Injured Correa vows to fight 'coup' in Ecuador

[Billy Burnett]

Injured Correa vows to fight 'coup' in Ecuador
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-53303.html

Quito, Oct 1 : Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa claimed Thursday a police mutiny that was causing chaos in the South American country was an attempted coup.


Most police and some rank-and-file military officers were refusing to obey orders in a large part of Ecuador and had taken control of the largest police barracks in the capital and the airport.

The mutiny spread quickly to the rest of Ecuador. Several roads were blocked, local and international flights were cancelled and banks closed as police officers left their positions on traffic patrol, streets, airports and other key sites.

Correa was in hospital after being pushed around and suffering from the effects of tear gas during his visit to the centre of the spreading police mutiny.

Edited to conform to DU's fair use policy for copyrighted material. Lithos, DU Moderator

[EFerrari]

1. "They can pick the flowers, but they cannot prevent the arrival of spring"

:woohoo:

[flamingdem]

2. I hope they can isolate the bad apples fast nt

[EFerrari]

3. It took so long for the ejercito to get to the hospital

that I wonder what the hell really happened.

[rabs]

4. UNASUR emergency meeting getting under way in Baires

Cristina, Evo, Pinera, Garcia, Mujica and Nestor Kirchner present. Hugo may arrive later.

UNASUR moved but fast --- an international conference convened in hours is unheard of.

[EFerrari]

5. That's great news, rabs.

:hi:

[rabs]

6. Correa speaking live

on Telesur

http://www.telesurtv.net/solotexto/senal_vivo.php

Saying the police rebellion was a smokescreen for the attempted coup. That there had been a conspiracy detected long ago.

:hi: backatcha ...

[flamingdem]

8. Telesur is it for news on this, nothing else of depth or live nt

[flamingdem]

7. I wonder what they know about the coupsters nt

[rabs]

9. Lucio Gutiérrez

Reports indicated Lucio Gutiérrez, a former president ousted by a popular uprising and leader of the opposition Sociedad Patriótica Party, had a hand in the attempted coup. He had be vocal in his opposition during the lead up to the coup. Gutiérrez suggested new elections "could be the constitutional solution to avoid the possibility of bloodshed in the country." His lawyer was reported to have been spotted amongst a crowd of officers that cut off the transmission of state television.<17> After being rescued, President Rafael Correa accused Gutiérrez for being behind the coup attempt <14>.

(Wiki already has coup attempt update.)

[flamingdem]

10. So Lucio thought he could be president. Correa is pretty strong and they

can't bring him down without a pretext as with Zelaya and his supposed illegal referendum.

[rabs]

11. Gutierreista led attack on TV station

El ex abogado de Lucio Gutierrez, Pablo Guerrero, lideró asalto a instalaciones de TV Ecuador, lo que confirma la teoría del presidente de Ecuador, Rafael Correa, según la cual Gutierrez forma parte del grupo que ha conspirado para llevar a cabo este golpe de Estado.

Guerrero led a group of about 40 people who destroyed equipment at the government TV station that also houses radio and newspaper offices.

Suspect that Lucio and Guerrero are hi-tailing it as fast as they can to Amazonas province, the home of Gutierrez.

Rebellious police also roughed up two photojournalists from Agence France Presse.

[EFerrari]

13. So, maybe Lucio still had an in with the national police?

Is that the idea?

It's amazing how quickly the "labor dispute" part of this was reported and how slowly any other aspect is. lol

[flamingdem]

15. Seems poorly organized, I wonder who would have been involved with Stage Two nt

[EFerrari]

16. Or maybe someone in the army backed out.

At that point, they couldn't hold the airport. They couldn't really hold the president and shutting down that one station didn't really do much. With the army, it could have been another story.

[flamingdem]

17. Yes, they would have needed elements of the army, there must be much more to this nt

[naaman fletcher]

34. or much less.

perhaps it was not a coup, but rather a strike by police.

[Arctic Dave]

39. Police strike... Hahahahahahahahaha

:rofl:


Sure, whatever helps you get through the day.

