ECUADOR: ‘CIA Infiltration’ Charges Prompt Shake-Up in Armed Forces
By Kintto Lucas
QUITO, Apr 10 (IPS) - President Rafael Correa’s allegations that intelligence services in Ecuador had been infiltrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have led to a shake-up in the armed forces of unforeseeable consequences.
Resignations and dismissals are the order of the day. Wellington Sandoval resigned as defence minister Wednesday and was replaced by Correa’s personal secretary Javier Ponce. The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hector Camacho, army commander Guillermo Vásconez, and the chief of police, General Bolívar Cisneros, also stepped down.
A high-level Ecuadorean military officer who asked not to be identified told IPS that the country is at a critical juncture, with only two possible routes: "either the military as an institution returns to its nationalist orientation or it submits itself once and for all to impositions from the U.S."
It is necessary, he added, for "independent and progressive sectors to regain control over the institution." He also called for "a reduction of the power of a group that answers to former president Lucio Gutiérrez" (2003-2005), a former army colonel who was removed as president by Congress and replaced by his vice president Alfredo Palacio.
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Alexis Ponce of the Permanent Assembly on Human Rights said "this is the first time that a head of state has touched on this issue, and I think it is a historic opportunity to dismantle groups that are autonomously carrying out parallel intelligence work, often against the very interests of Ecuadorean national security."
Retired colonel Jorge Brito, one of the army officers who took part in the January 2000 uprising by indigenous groups and junior officers that toppled president Jamil Mahuad, brought legal action against Pazmiño in 2001, accusing him of being the founder of the Legión Blanca (White Legion), a far-right group that has issued death threats against journalists, human rights activists and political and social leaders.
With respect to Pazmiño’s possible ties to Colombia’s intelligence services, Alexis Ponce pointed out that people living near the site of the Mar. 1 bombing raid were given warning to leave the area, "because there were going to be armed clashes."
Camacho and U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Linda Jewell opened a seminar Monday on "Strategic Opportunities and Challenges", which forms part of the cooperation between the U.S. Army Southern Command and the Ecuadorean military.
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Former U.S. Southern Command chief Charles Wilhelm said in 2000 that after Ecuador signed an agreement leasing the air base in the port city of Manta to the U.S. military, one of Washington’s aims was to "reorient" the Ecuadorean armed forces.
The officer who spoke anonymously to IPS said "part of that reorientation was the modification of the training received by the Ecuadorean military, to make it more similar to the training received by the Colombian army."
To bring that about, "it was necessary to eliminate more progressive elements and modify the social relationship between the military and different social sectors like indigenous groups," while "implementing more closely the training agreements signed by the U.S. and Ecuadorean armed forces."
The source said a rift occurred in the armed forces after the January 2000 uprising by indigenous associations and the group of junior officers that overthrew Mahuad, and that U.S. influence took deeper root at that time.
More:
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41945
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