Ecuador raises police, military pay after rebellion

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Ecuador raises police, military pay after rebellion
(AFP) – 7 hours ago

QUITO — Ecuador's President Rafael Correa raised police and military salaries just days after a police uprising over a law scrapping police bonuses.

Correa announced the pay hikes the same day as the law stopping public employee bonus payments took effect; it included unpopular cuts to bonus payments linked to seniority.

The president Monday raised salaries of four military and police ranks, from 400-570 dollars a month. Defense Minister Javier Ponce said the raises were unrelated to last week's turmoil, and had been due since 2008.

On Thursday hundreds of police occupied a police station in the capital and the runway at the international airport, demanding Correa's government scrap the law that was adopted Wednesday by the legislature. By day's end, 10 people were killed in the political turmoil and at least 247 injured.

Correa, whose government had been relatively uneventful in a country long renowned for political instability, insisted the rebellion was a coup attempt.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gDcN3JlItWB_Teuwr09ebKsFguyQ?docId=CNG.b5ed066c5c7b913aee54b25ac349f1b0.2f1

[dotymed]

1. Correa

has to increase the pay of the military and police. It is pathetic that these people will sell-out, and protect the Correa regime from the people. He is a US installed RW dictator.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Would you please point to some evidence you have on his being a dictator,

and a U.S. plant?

From what many of us have discovered in research, and in reading news from here and Latin America, he has enraged the right-wing community here because he is very progressive. He ran for office on the promise of throwing the U.S. off the Manta Air Base when its contract expired. He made a lot of enemies in the U.S. because of that.

He was also elected partially because that was what the vast majority of his countrymen/women wanted.

Please don't hesitate to provide a link to your evidence the man is a dictator, and is a U.S. puppet dictator. We need to know. You'd be doing everyone a favor.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Judi Lynn]

3. I should add, Correa said he'd be glad to let the US set up another air base in Ecuador

when the US allows Ecuador to establish their air base in Miami.

That doesn't sound like a US-loving puppet dictator to me.

[bherrera]

7. They should legalize drugs

Then they don't need bases, and the narco-gangsters will not have funds to fight the government.

I think Correa made a stupid statement, President Obama should hold discussions to see which type of existing US base Ecuador wants to use for flights to monitor the flow of drugs. After all, the bases the US uses in Colombia remain under the control of the Colombians. I am starting to think this Correa does need some tranquilizing drug, he is acting like a teenager.

[Judi Lynn]

11. Ecuador doesn't have a drug problem. They don't grow it there in any sizeable amount.

They also don't have a large number of traffickers.

Why would Rafael Correa want to have the US operating a base in Ecuador when the people of Ecuador made it plain long ago they DON'T WANT A U.S. BASE THERE.

Maybe you need to spend more time trying to learn what is going on there, instead of giving the world your opinion, without the facts. Learn first, THEN opine.

[bherrera]

14. I know a lot about Ecuador

I meant the USA should legalize drugs. And of course all countries too.

Why would Ecuador want an operating base in Ecuador? I don't think they should. But if it's a base Ecuador controls, as the Colombians control their bases where they allow some US soldiers to work, then this may be a good source of income. Remember, Ecuador is a poor country, and their eocnomy is not doing well. This is one reason why Correa had threatened to cut police benefits (which I see he reversed now that he has grown up).

Maybe you should try to understand I am highly educated. I just finished reading a book by Heinz Dieterich, another by Javier Paniagua, and I also re-read the the Encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII against Socialism. Thus you should understand, when you attack me, make sure you understand you should carry a large sword, because I carry a small gasoline powered saw. :-)

[Judi Lynn]

19. They had a US base at Manta. They people protested against it, wanted the US to leave.

They are completely aware of how much money the US people contributed to their economy, and they believe they do NOT gain as much as they lose when the US is there.

They protested for years before Rafael Correa was elected, and fulfilled his campaign promise to them by not renewing the contract with the US when it expired a year ago or two.