[naaman fletcher]

40. Have any evidence to the contrary?

You really think the U.S. decided to launch a coup with the police, and without the military? whatever helps you get through the day.

[Arctic Dave]

41. Never said the US was involved, you did.

However, if you can, show me anywhere in the last two decades were the police tried to assassinate the President because they got paid more due to him raising their salaries.

[naaman fletcher]

42. No, I didn't

The person I was responding to did, and you decided to make a snarkey comment about it. Now you are running away from your position because in fact you have zero actual evidence of such. However, if you can, show me anywhere in the last two decades where the US supported a successful coup where the military was on the side of the coup target.

[Arctic Dave]

43. Successful or helpful?

Also, the US military, other then Panama, Iraq, Haiti, Somalia, The Balkans, Grenada, has not been involved in attempts to over throw governments. That is reserved for "contractors".

[naaman fletcher]

44. To clarify,

I did not mean the U.S. military, I meant the local military i.e. like in Chile.

[Judi Lynn]

19. Amazing speed in gathering these people together. They stood behind Morales, too,

right after the massacre at Pando, on September 11 a couple of years ago.

They mobilized so fast this time. It's wonderful.

[rabs]

12. About Correa's injuries

He explained in a speech a few minutes ago (carried live by Telesur) that he had received 22 stitches in the knee that was operated on last week. His body guards had to take him by the shoulders away from the mob that accosted him and that is when his knee was injured and swelled up.

He said at least four persons had tried to rip off his gas mask (that his security had put on him when the tear gas started flying) in an attempt to asphyxiate him.

[EFerrari]

14. rabs, did you see the work DUer Poll_Blind did with the BBC footage?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9232087

[rabs]

18. Yes, that video explains why Correa's knee was injured

and how the mob tried to rip off his gas mask in an attempt to have him choke.

Btw, when Correa was taken out of the hospital and driven to the Presidential Palace, four rifle bullets hit the official Nissan Patrol vehicle; three struck the hood and one hit the windshield on the passenger's side where Correa was sitting.

No wounded reported, so assume the vehicle is armored.

So if this is verified, it is now an assassination attempt in addition to the coup attempt.

Story (with very fuzzy pix taken with Blackberry)

Se quiso atentar contra la vida del Presidente Correa; vehículo oficial tiene 4 impactos de fúsil

http://andes.info.ec/actualidad/se-quiso-atentar-contra-la-vida-del-presidente-vehiculo-oficial-tiene-4-impactos-de-fusil-31757.html

[Judi Lynn]

20. Those BBC images Poll_Blind posted were amazing.Terrible seeing those criminals in action.Thanks.nt

[Judi Lynn]

21. Reuters has a few photos on this page:

Click on the thumbnails, please. I couldn't copy and paste them successfully, for some reason:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Photos+Unrest+Ecuador/3606515/story.html

[Judi Lynn]

22. A strange little message from President Rafael Correa's creepy right-wing brother,

Stinky, or, rather, Fabricio Correa Delgado.

http://fabriciocorreadelgado.com.nyud.net:8090/images/stories/f-semblanza.jpg http://www.codigovenezuela.com.nyud.net:8090/sistema/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/fabricio-correa1.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_-i2aTVoSxbU/StStjQKFuNI/AAAAAAAAAKE/5YmHqoDnbuw/s320/Fabricio_Correa_Delgado.jpg

Fabricio Correa
Brother of Ecuador President Urges Calm After Attack on President
By Alan Gray, NewsBlaze

Following Police demonstrations and riots in Ecuador, the President's brother, Fabricio Correa Delgado, released a statement today.

US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US is closely following events in Ecuador. "The United States deplores violence and lawlessness and we express our full support for President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in that country."

Here is the statement NewsBlaze received from Fabricio Correa Delgado:

"I would like to take the opportunity to thank our many friends in the international media asking me for a statement relating to the events in Ecuador today. Although we have refrained from making any statements up to now, I would like to state the following:

"I have been one of the most outspoken critics of my brother president Rafael Correa's government. But he is my younger brother and I have always taken care of him. It is therefore only natural that I am worried about his current well being, and particularly about his knee on which he just recently had surgery, since we have no reliable information on his current situation nor his whereabouts.

