ECUADOR: Correa Denies FARC Financing; Willing To Take Lie Detector Test.

BBC/

     Three days after after a UK report alleged links between FARC rebels and President Rafael Correa, he says he is ready to take a lie detector test to disprove allegations he took $400,000 usd.
     "My hands are clean," Correa said.
      "I'll take a lie detector test to prove I never received funds from the FARC," he added.

COLOMBIA / ECUADOR / VENEZUELA : 11 May UPDATE: Venezuela Responds To Book Claiming FARC Financed Correa, Killed Chavez Opponents.

M.HERALD/ J.WYSE

   Documents found in the computer files of a senior FARC commander killed in a 2008 raid detail a relationship between the rebels and Venezuela and Ecuador's governments.
    FARC was allegedly asked to work for Venezuela’s intelligence services.
    They also claim that Colombia’s FARC rebels contributed $400,000 to President Correa’s 2006 presidential bid.

   The documents are contained in a 240-page book “The FARC Files: Venezuela, Ecuador and the Secret Archive of Raúl Reyes,” published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

UPDATE 11 MAY: R. Carroll:
  Venezuela's London embassy called a report linking Hugo Chavez's government to FARC rebels as a "dodgy dossier"...recycling old unfounded allegations.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/11/venezuela-attacks-chavez-links-farc-files

 

ECUADOR: 11 May UPDATE: 2 Controversial Referendums Now Losing; Correa Charges Vote Manipulation.

 

LINK CHANGE/ AP/M.HERALD /

   With 48 % of the vote counted and an exceedingly slow count,  two controversial referendum items pushed by President Correa are losing...albeit by slim margins.
    The issues concern judicial and media reforms.
    Results are seen as an important gauge of Correa's popularity.
   In 2006, Correa was first elected...and re-elected in 2009 after the constitution was rewritten.
   Most disputed are two questions that would keep media owners from other commercial interests and create a government media oversight authority.
  "They've been saying it's totalitarian... [a word] used for a state in which things are done by force. We're doing this democratically," he said.
   Polls report that perhaps half of citizens had trouble understanding the ballot questions.

ECUADOR: Prez. Correa Accused Of Attacking Free Speech.

AP/ Frank Bajak,Gonzalo Solano

   Free speech advocates claim President Rafael Correa is stepping-up his anti-media fight.
   Correa wants jail time and huge multimillion-dollar fines for journalists he accuses of defamation.
    Since taking office in January 2007, Correa has attacked reporters as corrupt, "mafiosos" and "opposition politicians in disguise."
    On 7 May, voters will decide if Correa can restrict news media ownership and name the executive in charge of regulating media content.
     "We journalists are an annoyance for those in power," said head of the Journalists Union Vicente Ordonez, "and these types of actions seek to frighten and bring about self-censorship."

ECUADOR: Correa Praises Weak USD; May Re-Enter Bond Market.

BLOOMBERG / Cecilia Tornaghi and Nathan Gill /
              President Rafael Correa says his government may sell international bonds for the first time since 2005 as emerging market appeal grows for investors.
           Ecuador defaulted on bonds in 1999 and declared $3.2 billion of notes invalid in 2008. Correa also wants to restore investor confidence after police riots last month sent the nation’s yield spread as high as 12.3 percentage points. But Correa paid off the IMF in 2007.
                  “Thanks to God, in the last years the dollar has been very weak so that is good for us because with a weak dollar we can recover a little bit of competitiveness,” Correa said. “Since we adopted dollarization, or the dollar as national currency, the Federal Reserve policies have been convenient.”
        Some strategists feel that investors needing higher returns amid near-zero interest rates in the U.S, Europe and Japan may overlook Ecuador's past credit issues and buy new debt.
          “This whole investors’ push for yields has brought out a lot of emerging-market borrowers, both corporates and sovereign, said Win Thin in NYC. “It’s a little scary.”

ECUADOR: Profile Of And Interview With President Rafael Correa.

