[Marxism] Ecuador: US pushes for new election, while Rice calls for "calm"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few things should be noted re the US role in Ecuador.  The US media
never portrayed the mobilizations against Gutierrez as an example of
"people power," not was the "revolution" color-coded. I suspect that
means they did not get the signal from the Ministries of Information in
Washington or on Wall Street to do so.  It seems clear that they had
decided Gutierrez was a liability, but not necessarily that they regard
the crisis as positive for them.

The information available hardly justifies a denunciation of "the middle
classes" for betraying the nation by opposing Gutierrez, nor the
reduction of Gutierrez's actual betrayal of the nation (and his
electoral mandate) to "mistakes" balanced by "virtues" for which he was
supposedly crucified.

Nestor's analysis still seems to me to be a cookie-cutter application of
a general political analysis which I admit has a lot of "virtues," but
does not seem to adequately fit the facts in this case.
Fred Feldman



US urges new poll in Ecuador

Agencies in Quito
Friday April 22, 2005

Guardian

The US called for new elections in Ecuador yesterday after its
parliament dramatically removed the president, Lucio Gutierrez.
Mr Gutierrez, the third Ecuadorean leader to be toppled in eight years,
was yesterday holed up at the Brazilian embassy in Quito, awaiting
asylum, a day after the congress voted to oust him after violent street
protests.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, hinted that Washington was
concerned at the removal of the president.

"We are simply asking everyone to keep calm in the area," she said.
"There should be no violence. There needs now to be a constitutional
process to get to elections, if that is what is in the future."

Ecuador's neighbours and regional powers also questioned the decision to
remove the president yesterday. The 34-country Organisation of American
States gave the new authorities until today to explain their moves.

"The Americas cannot look away from Ecuador saying nothing happened in
that country," said Alberto Borea, a senior diplomat from Peru.

Mr Gutierrez had faced growing street protests after his decision last
December to fill the supreme court with his allies. The congress
replaced him with his vice-president, Alfredo Palacio, after escalating
clashes between protesters in which two people were reported to have
been killed.

But several hundred demonstrators briefly trapped Mr Palacio in the
building where he was sworn in and demanded that he dissolve parliament
and call early elections.

Mr Palacio, a 66-year-old cardiologist who had been a prominent critic
of his former boss, said on Wednesday he would consider early elections
but could not dissolve the congress.

"I will accept the will of the people. My position [as president]
depends on them, but first we need order," he said.

Guardia


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