(Updated Oct. 2) Coup attempt in Ecuador defeated; Chavez led condemnation; Correa: 'I'm not going to give up'

We, from the Latin American Friendship Association, Chennai, India, condemn the attempt on the life of President Rafael Correa of Equador. This is not the first time that the U.S. orchestrated stooges carry out the job assigned to them for the crumbs thrown at them. The world has not forgotten the cowardly events that led to the assasination of Socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile; nor have we forgotten the numerous attepts on the life of Fidel Castro of Cuba in the past, and those on the life of Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in recent years. Earlier, the 'mistake' of Fidel was that he came to power by a revolution. But successive attempts on the lives of Popular Presidents who were voted to power demonstrate that the U.S. does not tolerate anybody who does not dance ot the tunes of the power centre in the U.S. The day is not far off when the U.S. would face opposition of its own people for spending enormous money constantly on plots of assassinations in Latin American countries, while cutting off all welfare expenditure for its own citizens. Amarantha.

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/newsrelease/4741

We call for unity among social organizations for a plurinational peoples' democracy

This is an unofficial translation of a statement posted to CONAIE's website on September 30, 2010..

A process of change, as weak as it may be, runs the risk of being overturned or overtaken by the right, old or new, if it does not establish alliances with organized social and popular sectors, and deepen progressively.

The insubordination of the police, beyond their immediate demands, lays bare at least four substantial things:

1. While the government has dedicated itself exclusively to attacking and delegitimizing organized sectors like the Indigenous movement, workers' unions, etc., it hasn't weakened in the least the structures of power of the right, or those within the state apparatus, which has become evident through the rapidity of the response from the public forces.

2. The social crisis that was let loose today was also provoked by the authoritarian character and the non-opening to dialogue in the lawmaking process. We have seen how laws that were consensed around were vetoed by the President of the Republic, closing any possibility of agreement.

3. Faced with the criticism and mobilization of communities against transnational mining, oil, and agro-industrial companies, the government, instead of creating a dialogue, responds with violence and repression, as occurred in Zamora Chinchipe.

4. This scenario nurtures the conservative sectors. Already various sectors and people from the old right are asking for the overthrow of the government and the instalation of a civil or military dictatorship; but the new right, from inside and outside the government, will use this context to justify their total alliance with the most reactionary sectors and with emerging business interests.

The Ecuadorian Indigenous movement, CONAIE, with its regional Confederations and its grassroots organizations states before Ecuadorian society and the international community their rejection to the economic and social policies of the government, and with the same energy we reject the actions of the right that in an undercover way form part of the attempted coup d'?tat, and to the contrary we will continue to struggle for the construction of a Plurinational State with a true democracy.

Consistent with the mandate of the communities, peoples and nationalities and faithful to our history of struggle and resistance against colonialism, discrimination and exploitation of those who are below, of the poor, we will defend democracy and the rights of the people: no concessions for the right.

In these critical moments, our position is:

1. We convene our bases to maintain themselves alert and ready to mobilize in defense of true Plurinational democracy and against the actions of the right.

2. We deepen our mobilization against the extractive model and the imposition of large scale mining, the privatization and concentration of water, and the expansion of the oil frontier.

3. We convene and join together with diverse organized sectors to defend the rights of workers, affected by the arbitrariness which has driven the legislative process, recognizing that they are making legitimate demands.

4. We demand that the national government firmly depose every possible concession to the right. We demand that the government abandons its authoritarian attitude against the popular sectors, that they not criminalize social protest and the persecution of leaders: the only thing this type of politics provokes is to open spaces to the Right and create spaces of destabilization.

The best way to defend democracy is to begin a true revolution that resolves the most urgent and structural questions to the benefit of the majority. On this path is the effective construction of the Plurinational state and the immediate initiation of an agrarian revolution and a de-privatization of water.

This is our position in this context and in this historical period.