NYT/ By SIMON ROMERO :
      "In the nearly four years since Mr. Correa became president, he has upended the political order in this Andean nation and managed to confound both his supporters and critics. He is in some ways a walking contradiction: a child of poverty who breached the gates of Ecuador’s entrenched elite, an economist from a bastion of conservatism who preaches “21st-century socialism,” and an ally of the Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez who remains friendly enough with Washington to have chatted with President Obama this month by telephone."

AND: (Re the police protest and violence) “I’m shattered by all that has happened,” he said. “Imagine, five deaths and hundreds of wounded. I come from academia and found the brutality of these people very dangerous.”

ECUADOR: 1ST UPDATE: "COUP Attempt !!!"... Cries Correa; State Of Emergency Declared.

LINK CHANGE: LATIMES / 01 OCT/
      President Rafael Correa was rescued at night from a hospital where he was held captive for hours by striking federal police. Some 500 soldiers loyal to him charged the hospital and shots were fired.
Two police officers were reportedly killed and several injured.
    "This is a coup attempt," President Rafael Correa had claimed on TV interview after police lobbed tear gas at him. He said police were trying to get at him. "They fired gas on us -- on the president of the republic," Correa said on TV. "This is treason to the country, treason to their president."
     Striking police shut down airports and blocked highways protesting a new law that cuts their benefits.
It still is not  not clear whether the police officers protesting a new law that would reduce their benefits and slow salary increases are seeking to control the government. 
      Earlier, they fired tear gas and burned tires after taking over barracks in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities.
     Many schools in Quito shut down and businesses closed lacking police protection. There was looting in Quito with at least two banks were sacked -- and in Guayaquil where supermarkets were ransacked and robberies occurred.
       Speaking with strikers, President Rafael Correa was shouted down and pelted with water.
"If you want to kill the president, here he is! Kill me!,'' said Correa. Correa suffered from tear gas in the melee.
       A national state of emergency was declared. At least one was killed and some 70 injured. Peru and Colombia closed their borders with Ecuador.
       YOUTUBE Video of  Correa address to Nation (ES) AND tear gas scrum where he is injured and taken away:
             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV6CCeCYFWI&feature=player_embedded#!

ECUADOR: Sibling Rivalry Turns Ugly As Correa Brothers Battle It Out.

GUARDIAN/ Rory Carroll /

CARROLL:   "When ambitious siblings vie for political power there are two extremes. There is the Roman way: Romulus kills Remus for control of the city. There is the Labour way: David and Ed Miliband wish each other luck in the party leadership race.
Somewhere in between – call it the third way – is Ecuador, where President Rafael Correa and his brother Fabricio battle for influence through public insults and metaphorical daggers. Fabricio has just launched a political party to try to wrest control of the South American country from his younger brother and apparent nemesis, turning a family feud into a political soap opera."

ECUADOR: Correa Declares Oil Contracts Will Be Renegotiated; Flat Fees Only With 100% State Ownership.

BBC/    Under a new law, Ecuador will start renegotiating contracts with private oil companies to increase state control to 100%. All previous agreements will be replaced with flat fee only deals. Foreign oil firms currently produce 44% of the of 470,000 bbp output.

ECUADOR/COLOMBIA: Correa Offers To Act As Mediator With FARC.

AP/ MIAMI HERALD/      President Rafael Correa told AP that he would be willing to mediate an end to Colombia's long-running conflict with leftist rebels as well as attend the 7 August inaugural of President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, though diplomatic ties are still frayed and no formal invitation has been sent.
    Ecuador's relations with Colombia ended after its military crossed into Ecuador in March 2008 pursuing FARC rebels. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Colombians live in Ecuador, which is also a refuge for the FARC.

ECUADOR: Natives Declare Victory In Water Privatization Battle.

LAHT/    Major indigenous organizations have claimed victory after the Legislative Assembly failed to pass a controversial bill that some believed opened the door to water privatization. The proposed water law will be deferred for five months until there is a referendum in indigenous communities. Protesters have clashed with police in Quito with dozens injured and arrested.

ECUADOR:1ST UPDATE: Correa Threatens Foreign Oil Companies... With Expropriation.

