Alberta, Mayo/May 2009
20
ALTERNATIVA Latinoamericana
ENGLISH SECTION
Correa: The Citizen's Revolution
Por Nora Fernández
When Rafael Correa came to power in 2006,
he said that he was not a traditional politician. We
could add that he is not a traditional economist
either at least not like the economists who have
dominated the field in favour of "free-market"
economics. Correa served briefly as Minister of
Economy and Finances in 2005, under President
Alfredo Palacio, and even at that time he
advocated for the reduction of poverty and the
increase of economic sovereignty for Ecuador. He
did not follow the advice of the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and he did not believe much
in signing free trade agreements with the United
States. Correa's focus was, however, in increasing
cooperation between Ecuador and other Latin
American countries.
Correa resigned to his post when the World
Bank (WB) withheld a loan to pressure president
Palacios because of a proposal Correa made
about issuing bonds at lower interest rate half of
which were to be bought by Venezuela. The
proposal, which had been fully authorized by
Palacio, became an issue and the president of
Ecuador gave way; Correa resigned. In a press
conference following his resignation, Correa
referred to the strong foreign and domestic
pressure against any move towards economic
cooperation and energy integration with
Venezuela. He said that he felt "a very strong
pressure and a direct boycott to impede the
operation with Venezuela ....the situation was
unsustainable...the lack of support for the policies
and work of the Minister were intolerable and I
could not tolerate it. It's impossible for an economy
minister to operate without the support of the
President" and he resigned (By Panorama, in
www.aporrea.org
06/08/05).
People understood, somehow the reasons
behind Correa' resignation and Correa became
very popular. Just before Correa resigned he was
the only of the minister of the government of
Palacio who had much credibility. In Ecuador, 57%
of the people were saying they trusted Correa,
while the popularity of Palacio himself was falling
(By Solo, Znet 15/08/05).
It is the beginning of Correa's political ascent
in Ecuador. Correa, born in Guayaquil, and 46
year old now, is also a very educated man. He
earned a degree in Economics from Universidad
Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil in 1987, a MA
in Economics from
Université Catholique de
Louvain
,
Belgium
, and later a MSc in Economics
(1999) and a Ph D in Economics (2001) from the
University of Illinois, USA. Correa speaks Spanish,
and also French and English. Still, Correa is not
just an educated economist. He has had
experience with the poor when he worked years
ago as a missionary with the aboriginal population
of Cotopaxi, where he learnt Quechua. As a result
improving the living conditions of the poorest of
Ecuador has been openly his concern.
In 2006 Correa founded Alianza PAIS (Patria
Altiva y Soberana or Proud and Sovereign
Fatherland Alliance). The party's principles:
political sovereignty, regional integration, and
economic relief for the poor in Ecuador. During his
political campaign he proposed the formation of
an Assembly to rewrite the Constitution of
Ecuador; and committed himself to call for a
referendum to draft the new Constitution. Alianza
PAIS signed a political alliance with the Socialist
Party of Ecuador.
Alianza PAIS favoured a reform of the oil
industry and a new Hydrocarbons Law (Ley de
Hidrocarburos), because the Law in Ecuador was
allowing foreign companies to take four of the five
barrels of oil they produced, leaving only one for
the state. Alianza also favoured limiting offshore
deposits made by local banks, to no more than
10% of their holdings. Social development was
declared a priority that would take precedence
over the payment of foreign debt service. Correa,
openly critical of neoliberal policies, planned to
move away from the dollar as Ecuador's currency,
as well as of the draft made for a free trade
agreement with the United States. He declared
himself in favour of open markets with other
countries and of the integration of South American
economies. In external policy, Correa favoured
close relations with Venezuela while staying away
from the Colombian conflict. During the 2006
elections Correa was second to Alvaro Noboa, the
Ecuadorian
millionaire,
but Correa
became
president in
the runoff
election
(November
2006) and
was sworn
into office in
January
2007.
Once
in power
Correa
fulfilled his
promises,
setting up
an
Assembly for the draft of a new Constitution and
calling a referendum in September 2008. The
new constitution was approved by more than 60%
of the population. The new Constitution tightens
state control of vital industries and reduces
monopolies; it also provides free health care for
older citizens and allows idle farm land to be
expropriated for redistribution. It allows the
president to be re-elected for a second four year
term (at the end of 2013) and it allows civil
marriage for gay partners. Social development
took precedence as promised: during his short 2
year term (2006-2008) Correa's government
spent billions of dollars on social projects (Daniel
and Soto, Reuters).
The challenge for the future is the external
debt. In December 2008, Correa announced that
Ecuador was officially defaulting on billions of
dollars of foreign debt considered illegitimate by
the government as it was contracted by military
regimes. He threatened also to suspend review of
the country by either IMF or WB and mentioned
publicly that he plans to close the US military
base in Manta -its contract expires and he is not
planning on renewing it.