Marlon Santi PRESIDENT, CONAIE

Delf?n Tenesaca PRESIDENT, ECUARUNARI

Tito Puanchir PRESIDENT, CONFENIAE

Olindo Nastacuaz PRESIDENT, CONAICE

MILITARY COUP ATTEMPT IN ECUADOR

Given the disastrous attempted coups in Ecuador against the legitimate government constitution and the integrity of President Rafael Correa, The Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FMLN, Australia reads as follows:

1. Rejects the attempted coup that backward sectors
right are waging against the person and the government
comrade Rafael Correa in Ecuador.
2. We condemn the insubordination by some sectors of
Ecuadorian police, who are holed up in the regimental 1
Quito, lending itself to the purposes of an extreme right coup.
Reaching an abusive disrespect tear gas to
President, when he courageously sought a dialogue with the
Police demand on public service.
3. We demand unconditional respect for the physical, moral and life
President Rafael Correa, who is currently
in the Metropolitan Police Hospital, where the village is
mobilizing to rescue him.
4. We call upon the international community and the people
in Australia, to which we remain alert to the development of
events in Ecuador and express our solidarity and
We strongly condemn.
5. We sympathize with the people and government of Ecuador, with
President Correa and his cabinet, which is the product of a revolution
democratic citizenship.

Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
September 30, 2010.

The Socialist Alliance congratulates the people of Ecuador for defeating the attempted coup against the government of President Rafael Correa on September 30. As President Correa has explained, this attack on democracy in Ecuador was led by a right-wing opposition intent on destabilising and overthrowing a government that is implementing progressive reforms, including to join the Bolivarian Alliance of the People of Our America (ALBA) and to refuse to allow the United States to continue to use the Manta military base in Ecuador.

This is not the first coup against an ALBA-member country. In June 2009, Honduras was subject to a coup that forced its president, Manuel Zelaya, from power. In 2004, a coup was carried out in Haiti with United States backing. In 2002, Venezuela was also subject to a coup, but a huge mobilisation by Venezuelans, combined with military support for Chavez, defeated that attack.

We recognise that US-backed, right-wing efforts to undermine and overturn the will of the majority of people in Ecuador will likely continue, and offer our active solidarity to help ensure that, through mobilising international pressure, no such attempt can ever succeed.”

(Adopted unanimously on October 1, 2010 by Socialist Alliance National Executive)

IV Online magazine : IV429 - October 2010
Ecuador

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1927

Stop the coup attempt in Ecuador against the Correa government

Throughout the day on September 30th there have been a series of serious events in Ecuador that clearly indicate an attempted coup to overthrow the government of Correa through violent action by elements of the police force, who detained Correa himself for several hours, until he was freed by the military.

So far, the coup leaders have not achieved their objective. While appearing as a police protest against government decisions, the dynamics of that protest – in which Correa himself was wounded and detained – are the dynamics of a coup. The response of many social organizations, unions, political groups, feminists, peasants and indigenous people in Ecuador – even though some of them put their criticisms of the government first, have been echoed around the world and many voices have been raised in protest against this coup attempt that seeks to seize the moment of confusion to advance the right-wing offensive sponsored by imperialism and remove one of the progressive governments of Latin America.

In Mexico various organizations immediately called for demonstrations of support and solidarity. Today and tomorrow, in front of the Ecuadorean embassy in Mexico City, there have been called, especially by the MMSC, protest vigils against the attempted coup.

For our party, the PRT, it is clear that this coup attempt coincides with the imperialist strategy that seeks to curb the social struggles which have developed in recent years in Ecuador and Latin America and have led to significant gains, even in the midst of the contradictions of this process and the justified criticisms that may exist among the population. In spite of these criticisms from the popular movement of the limitations or inconsistencies of the Correa government, it is clear that a coup by the police, and possibly by the military, it will not favour the people’s interests, but on the contrary will seek not only to overthrow Correa but also to sweep aside the conquests and rights of the people. That is why we must oppose this coup attempt by the police.