BUSINESSWEEK/ 1ST UPDATE: 20 ABRIL/  Includes oil company reactions after President Rafeal Correa raised his profile as a leftist and  threatened to take over foreign oil concessions if the companies resist growing state control of the industry because he insists more millions must go to the government. On a national TV address Correa said: "I'm out of patience. We are sending a bill to Congress that would allow for the expropriation of oil fields should the companies not want to sign the new contracts. The oil companies are playing with us. In the coming weeks there are going to be very considerable actions. I have no regard for these companies, which have abused our country."

ARGENTINA: Nestor Kirchner's Run For Unasur Chief Opposed.

MERCOPPRESS/      After Bolivia's President Evo Morales added his support to Nestor Kirchner's candidacy as Unasur secretary general, Kirchner's critics chimed in. "It would be a tragedy for America if Néstor Kirchner turns out to be designated as the head of the Unasur because the post should be occupied by a democratic man” said Argentine lawmaker Elisa Carrió. "It would be the same risk if Hugo Chávez was in charge. We have to be very careful with the new-born institutions because those in charge are part of a foundation and they can make it develop or die.” Ecuador's President Rafael Correa began the Kirchner candidacy effort. But it was rejected by Uruguay's Tabaré Vázquez, and Peru and Colombia did not announce their position. Any Unasur decision must be unanimous.

ECUADOR: Correa Asks Cabinet Resignations For Possible Reshuffling.

REUTERS/    President Rafael Correa, who took office in 2007, asked his entire cabinet to submit resignations after slow progress on agrarian reform and renegotiations of foreign oil contracts.

ECUADOR: Oil Exploitation Versus Biodiversity.

LATIMES/     President Rafael Correa recently announced a new plan to preserve the Yasuni reserves but allow for oil exploitation, disappointing environmentalists. He appointed a minister to seek donations from Arab and Asian countries for the 2.4-million-acre Yasuni National Park, one of the world's most biodiverse nature reserves. The money is to save Yasuni's rain forest from the sins of oil development that have ruined some parts of Ecuador, especially Lago Agrio.

ECUADOR: Correa's Popularity Sinks.

WSJ ONLINE/
President Rafeal Correa's popularity has sunk from 73% three years ago to only the mid-40's now. Experts blame it on lower commodities prices, growing crime, electricity shortages and his link to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

ECUADOR: Correa Proposes Europe Pay $3 Billion NOT To Drill In Amazon.

AP Via MIAMI HERALD/
President Rafael Correa is in London still promoting his idea that Ecuador receive $3 billion NOT to allow oil drilling in a pristine Amazon reserve, the Yasuni National Park. Germany and Spain are reportedly interested.
"This is the first time the government of a major oil-producing country has voluntarily offered to forego lucrative oil extraction in order to help combat climate change," said Dr. Matt Finer, staff scientist for Save America's Forests and author of a study on Correa's initiative.

Ecuador's Correa Faces Opposition From The Left And Right.

THE ECONOMIST/
"After almost three years in office, Mr Correa’s relations with Ecuador’s indigenous leaders are worse still. A socialist who likes to wear Andean Indian waistcoats and who recently announced the setting up of Cuban-style “Committees for the Defence of the Revolution”, Mr Correa has long been distrusted by business groups and conservatives. But now he faces a new challenge from the left. A strike by teachers and students, whose leaders claim to be Maoists, is now in its third week. And indigenous groups, some linked to Pachakutik, this week launched what they called a “national uprising”, complete with roadblocks. At least one protester was killed in clashes with police."

Chevron Offers Evidence of Bribery In Ecuador Lawsuit.

NYT.COM.
Chevron says that video and audio recordings obtained with bugging devices appear to implicate Ecuadoran officials and political operatives, including possibly Juan Núñez, the judge overseeing the lawsuit, and Pierina Correa, the sister of Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa in a $27 billion lawsuit over environmental damage.

Latin American Leaders Push For More Time To Rule.

GLOBAL POST.COM.
Across Latin America, presidents are pressuring lawmakers to change their constitutions to allow for multiple presidential terms — a trend that began in the 1990s. Here's a brief history of the most recent cases.