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October 4, 2007 [LINK / comment]

Ecuador's democracy in peril

The brash young president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, keeps pushing for a showdown with opposition forces in his bid to remake Ecuador in the image of Venezuela. Last Sunday the people voted for delegates to a rubber stamp "constituent assembly" that Correa hopes will replace the existing Congress. About 3,200 candidates were on the ballot across the country, including a large number of eccentrics and members of fringe groups. Correa claimed a mandate from the elections, and declared his intention to dissolve Congress, which he considers inept, corrupt, and inattentive to the needs of poor people. His candidates seem to have a strong majority so far, but it is uncertain whether he will have the two-thirds supermajority necessary to undertake fundamental changes in the constitution. See BBC. Correa is a well educated man, with a degree in economics, and it is striking that he seems totally unaware of the risks he is taking by unleashing the forces of class resentment while trashing constitutional norms. It's a recipe for chaos and even deeper poverty.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 05 Oct 2007, 12: 14 AM

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Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


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The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

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