A new Constitution and the
call for the 2009 Elections
It is impossible not to acknowledge the
extremely hard work of the government of
Ecuador during its two years of government, in
only two years a new Constitution was drafted
that involved the entire country, transforming a
frustrated citizenship into one energized to
participate and change the country. Correa
counts with amazing level of support, considering
the humble beginnings of Alianza PAIS -a
movement born only three years ago and with
very limited time to develop political know how
contending, surprisingly well, with much
experienced and structured political forces.
This past April, Rafael Correa was re-elected
during the first round with an impressive 51.7
percent of the vote. He is the first president to
have such an electoral triumph in Ecuador in 20
years. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs
commented that "it could be argued that Correa is
one of the most successful contemporary Latin
American political leaders of the era. Since taking
office, he has come forth with a very specific
socio-political program which has significantly
alleviated the country's political instability and
hobbling strategic and economic conditions, while
at the same time advancing his overt leftist
platform aimed at job creation and lifting the
country's living standards." (COHA, press
release, 27/04/09)
After this last election, and while talking with
the press, president Correa ratified his
commitment in working for an inclusive country
which would prioritize the well being of its most
vulnerable citizens. He said: "This (victory) is for
the poor and the most vulnerable...it is because
of them we are here...so finally Ecuador is for all
of us...Together we have made history. Today is
a happy day...we focus in consolidating our
Citizen Revolution...I have only words of thank
and commitment with our people who has proved
its dignity..."
He later ratified again some of its
government believes and values saying: "We are
the tool of the people, this is not my victory...the
people has given us the most splendorous
victory!" "Socialism will continue. The Ecuadorian
people voted for that...When have we concealed
our ideological orientation? We are going to
emphasize this."
Thus, even though president Correa has
avoided going against the US for the sake of it,
he has shown limited concern for US approval on
his decisions. He announced, for example, that
the Manta base contract will not be renewed, a
position he has ratified often. He expelled a pair
of U.S. diplomats stationed in Quito on allegations
of their "unacceptable meddling" in Ecuadorian
matters, and again he seemed little concerned
about whether the US would be offended by the
clear message of non-interference on internal
affairs. Ecuador has its new Constitution and now
president Correa has a four year term to
implement more changes, there is even the
possibility of re-election in 2013.
Eric Toussaint -the Belgium historian and
political scientist president of the Committee for
the Abolition of Third World Debt and author of
The World Bank: a never-ending coup d'Etat,
regards the new Constitutions as an important
change. "The new Constitution guarantees
increased cultural, economic and social rights for
the population and it has set up a democratic
mechanism through which elected representatives
can be dismissed at mid-mandate whatever the
level they operate at, including the President of
the Republic (this is also the case in the
Constitutions set up in Venezuela in 1999 and in
Bolivia in 2009)." He argues that "democratic
political changes in Ecuador are hardly ever
mentioned in the major media of industrialized
countries." He mentions the defamatory
campaign implemented by the press. President
Correa denounced a similar issue in Ecuador
during his interview with the press after the
elections pointing to the many distortions
promoted by the press as an issue. The press
campaign, argues Toussaint, presents not only
Correa but also the heads of State of Bolivia and
Venezuela as "authoritarian populist leaders"
(Touissant, Ecuador at the crossroads, Global
Research, 28/04/09).
Constant comments about these heads of
state working together as part of an "axis" had
encouraged Correa to deny the existence of such
"axis" even though, he said, it would not be a
crime. Whether or not a fiction few would question
the coming together of heads of state but would
see them as productive, even positive. The
coming together of the "three amigos" (México,
Canada and the US) including first Reagan,
Mulroney and Fox and more recently, Bush,
Harper and Calderón was never challenged by
mainstream media. And, what about the
European Union? Yet, there is concern when
Latin American heads of state work together,
particularly if it is for the benefit of their most
disenfranchised citizens.
The hottest issues, however, it would be the
no payment of the debt. Since November 2008,
Ecuador has stopped repaying part of the loans
contracted by previous government as bonds,
based on the results of the Commission for a
Complete Auditing of the Public Debt which
found that these debts are nullified by the very
conditions in which they were issued. Toussaint
himself a member of the Commission supports to
stop payment. , the Belgium historian and political
scientist president of the Committee for the
Abolition of Third World Debt and author of The
World Bank: a never-ending coup d'Etat, and a
member of the mentioned Commission, favours
with other Commission members, to just stop
payment. But this past April the government of
Ecuador proposed an alternative 70%
devaluation of the debt or a payment of only
30% of those debts. Whether this would be
sufficient for Ecuador to cope with the current
challenges presented by the world crisis is to be
seen. The no payment position is a challenge
because Ecuador has been the only government
in the world to launch a complete audit of its
public debt during the 2000s. It is possible that
this changes with the new public debt crisis which
involves other countries and they may follow
Ecuador´s lead in challenging the legitimacy of
these debts.