"Nice Try Department:" Ecuador Former President to sue Rafael Correa for moral damages

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuador, October 7, 2010.- Ecuador Former President Lucio Gutierrez said Wednesday he will file a criminal suit for moral damages against the current President Rafael Correa, who accused him of instigating riot police last week, which was qualified as ‘coup attempt’ by the Ecuadorian government.

Gutierrez returned from Brazil where he participated as an observer in the presidential election on Sunday and said to the state agency ANDES that “he did not keep any contact with members of the Police or the Army for years.”

“Ask you to the Prosecutor if there is some conversation between a police or military with me, this year, last year and since 2005.”

The current leader of the Patriotic Society was greeted by a large number of supporters at the airport in Quito, and from there he set out to present a claim for moral damages against Correa.

He will soon visit his partner Fidel Araujo who is an innocent victim, he says, although he was arrested on Tuesday and will remain under arrest for the next three months for inciting rebellion.

Former Ecuadorian President also criticized the kidnapping last Thursday of Correa in the National Police Hospital in Quito, because a person held against his will is not in a position to issue orders and give statements to the media

http://momento24.com/en/2010/10/07/ecuador-former-president-to-sue-rafael-correa-for-moral-damages/

[Downwinder]

1. Was he on TV in Colombia or in Brazil? n/t

[Judi Lynn]

2. I saw he was on tv in Colombia in an article posted in the last few days.

Just found a different article, but this discusses the same event:

CIA Agent and Coup Leader Slander Rafael Correa on Colombian TV
BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD

A few hours after the police-plotted coup attempt against Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa last Thursday, former army colonel and coup leader Lucio Gutiérrez sided with CIA agent Carlos Alberto Montaner to attack and slander president Correa on Colombian television.

The interview was aired by the Nuestra Tele Noticias 24 Horas (NTN24), a rightwing news channel owed by Colombia’s RCN television that broadcasts 24 hours a day from Colombia’s capital Bogotá.

Montaner, a fugitive from the Cuban justice, opened the show by denigrating and trumping up lies against Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. "If he (Correa) had been killed during the protest…it could have all ended up in a bloodbath. Why did he act like that? Such behaviour is improper for a president─ taking off his tie and challenging the police like that," Montaner said.

Later on, he labelled Correa as having "bad-temper" and "control issues"; and blamed him for further provoking and upsetting the police force by addressing them with no intention of reaching any consensus or settlement whatsoever; but to impose his authority.

Montaner even dared to satirize Correa, saying he tried to give the impression of a "macho president, full of testosterone and in control of the situation…this kind of attitude seems to win him popularity and sympathy among the few uneducated" he said.

Following these hateful remarks, Montaner asked Lucio Gutiérrez, with fake incredulity, if his real intention was indeed to oust Rafael Correa from power.

Gutiérrez, who allegedly masterminded the plot and coup attempt, blatantly replied that "Correa’s allegations of an attempt to overthrow his government are false"; and insisted that what happened was just a police protest over possible benefit cuts that got out of hand.

http://www.periodico26.cu/english/features/september2010/gutierrez-montaner100510.html

I'm sure the guy who invented television didn't envision great moments in tv broadcasting like this!

[EFerrari]

3. LOL. But what I never figured out is if these two luminaries

were both in the studio. At first I assumed they were and then realized that wasn't necessarily true.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Just found an article indicating they were together in Miami in late September!

It doesn't explain that they were either or both in Bogota for that program, but it indicates they are together in some stupid right-wing tricks, apparently!

Google translation from a Mexican source:

2010 / 10 / 07 / Cuban exile thread in the failed coup, said Deputy Foreign Minister of Ecuador Cuban exile thread in the failed coup, said Deputy Foreign Minister of Ecuador
Kintto Lucas explained that former President Lucio Gutierrez told right-wing Cubans in Miami that was necessary to remove the president Correa.

