping has taken these youngsters aside to explain exactly what the stakes are in this game. He, after all, was fighting Washington while they were still slavering over Baywatch.

Also in the crowd were most Latin American leaders, including Hugo's left-wing rival, Brazillian President Lula; the USA's strongest regional ally, Colombian President Uribe; and Peruvian President Alan García, who had just defeated the Bolivarians at home. Newly elected Mexican President Calderón was a no-show. Hmm. Sexy Spanish Prince Felipe did attend, as did US Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez and US Ambassador Linda Jewell, with whom Correa later met.

And, although Correa has consistently criticized the Bush regime, commenting that "to call Mr. Bush the devil is an insult to the devil" because "the devil is evil, but intelligent," the unpopular US president called to congratulate his Ecuadorian counterpart personally. Correa called the gesture "noble."


"Dude, stop looking at my tie like that, you're tripping me out," thought President Correa, while actually saying something much more diplomatic to the petite Persian president. "Any nation seeking to defend itself can count on Iranian aid," Ahmadinejad replied, although no one really believed him.


This photo goes out to all the ladies who have actually slogged this far, in which Correa gives Prince Felipe some serious competition for the cover of Iguanacaste Publishing's 2008 World Leaders Undressed calendar.

There were actually two inauguration ceremonies: The official, European-style version, with all the speeches and recieving lines; preceded by a much more colorful indigenous ceremony in the Andean town of Zumbahua, where native leaders accepted Correa as their president.

Correa had volunteered in the poor, high-altitude town as a youth, and even learned a little Quichua, an Ecuadorian dialect of Quechua, the Inca tongue that remains the Americas' most widely spoken indigenous language. He may not be fluent, but Correa clearly understands enough to realize that support from native groups - who make up 25% of the population - is key to keeping power.

He's not wasting any time, however. Within 24 hours, Correa had initiated more real change than most Ecuadorian presidents do in their entire term, not that many of them serve their entire term.

The new president signed his first piece of legislation right after the inauguration, calling for a vote to decide whether or not to elect a National Constituent Assembly with full power to overhaul the 1998 constitution. He then doubled welfare checks for 1.2 million destitute Ecuadorians, upping the dole to US$36 per month. This is being paid for by revenue from the former Oxy oil wells, which have earned Ecuador an extra US$1.2 billion since nationalization.

Correa continued by signing an energy agreement with Venezuela, which will now refine 690,000 barrels of Ecuadorian crude without going through a third party (ie, a private oil corporation), saving Ecuador US$1.7 million annually. Venezuela also agreed to invest in developing new, all-important oil refineries.

And it just wouldn't be a socialist revolution without redistributing land to the poor, and on January 17, Agriculture Minister Carlos Valejo announced that he would do just that.

Finally, it was time to take on Congress. To precipitate the inevitable conflict, Correa demanded another election, to see if Ecuador wanted his Constituent Assembly.

Congress refused, calling the measure "unconstitutional" and "Bolivarian." Which was, of course, the whole point. "Congress has to denounce this disrespect to democracy," countered Congressional President Jorge Cevallos, calling Correa a "dictator" for "trying to impose his will on congresspeople as legitimately elected as he was."

On January 31, hundreds of Correa supporters stormed congressional offices in Quito.


After the pro-Correa "rally," presidential spokesperson Monica Chuji assured reporters that "peaceful mobilizations are supported by the government, but we are against violence." Congressperson Federico Perez noted that "we had to leave the building...they were yelling: 'Kill them all.'"


The colorful streets of Quito, declared the very first UNESCO World Heritage Site, are always filled with friendly faces. Well, unless you happen to serve in Congress. This sign says "Corrupt Congresspeople out!"


Several members of Congress, such as ex-President Lucio Gutiérrez, were physically thrown out of the building; tear gas and beatings ensued. In the end, however, Correa probably ended up striking a backroom deal with Gutiérrez, who he had once called "a viper." On February 13, Congress agreed to the election.