[ChangoLoa]

5. Wow.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

12. WTF? nt

[Mike Marble]

13. What color is the sky on your planet?

"A US installed RW dictator." Huh?

[Odin2005]

4. Extortion, ugh.

:(

[dotymed]

8. here's one

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=4909

[Judi Lynn]

10. The clip you've posted doesn't refer to Correa. Starts out discussing Lobo.

Did you confuse the filthy Honduran coup, in which the leftist President was violently taken out of his home at 3:00 a.m., and flown to another country, with the Ecuadorian attempted coup?

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn.nyud.net:8090/mediafile/200909/01/P200909011629421369831076.jpg http://www.christianfurr.com.nyud.net:8090/lookylikey/images/ferengi.jpg

Porfirio Lobo, Ferengi

http://i.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/i/pix/2010/10/01/article-1316641-0B6D3DE9000005DC-821_634x410.jpg

Rafael Correa, during the coup attempt

http://www.chartingstocks.net.nyud.net:8090/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/correa.jpg
The video you've provided is a good one concerning Clinton's Latin American tour. Very worthwhile. Mark Weisbrot is excellent. He's a true authority on Latin American politics, and their economies.

[dotymed]

20. I possibly did

Every since Zalaya was overthrown it has been a confusing mess (to me).

[COLGATE4]

9. Rafael's nervous. As they say in Ecuador, 'esta viendo pasos

de animal grande'

[rabs]

16. "They" say that in Ecuador?

"esta viendo pasos de animal grande"

"(He) is seeing steps of big animal" :shrug:

I spent a year studying in Quito and never heard any such. :-)

[Judi Lynn]

18. Maybe they're saying that at a home for the abnormally odd. n/t

[rabs]

15. More disinformation ; there is no across-the-board salary increases

AFP got it wrong.

-------------------------

Ejecutivo aclara que “no hay incremento general de salarios para militares ni policías

-- Government clarifies "(There) is no general increase in the salaries for the military or police"

QUITO.- El ministro de Defensa, Javier Ponce, aclaró que “no se ha dispuesto ningún incremento salarial en las Fuerzas Armadas ni en la Policía tal como lo señalan algunas publicaciones de prensa que afirman que el Ejecutivo tomó esta decisión luego de la intentona golpista de la semana pasada.

-- Defense Minister Javier Ponce clarified that there has been no salary increase in the Armed Forces or the police as reported in some media publications that said the Executive made that decision after the coup attempt of last week.

Explicó que con la aprobación de la Ley Orgánica de de Servicio Civil se viabiliza la corrección en los salarios de capitanes, mayores, suboficiales primero y suboficiales mayor, que tenía inconsistencias dentro del proceso de homologación, en el Gobierno de Alfredo Palacio.

-- Ponce explained that it was a "correction" for captains, majors, and the top two ranks of noncommissioned officers whose salaries had inconsistencies...

El ministro Ponce explicó que se aplicará un pago con retroactivo desde enero, solo a favor de cuatro rangos de la fuerza pública que tenían inconsistencias dentro del proceso de homologación

-- Ponce explained that the salary hike will be retroactive from January, only for those four ranks ....

-- only 3,100 officers will be affected (the national police force has 41,000 members) and the retroactive raises amount to about 40 million dollars.

More for readers of Spanish

http://andes.info.ec/actualidad/ejecutivo-clara-que-no-hay-incremento-general-de-salarios-para-militares-ni-policias-32285.html

[Judi Lynn]

17. It's important the real story gets aired, although the lie beat it out the door!

There were unbelievable headlines on the bogus story immediately.

They just don't seem to care to have much to do with the truth any more. I guess they have their orders for official spin and the truth just doesn't matter.

So it concerns only four pay grades, period.

Far different from the impression being painted in the corporate media.

It was the lower ranking cops and Air Force who were involved in this mess in the first place, wasn't it?

Thanks for throwing the light on this.