Agencies
Posted: 10/07/2010 18:04

Quito. Ecuador's deputy foreign minister, Kintto Lucas, said that the Cuban exile community in Miami was one of the "threads" of the failed coup against President Rafael Correa on Thursday after a police insubordination.

Speaking to the portal EcuadorinmediatoLucas added that "this type of Cuban mafia is one of the conductors" of the coup and said that shortly before the insubordination, former Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutierrez was in Miami, USA. He recalled that the Sept. 23 Gutierrez went to American Institute for Liberty and Democracy, led by Carlos Alberto Montaner and other Cuban exile leaders, to give the conference XXI century socialism and the crisis in Ecuador.

In his speech, Gutierrez said that troops are unhappy about the "approach to leftist governments, by associating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the dismantling of the intelligence apparatus" in Ecuador, according to Luke. He said in his speech left Gutierrez "clearly established the need to remove the president Correa" and that he could win elections, but it was very difficult to achieve that goal because the president had all the powers. Gutierrez said he did not mention the possibility of attempting a coup d'état, but the need to remove the president Correa for the mess the country was falling. He stressed that Gutiérrez Montaner presented at the conference "as the only Democrat, the only hope to rescue the country from the crisis that is causing the so-called twenty-first century socialism."

Lucas said at the meeting in Miami was also the former head of army intelligence, Mario Pazmino, separated after the Colombian military incursion into Ecuador to bomb the FARC camp in March 2008.He said at that conference was "anti-Cuban people from different sectors and some Venezuelan businessmen against the Chavez government and different 'personalities' of the U.S. right linked to former President (George W.) Bush."

"We know what these groups are Cubans and we know the relationship they had with other right-wing sectors in different countries," he said. He emphasized that that institute lobbies against aspiration Ecuadorian U.S. get the extension of the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPDEA), coinciding with the international campaign to link Ecuador to the FARC. "There are different threads that go beyond the actual gathering coup, when we discuss the possible participation of people linked to Lucio Gutierrez, who together with certain ties abroad," said Lucas. He added that "there are facts that are coming together to say that Ecuador is unruly and needs to remove this government, and when is a coup, confirming that is chaotic and its president, authoritarian, and therefore it is necessary to resort to a democratic ".

"If we combine that with this type of conference and relate to what ends up happening, a week later, is to think there may be other involvements" he said, after which said "all the cake was armed like to eat ".

"We need further research, because we will still find some links and some wires. Let's see what happens investigating some other possible contacts at the international level, "Lucas concluded.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ultimas/2010/10/07/exilio-cubano-hilo-conductor-en-el-fallido-golpe-de-estado-indica-vicecanciller-de-ecuador

[EFerrari]

5. Thanks, Judi Lynn. These people are so slimey, my skin crawls

just reading about them. lol

[Peace Patriot]

8. "...dismantling of the intelligence apparatus"!

Nice find, Judi! Thanks!

"In his speech, Gutierrez said that troops are unhappy about the 'approach to leftist governments, by associating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the dismantling of the intelligence apparatus' in Ecuador..."

-----

So this goes back to that dirty business--elements of the Ecuadoran military colluding with the U.S. and Colombian military on an attack on Ecuador's territory!

That was bad. That was really bad. And the treasonous elements whom Correa afterward purged from the Ecuadoran military and intelligence services were out for their revenge. It is most interesting that this is an account of Gutierrez's speech--a political figure, a presidential candidate-- in Miami--not just a foreign country, the USA, traditional maker of rightwing coups and tyrannies in Latin America, but Miami, launching pad for anti-Castro terrorism and other violent schemes--speaking to the Miami mafia on the very day of the coup attempt (am I reading this right?). And what does he talk about? That U.S./Colombia attack on Ecuador in 2008!

So, was Gutierrez involved with these traitors in the Ecuadoran security establishment way back then? Or was he just regurgitating their "talking point"?

Lord, what a nest of vipers that must have been, in Miami.