Correa then promised to resign from the presidency if the referedum failed. "My heart is not in power, it’s in service," he told supporters. "If I am not going to be able to do that, and instead be one more of a ton of traitors and impostors that we have had in the presidency, believe me, I would rather go home."

In the meantime, Correa began working with municipal governments, such as his "itinerant cabinet" in the Amazon town of Tena (a populist precedent set by Correa's congressional rival, Gutíerrez), to discuss economics, infrastructure and social programs. He also agreed, at the last minute, to make Ecuador's scheduled debt payment to the IMF on time, February 15, despite earlier indications that he would default.

Congress was not distracted by Correa's apparent good behavior, however, and on March 8 voted to impeach several members of the Supreme Election Tribunal, already in the process of organizing the April referendum. In response, the TSE (with the help of Correa's always-eager supporters), fired 57 congresspeople.

Now it's up to the Supreme Court to decide if the TSE and Congress even have the right to fire one another, and the confrontation has set off a serious constitutional crisis that coincides with a Latin American goodwill tour by the Bolivarians' arch-nemesis, US President George W. Bush.

PRESIDENT BUSH TAKES ACTION
US President Bush is currently on a one week tour of Latin America, a region that could have been the successful cornerstone of an effective foreign policy.

Stop laughing. Bush's passable Spanish, strong "family values" stance and familiarity with Latin American cultures and issues - remember, he's a former Texas governor (and Texas party boy) - could have fostered stronger relationships with the rest of the Americas. Not to mention more Latino support for the Republican Party. Oh, well.


The Bolivarian Revolution's popularity hinges less on Hugo's cheap oil than the USA's overconfident and apparently endless occupation of Iraq. Negotiators can't even pitch mutually beneficial trade agreements without looking like the minions of voracious economic imperialism administered by a dangerously out-of-control world power, you know?


If this were a game of Strip Risk, President Bush would be down to one sock and his tighty whities.


And so, Bush is visiting allies Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Guatemala and Mexico to warn them all "against the dangers of populism and isolationism," a statement that could have been written for the Daily Show. So far, the tour is going as expected, highlighted by a key biofuels deal with Brazil, Hugo Chávez' rival rallies, and plenty of grassroots protests.


Tens of thousands of Brazilians came out to tell Bush what Lula was really thinking.


And look - it's Saddam Hussein, in Sao Paolo! Who would have thought that the "Butcher of Baghdad" would become an international symbol of freedom?


Several thousand people welcomed the US president to Uruaguay with chants of "Get out, Bush!" Explained 72-year-old protester Alejandro Piriz, "We Uruguayans have to show we reject Bush even if the government welcomes him with open arms."


Hugo and Evo are, indeed, wearing coca-leaf necklaces (and what is in their hair?) even as Bush and Colombian President Uribe discuss the War on Drugs. I'm not sure what the squirrels are all about.


After hip Guatemalan protesters finished vandalizing the Global...I mean, Golden Arches, Mayan priests cleansed the ancient ruins of Iximche, which Bush visited while in town.


Bush is quite correct that the Bolivarian Revolution represents a threat to US interests, particularly if one includes the global finance system and multinational oil companies as part of those interests. But keep in mind that the methods these guys are proposing are peaceful, particularly when you compare them to, say, al'Qaeda's efforts take on Wall Street.

And now that the Bolivarian Bloc has its own experienced economist, perhaps they will really work the alternative economy angle. What if - and this really is the worst case scenario for the USA - this motley group of socialists actually built a viable international free trade agreement that does not involve the United States? Would that really be the end of the world?

Who knows, perhaps some healthy competition would inspire IMF and World Bank economists to come up with better ideas than the neoliberal policies they keep applying, again and again, to developing economies that clearly do not benefit from them. Heck, maybe they could even come up with a plan to make our world a better place for business owners, flowers, children and all living things. Why not?


Everyone - well, everyone except for the Ecuadorian Congress, World Bank, IMF, Bush administration, Occidental Petroleum and ChevronTexaco - is hoping Correa is more than just another pretty face.

 

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