"While this crisis was partly caused by the president's style, it does not warrant the police's use of violence and disrespect for the rule of law, and I sincerely hope they will shortly accept the president's authority and the democratic rule of our country, and that we all learn from these unfortunate incidents today.

Sincerely
Fabricio Correa Delgado

http://newsblaze.com/story/20100930195508zzzz.nb/topstory.html

[flamingdem]

25. Ut oh - the brother looks like a part of the problem nt

[Judi Lynn]

32. There seems to be a pattern with Presidents getting creepy brothers.

Presidents Carter, Clinton, all of Bush 43's siblings, as well as _Bush himself, of course.

Correa's brother looks like a first class a-hole, his bombastic, delusional, egotistical statements have always been bizarre, as well.

[Downwinder]

33. You can choose your friends but not your relatives. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

23. Another slide show of a few photos:

http://www.elimparcial.es/reportajes/Golpe_estado_ecuador/

[bherrera]

24. How to turn a labor conflict into a national disaster

This is a perfect example of how to do things wrong. It was a labor conflict, police complaining and protesting about their labor benefits, and the president went to scream at the protesters. Because the police were not working, the thieves went out and stole everything from stores, and then some bad actors tried to use the police protest to see if they could get Correa out of office.

Correa is trying to make this labor problem a "coup", but it is clear it is not a coup. Spanish TV showed the statements of police strikers, and they said they only wanted to have improved retirement benefits and things like that.

[roody]

26. links? sources?

[bherrera]

37. Watch Television, I think

Maybe you should learn Spanish and watch television. I did. I listened to what Correa said, and I listened to what the lady representing the pollice strike said. There was no coup, this was caused by two sides, but President Correa is president, and the strikers did not really have leaders, it seemed chaos. President Correa made a mistake when he went to the site where the strikers were meeting, and started talking to them with a bad tone. People who have common sense know that when the workers get upset, it is nonsense to go and treat them poorly. In this case, the government is the employer, and the employed, the police, were very upset because some of their benefits were reduced.

Here in Spain we had a national strike, and the government was very smart, they stayed hidden and let the strikers run around as much as possible. I went to work because I was part of the minimum service group, the strike was organized to make sure infrastructure was not hurt and the sick could go to hospitals, and other needs were accounted for. The police only acted when they were damaging property. But ours is a true socialist government, which has the support of the working class and the middle class. The government in Ecuador is different, they are not behaving with common sense. I think they want to be communists, and this is a mistake.

[roody]

46. Yo sé español, pero no miro la tele.

[roody]

47. links? sources?

[Judi Lynn]

27. Report from Ecuador: Democracy Under Threat

Report from Ecuador: Democracy Under Threat
Posted: 2010/10/01

http://mathaba.net.nyud.net:8090/news/latina/i/correaGassed190.jpg

Photo: Correa during teargas
attack (AFP)

Faced with an apparent attempt to oust Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Thursday, Ecuador received an outpouring of support from Honduras to the White House. Most Ecuadorian social organizations, many of whom have had serious differences with the Andean president in recent years, also condemned threats on the country's democratic and constitutional order.

Early Thursday, Ecuador awoke to police protests across at least six highland and coastal cities. Police burned tires, shut down a main bridge in the economic centre of Guayaquil, and neglected their posts giving way to some looting and robberies before midday. The police said they were protesting the Public Security Law passed Wednesday night, which they claim will retract certain economic benefits from the armed forces such as bonuses and medals.

When President Rafael Correa personally confronted police protesting at the First Regiment in the nation's capital of Quito, police responded with tear gas. The President, who recently underwent knee surgery, fell and was carried into the police hospital.

Police who had been protesting started returning to work in other parts of the country by early afternoon, but tension continued in the capital while Correa remained in hospital. State media dominated the airwaves, accusing the country's right wing of an attempted coup and alleging involvement of the opposition Patriotic Society Party and the influence of ex-President Lucio Gutierrez who was overthrown in a popular ouster in April 2005. Correa reported that police told him he would not escape from his hospital room if he did not revoke the Public Security Law.