We are now seeing a number of things coming together--among them, the non-stop slander against Correa and Chavez that they are "terrorist lovers), using the "miracle laptop" (later, laptops) from Raul Reyes' bombed out camp; Uribe's treachery in requesting that Chavez negotiate with the FARC for hostage releases; the treacherous and illegal obliteration of Reyes' hostage release camp; Rumsfeld's interest in that whole murderous incident; the collusion/coordination out of Miami (evident back during the "Guido"/"suitcase full of money" plot against Chavez and Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez) and so much more. The pieces are starting to fit together. Correa himself said, back in 2007-2008, that there was a coordinated, three-country rightwing plot, to destabilize and overthrow the elected governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador. He said there had been meetings among the rightwing forces of these three countries for this purpose. I think that the failed coup in Bolivia, in late 2008--funded and organized right out of the U.S. embassy--was a test-run, where they tried to use the white separatists who (like the coup elements in the Ecuadoran police rioted and killed people). What that effort established for this possibly CIA-run, overall coup planning group, was the unity of South American leaders in defense of a country under coup attack. They had to bust up that unity before proceeding. Thus, the coup d'etat in Honduras, which had recently joined the Bolivarian alliance, through the ALBA trade group. They had to start knocking out "Chavez allies." Honduras was the easiest prey (a U.S. client state whose president was trying to break Honduras free).

And now, rather than attack Venezuela directly--which proved too strong for U.S. overthrow--they are going in the back door, so to speak--and trying to net in another ALBA member, Ecuador, which sits at the southern tip of the region that they are trying to secure for U.S. corporate interests (including war profiteers)--the "circle the wagons" area of Central America and the Caribbean. They want Venezuela's oil included in that U.S. "sphere of control"--the biggest oil reserves on earth--but they can't get at the Chavez government, even with the U.S. military control of Colombia. Brazil has proven steely-spined as well, in defense of Venezuela and other countries. These coup plotters are trying to knock off the "little countries" first--wherever they perceive a weakness.

I think we are looking at a U.S. plot--either CIA, or Pentagon, or Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans-in-exile" (private intelligence mercenaries and hit squads) or all three, with the Rumsfled/Cheney-instigated war between the Pentagon and the CIA now healed (by Daddy Bush's appointee to the CIA, Leon Panetta)--a coordinated effort , with its headquarters or at least its political/P.R. headquarters in Miami. The coup plots that we have seen--failed or successful--would not have been possible without U.S. support. I think Chavez and Evo Morales are right (but Rafael Correa can't say it yet): the Ecuador plot is U.S.-instigated--financially supported and organized--and I would go further, that it is part of a bigger U.S. plan that has been in operation for some time.

Efforts to control Mideast oil are failing. These multinational/war profiteer forces, based in the U.S., must have oil. Latin America, according to a speech by the head of Venezuela's state oil company, has 80% of the oil left in the Western Hemisphere--and a huge portion of that is in Venezuela (in the northern provinces and on the Carribbean coast) and Ecuador (bordering Colombia to the south). They want that arc of oil over the "hump" of South America from Ecuador to Venezuela.

[EFerrari]

9. Imo, what we saw last week was the outward signs of a wrestling match

for the security forces of Ecuador.

That there was a struggle at all should be very, very good news to us. That Correa's mandate was reaffirmed, even better news.

They'll have to assassinate him outright because Ecuador won't go down easily as Honduras did, caught as it was in that liminal period when everyone hoped Obama would break out of the mold.

[Peace Patriot]

6. "...blamed him for further provoking and upsetting the police force by addressing them ...