In this right-wing, reactionary and profoundly undemocratic action, the role of imperialism and the forces of the bourgeoisie and the oligarchy has undoubtedly been present, as it was before in Honduras, and just as it threatened the processes in Bolivia from a racist stance, and in Venezuela with the use of all the media apparatus, but without achieving their objective.

Our support for the Ecuadorean people at this time means first denouncing the coup attempt. There will be time later to discuss the best alternatives. But little progress can be achieved if we allow the bayonets again to silence the liberties of a people such as that of Ecuador. There are many examples in history that have shown us how the installation of the worst military dictatorships in Latin America has begun with military coups aimed at smothering the people’s aspirations to freedom and justice.

We call on all to join the demonstrations of protest against this attempted coup d’etat in Ecuador, with all the strength that we the peoples of the world can muster.

Mexico, D. F. on September 30, 2010.

International Committee of the Workers Revolutionary Party (PRT)

Mexican Section of the Fourth International

http://www.cadtm.org/CADTM-rejoices-at-the-failure-of

October 2, 2010 -- CADTM rejoiced at the failure of the attempted coup in Ecuador and supports popular mobilisation to stand up for social and democratic advances.

On Thursday 30 September an attempted coup failed in Ecuador. A significant portion of the national police sequestered president Rafael Correa after he urged policemen to accept the law on public services which had been adopted at its first reading by the national assembly on 29 September 2010. The aim of this law is to end certain financial benefits enjoyed by police and armed forces. A sector of the armed forces, including air force personnel, together with police, took control of the country’s main airports for about twelve hours.

Former president Lucio Guttierez, who stood down in 2005 in the wake of public protests, and speaking from Brasilia, declared his support for the coup and demanded an end to Rafael Correa’s mandate. A group of opponents to Rafael Correa, among whom undercover policemen and Pablo Guerrero, Lucio Guttierez’ lawyer and an active member in his party, forced their way into the public radio and television buildings in the afternoon of Thursday 30 September. The situation was confused at police headquarters. Rafael Correa was sequestered for some twelve hours in the police hospital.

While the armed forces high command claimed that it supported its president it delayed restoring constitutional order through Rafael Correa’s release. It probably conditioned its support on concessions to the military’s demands. CONAIE, i.e. the main organisation of indigenous peoples in Ecuador, denounced the coup while maintaining its objections to governmental policies. Eventually around 9.30 p.m. on 30 September, the army faced the rebel police forces and liberated the president. It looks as though this prevented a tragic outcome to the mutiny, which might have led to a fullblown coup. Even so, the situation is volatile and vigilance is the order of the day. After the victorious military coup in Honduras in 2009, which benefited from the support of Washington and its allies in the area, there is a clear risk of other coups being attempted. Right-wing parties in Paraguay openly consider the possibility.

Along with many other bodies and associations CADTM insists that President Rafael Correa is a democratic president. He was elected to office twice (in 2006 and 2010) in democratic presidential elections. Since the beginning of his mandate, his government has implemented a series of positive measures: a democratic process of political reform which led to a new constitution for the country in 2008; a newly affirmed declaration of independence resulting in an end to the US army’s occupation of the Manta base; an audit of the public debt (in which CADTM actively collaborated) which led to suspension of repayments, which in turn enabled the volume of debt to be significantly reduced; an increase in social spending; the promotion of Latin-American integration; an environmental initiative to end oil drilling in the Amazonian rain forest on the Yasuni reservation; the creation of public service television and radio in a country where the mass media was until then entirely controlled by big private corporations, and more specifically by the country’s private banks. These advances have been enabled through strong popular mobilization over the last 15 years. Though these advances may be modest and certainly insufficient in scope, the various democratic changes brought about since Rafael Correa’s election at the end of 2006 have engendered fierce opposition from the conservative sectors who are accustomed to use government as a medium for defending their interests.