Popular mobilizations in support of the President grew throughout the afternoon and into the evening, with the political crisis persisting until shortly before 10 pm when a five hundred and fifty strong military and police operation returned the President to the government palace. One special forces officer was reported to have been killed in the operation and several others wounded.

More:
http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=624863

[Judi Lynn]

28. Two people killed by this coup, officially:Ecuador president safe after foiled coup

Ecuador president safe after foiled coup
Alexander Martinez
October 2, 2010 - 12:04AM
AFP

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa is safe back in the presidential palace after loyalist troops rescued him from a police mutiny in a day of gunfire and street clashes that left two dead.

The leftist president is "safe and well", a sombre police chief Freddy Martinez said on Friday, adding that after the uprising by sections of his forces he will be offering his resignation.

A relative calm had returned to the streets of the capital, Quito, on Friday after the city descended into chaos on Thursday, when police protesting against pay cuts took over a barracks and besieged Correa inside a hospital for about 12 hours.

Hustled to safety by troops and an elite police special operations unit under cover of darkness late on Thursday, Correa was given a hero's welcome by cheering supporters when he appeared later on a balcony.

More:
http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-world/ecuador-president-safe-after-foiled-coup-20101002-161dk.html

[EFerrari]

30. Juan had two people on Democracy Now today on this topic

and one of them, Miguel Tinker Salas, said that some police were chanting Gutierrez name outside the hospital and outside the presidential palace yesterday. So, that might be how Correa got the idea that Gutierrez was involved in the coup attempt. He heard them chanting.

[Judi Lynn]

31. Good grief. The guy has done coups before, too, yet when he gets into office,

the country can't stand his dirty ways.

That's very interesting to know. It's good Democracy Now got it out and on the record so early after the coup attempt.

[EFerrari]

36. The decontextualizing (is that a word?!) of this event

makes Correa look a little high strung -- a tactic we are familiar with, no? If he heard the police chanting Gutierrez name while he was their hostage, what else was he to deduce? :shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

45. Yep, it's one of their favorite weapons against people they want to destroy:

claiming the leader is crazy, not fit to lead, attempting to hack away at his soundness, value as a leader. We happen to know about it as we've actually done our research, instead of simply offering our opinions like some "celebrity" posters.

He couldn't very well unring that bell. They said it, he heard it. There's no other conclusion he could reach.

[PufPuf23]

48. Tool of the political ponerology / psycopaths that self-recognize

and group and make the inhumane and unequal justice the "social norm": through propaganda and people of damaged or diminished psyche and psychological normal that are the boiled frogs.

There was an attempted coup in Ecuador and the covert USA. Duh. Just like the failed 21st century coups in Venezuela (2002) and eastern Bolivia and the coup sucessful in Honduras.

Correa dropped the Manta USA airbase, sided with indigenous people's in the damage by international oil, and recently changed the nature of the fossil fuel (gas and oil, Ecuador is OPEC) whereby the international corps would be paid a production fee and title of oil and natural gas be socialed and owned by the government.

Anyone that has paid attention since the Monroe Doctrine knows the USA is constantly meddling to the South in the hemisphere for natural resources. Duh.

[Judi Lynn]

49. Meddling in the Southern countries is something some of these non-democratic people approve!

Clearly racist, clearly NOT democratic, and they represent a point of view I consider criminal, yet they have managed to find a way to feel pompous, to feel self-righteous, while endorsing violence, torture, murder, displacement, land theft, and deepst levels of exploitation, stealing people's labor for a pittance, denying them the ability to protest, and killing them if they do.

In my view, one side is human, healthy, moral and the other is greedy, degenerated, evil.

How is it the evil side claims the high ground? Gotta be the biggest joke in history, and the biggest crime.

The good will STILL inherit the earth, in time.

I only hope each day which passes is like having hell sewn inside their skins for these twisted, depraved, unhinged people who meddle where they don't belong. Hands off Latin America to them, stop howling for the U.S. to continue interfering in other people's countries, and keep your poison to yourselves.