... with no intention of reaching any consensus or settlement whatsoever; but to impose his authority. "

-----

How does Montaner (the CIA agent) know what went down between Correa and the police rioters just before the riot--that is, when Correa was talking to them and asking them if they had read the legislative bill, etc.? Montaner is speaking on Colombian TV --in Colombia (?) --in the midst of the riot in Ecuador. Nobody knew what had happened at that point. Or was he in Ecuador? In either case, he is not an Ecuadoran policeman, so how does he know what sparked the riot? I don't know this for sure--haven't seen any reports about it--but I believe that Correa's dramatic statement--"You want to kill the president? Well, here he is...etc."--came AFTER the police refused to talk to him and instead physically attacked him and were shouting things at him (like "Lucio!"--meaning Lucio Gutierriz, a rigthtwing opposition presidential candidate). His dramatic statement makes the most sense as an answer to something shouted by the rioters--like, "We're going to kill you!" (and Correa replies, "You want to kill the president? Well, here he is...".) But I still don't have the sequence of events quite clear from the news reports, even after reading numerous news reports. So how does Montanet know, as the event was occurring?

The answer may be that he was on the phone to the coup plotters (if he was in Colombia or somewhere other than Quito), getting the "spin" they wanted (and colluding with them in additional ways?), or, if he was there, directly colluding?

Of course, he had no way at all of knowing what Correa may have been intending to offer the police, so his statement that Correa had "no intention of reaching any consensus" is a fabrication In fact, Correa going to the police barracks points more to an intention to compromise than an intention to merely stand on his authority as president. The police never gave him a chance to present any compromise, if he was intending one. And maybe he just went there to explain the bill to them, which they also didn't let him do. (It's interesting that Correa later said that none of them had read the bill.) As is typical of the rightwing and other 'Big Lie' propagandists, Montane projects the intentions/methods of the coup plotters--to manipulate ignorant people--onto Correa. Montane says that, "...this kind of attitude seems to win him popularity and sympathy among the few uneducated." (Correa's popularity soared to 75% after the coup attempt; it had been 65% before.)

This reminds me of FDR's statement: "Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!" Yup, the poor majority, the screwed over, the downtrodden, do love to have a champion in government, for once. It so rarely happens. But it's the rightwing/fascist minority that tries to manipulate the ignorant; the left plainly, demonstrably, supports literacy and education--in Ecuador, throughout Latin America, and, I dare say, everywhere. Correa has poured significant resources into education. And it is virtually a "watchword" of the leftist democracy movement of which he is a part.

Another thing he has poured resources into is the police--for instance, doubling their salaries. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the bonus system--that allegedly sparked this riot, assassination attempt and attempted overthrow--is a corrupt patronage system of interest and benefit to senior officers, who stirred up the lower ranks about it, in a deliberate disinformation campaign (on the part of the coup plotters). Correa was trying to get rid of the patronage system by doubling police salaries and other support (better equipment, etc.)? That's my guess. In any case, the rightwing appears to have been manipulating and stirring up the lower ranks of police, using their ignorance of the reform bill--and so Montaner turns it around--"Alice in Wonderland"-like (or George Orwell-like)--and accuses Correa of manipulating "the uneducated."

It's very difficult to counter lies like this, as we found out with the Iraq War. It was the Bush Junta who had the intent of mass murder, not Saddam Hussein. But they successfully projected their intent onto Saddam Hussein and Iraq, in the narrative that the corpo-fascist press colluded on. It was a complete fabrication, as is the bullshit that Rafael Correa "manipulates" the "uneducated." Looking at the vids of the assault on Correa, it's impossible to believe that he had any such intent--stirring up the masses with a "macho" display. He was facing rioters, who very nearly took him out. And the truth about it is more like this: In imminent physical danger, when everything that you have trusted to that point is crumbling all around you--the police rioting and attacking you, your body guards nearly overwhelmed--in those instants when you "life flashes before your eyes"--your real character comes out. Correa was willing to die for legitimate, inclusive and consensus government in Ecuador. "You want to kill the president? Here he is...".

It is that clear sense of his character--fiery courage under threat of death--that the failed coup plotters would now like to sully and erase, probably because they are of the opposite character: cowards.

[EFerrari]

7. We know Correa said that at the hospital, **after** he had been attacked

in the middle of a mob.

Montaner is simply saying the same thing the corporate presstitutes have been implying since that very night. They all speak with one voice only with varying degrees of viciousness.