As the attempted coup d’état progressed, citizens and organizations massed in Ecuador on Thursday 30 to demand the release of Rafael Correa. Once he was free again he addressed part of his partisans on the public square in front of the presidential palace.

While CADTM has never failed to take a critical stand on Rafael Correa’s government when it considered its actions contrary to the ongoing process of emancipation, it firmly denounces the attempted coup of 30 September. Constitutional order must be respected, democracy must be reaffirmed, and Rafael Correa must enjoy full freedom to pursue his mandate. CADTM calls for international support of the popular movement to defend democracy. The democratic process currently underway in Ecuador must be achieved through thorough-going economic and social reforms.

Translated by Judith Harris and Christine Pagnoulle

Contact : Eric Toussaint, president of CADTM Belgium, eric.toussaint4@gmail.com
Damien Millet, spokesman for CADTM France, damien.millet@cadtm.org
Jérôme Duval, Patas Arriba – CADTM Spain djino68@gmail.com
Daniel Munevar and William Gaviria, CADTM Abya Yala Nuestra America, Colombia, danielmunevar@cadtm.org and wgocampo@gmail.com
Enith Flores, CADTM Ecuador, enithlisa@yahoo.es

Statement by the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Coup d’ état Attempt in Ecuador. Havana, September 30th, 2010, 3:00PM.

Following instructions from the President of the Councils of State and of Ministers I will make the following statement:

· The government of the Republic of Cuba condemns and expresses its strongest rejection to the Coup d’ état that is taking place in Ecuador. President Correa has denounced that there is a Coup d’ état taking place, that he has been attacked and is being retained by force at the Police Metropolitan Hospital in Quito.

· Cuba hopes that the leadership of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces honor their obligation to respect and enforce the Constitution, to guarantee the inviolability of the lawfully elected President of the Republic and ensure the State of Law.

· We make the head of the Armed Forces from Ecuador responsible for the physical integrity and the life of President Correa. His complete freedom of movement and the exercise of his duties must be guaranteed.

· We strongly reject the statements attributed to the so called Sociedad Patriótica (Patriotic Society) of Lucio Gutiérrez, proclaiming intentions openly in favor of the coup.

· Cuba offers its most absolute and full support to the legit and constitutional government of President Rafael Correa and backs the Ecuadorian people that is mobilizing to rescue their President.

· Cuba joins the statements by Latin-American Presidents and international organizations demanding that the coup attempt be stopped.

· I call upon the US government to make a statement against the coup d’ état. Its spokesperson has only stated that “he is following the situation closely”. An omission in this regard would make him an accomplice of the coup attempt.

· Facts such as this, serve only to the interests from outside our region that pretend to prevent the advance of independent and transforming processes.

· This is also an attempt to silence the voice of Ecuador and of its President in his confronting the US interventionist policy in the region.

· Destabilizing attempts such as these seek only to bring back from the past the times when coup d’ état used to take place, now through other methods, to restore the imperialist domination and the oligarchies.

· Cuba warned, on the occasion of the coup d’ état organized in Honduras with the participation of power sectors from the United States, and after with the situation of impunity accorded to those who staged the coup, that with these serious facts a new era of coup d’ état and military dictatorships in Latin America had been reopened.

In defense of Ecuador

The Net “In Defense of Humanity” calls upon international public opinion to strongly condemn the coup d´état in Ecuador and urge all men and women defenders of peace, justice and legality to denounce this violation of the sovereignty and constitutional order in this country.

The US government is looking like an accomplice. So we most denounce those who want to stop democratic and revolutionary changes in our Continent, as they did already in Honduras, using all means including the most violent.

Urgently we call you all to show support for President Rafael Correa, genuinely and democratically elected, supported by peoples will in five successive occasions. We demand the preservation of his physical integrity. All peoples must mobilize to unanimously condemn such a heinous action, conducted by the most extremist reactionaries and rightists, with the complicity of imperialism.

Down with the Coup.

http://embacuba.cubaminrex.cu/indiaing