Correa also recognized other Ecuadoreans wanted Manta returned, that it should never have been otherwise, when he used its return as one of his campaign promises. There were actually a few US Americans who claimed having the US controlling Manta was good for Ecuador. Oh, you bet. That's why they had years of protest outside the place!

[Judi Lynn]

29. CBS lists 3 dead now: Ecuador President: Rebel Cops "Wanted Blood"

QUITO, Ecuador, Oct. 1, 2010
Ecuador President: Rebel Cops "Wanted Blood"
President Rescued from Hospital Surrounded by Disgruntled Police Officers; Calls Uprising a Coup Attempt

(CBS/AP) Ecuador was under a state of siege Friday, with the military in charge of public order, after soldiers rescued President Rafael Correa from a hospital where he'd been surrounded by police who also roughed him up and tear-gassed him.

Correa and his ministers called Thursday's revolt - in which insurgents also paralyzed the nation with airport shutdowns and highway blockades - an attempt to overthrow him and not just a simple insurrection over a new law that would cut benefits for public servants.

At least three people - two police officers and a soldier - were killed and dozens injured, said Irina Cabezas. the vice president of congress. Dozens were injured.

At least five soldiers were wounded - two critically - in the firefight at the hospital before Correa was removed at top speed in an SUV, according to the military and Red Cross.

Correa, 47, speaking from the balcony of the Carondelet palace after his rescue, told hundreds of cheering backers that Thursday "was the saddest day of my life." He said 27 of his special forces bodyguards had been injured.

Correa thanked the supporters who converged on the hospital Thursday "ready to die to defend democracy" - his loyalists had hurled stones at police who repelled them with tear gas.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/01/world/main6917886.shtml

[bherrera]

38. Correa is an actor

Correa reminds me of an acting child, like the guy in Left Alone. Smart young guy, but silly and very impulsive. This was not a coup, but now he is trying to put a patch on his mistake. What he accomplished was very negative, people were killed, and the business possibilities for Ecuador are reduced, because it will make tourists go away. Dumb guy should have stayed in a fortress, not go to see the striking labor, and said he would work with Congress to see what he could do. Then asked the army to mobilize to do police work, and tell the police the government has no money to pay them.

This is the cause of this strike, the government of Ecuador is suffering because business is not well, and they have to cut benefits for government workers, and this includes the police. They should do like Lula did in Brazil, keep businessmen happy and take all the money they are taxed and use it to invest in good works.

[Judi Lynn]

35. One point which seems to have eluded some people is the fact that Correa

already doubled police salaries. As he said last night, his administration had been FAR more generous to the cops than any previous administration, which makes this coup's "justification" even that much more outlandish, impossible to respect.

Failed Washington-Sponsored Ecuadorean Coup Attempt
Submitted by Stephen Lendman on Fri, 2010-10-01 14:44

~snip~
Coup plotters shut down airports, blocked highways, burned tires, and "rough(ed) up the president." They also took over an airbase, parliament, and Quito streets, the pretext being a law restructuring their benefits, despite Correa doubling police wages.

In fact, Washington's fingerprints are on another attempt against a Latin leader, some (not all) of whose policies fall short of neoliberal extremism.

A tipoff was State Department spokesman, Phillip Crowley, saying we're "monitoring (not denouncing) the situation," much like it refused to condemn Zelaya's ouster, instead calling on "all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law, and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter." Most other Latin states demanded his "immediate and unconditional return," whether or not they meant it.

Washington opposes Correa for Ecuador's ties to Hugo Chavez and Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) membership, a WTO/NAFTA alternative based on principles of:

-- complementarity, not competition;

-- cooperation, not exploitation; and

-- respect for each nation's sovereignty, free from corporate and outside control.

Though falling short of these goals, ALBA nations, in principle, pledged:

-- to benefit and empower their citizens;

-- provide essential goods and services; and

-- achieve real grassroots economic growth to improve the lives of ordinary people and reduce poverty.

More:
http://warisacrime.org/content/failed-washington-sponsored-ecuadorean-coup-attempt