Ecuador - Coup D'etat might be starting

losthorizon

Looks like there might be a coup d'etat starting in Ecuador.


Hundreds of police took over military barracks protesting Correa; airports closed; people are rallying at the Pres Palace to support Correa

Red Hand

I think we should have a rising here too.

Lets seize a post office and a biscuit factory, hurrah!

google faps

Their military must be worse than ours if a couple of cops can take over a barracks.

sponsoredwalk

Oh man;

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuadorean police protesting a government plan
to trim their benefits shut down the Quito airport and hurled water at
President Rafael Correa as he tried to mediate the dispute.
A group of police surrounded the presidential palace, burning tires and
clashing with security forces, images on the Telesur television channel
showed. About 150 police took over the airport and the Mariscal Sucre
police base, according to television station TeleAmazonas.

“Here I am. If they want to kill me, go ahead,” President Rafael Correa said
in a speech at the police station while being heckled by protesters.
“I won’t back down.”

Ecuadorean police are demanding higher salaries after congress last night
approved changes to the country’s public service law that would limit
expected increases.

Gen. Luis Ernesto Gonzalez, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the
armed forces may patrol the streets to “guarantee external and internal
security.” Looters were attacking banks, malls in the city of Guayaquil,
CRE Radio reported.

“We’re faced with a process of destabilization of the national government
and democracy in Ecuador,” Interior Minister Miguel Carvajal said,
according to the EFE news service.

The extra yield investors demand to hold Ecuadorean dollar bonds instead
of U.S. Treasuries narrowed six basis points, or 0.06 percentage point, to
10.36 percent at 12:33 p.m. New York time, according to JPMorgan’s
EMBI+ index. Ecuador’s so-called spread has widened 23 basis points this
quarter, while the index has narrowed 58 basis points.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-30/ecuador-police-shut-down-airport-threaten-correa.html

What we're dealing with is a mob mentality now I suppose, if things don't
get violent, or too violent rather , I'm sure he wont be overthrown.

There is a great documentary about South America including a profile on
Correa here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=204oPV9B6aM

This hardly seems like the kind of dispute that should result in the
overthrow of a leader, especially one that seems as aggressive as this.

sponsoredwalk

Here's one more that sheds more light on the situation:

QUITO, Ecuador — Hundreds of police and soldiers protesting a new law
that cuts their benefits seized the main airport in Ecuador's capital on
Thursday and shut off highway access to Quito as well.
The rebellious police fired tear gas and burned tires after taking over bases
in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities.
The protests did not appear to threaten to topple the government and
there were no immediate reports of injuries.
President Rafael Correa tried to speak with a group of police protesters
but was shouted down.

"They are a bunch of ungrateful bandits," Correa said of the protesters.
"No one has supported the police as much as this government," he told
reporters.

An Associated Press photographer witnessed soldiers participating in the
action that shut down the main terminal at Quito's Mariscal Sucre airport.
It was not immediately known whether flights were canceled.

The protesters were angered by a law passed by Congress on Wednesday
that would end the practice of giving members of Ecuador's military and
police medals and bonuses with each promotion. It would also extend from
five to seven years the usual period required for before a subsequent
promotion. The law needs to be published before it takes effect and that
has not happened. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino played down the severity of the protests.
"This is not a popular mobilization, it is not a popular uprising, it is an
uprising by the police who are ill-informed," he told TV network Telesur.

Central bank chief Diego Borja called for calm and urged Ecuadoreans not
to withdraw money from banks.
Ecuador's two-year-old constitution allows the president to declare a
political impasse that could dissolve Congress until a new presidential and
parliamentary elections can be held.

The measure would, however, have to be approved by the Constitutional
Court to take effect.
"This a scenario that nobody would want, but it is a possibility when the
conditions for change do not exist," Policy Minister Doris Solis said after
meeting Correa and other senior officials late on Wednesday.

"A decision still has not been made," she told reporters. "Lawmakers in our
coalition have the obligation to be coherent with our project for change."

More than half the 124-member Congress is officially allied with Correa, but
the president has blasted lawmakers from his own Country Alliance party
for not going along with his proposals for shrinking the country's
bureaucracy.

"Respect our rights," uniformed officers shouted.

Correa, a U.S.-trained economist, was first elected in 2006 promising a
"citizens' revolution" aimed at increasing state control of Ecuador's natural
resources and fighting what he calls the country's corrupt elite.
His government alienated international capital markets when it defaulted
on $3.2 billion in global bonds two years ago.

Correa, an ally of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, declared
the debt "illegitimate."
Cash has been tight since then as the country relies on multilateral loans
and bilateral lending to meet its international financing needs.
Once in power, Correa backed the rewriting of the constitution to tilt the
balance of power toward the executive. He easily won re-election under
the new constitution in 2009, and he is allowed to stand again in 2013.
http://ori.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441275

I'm not one to trust the words of people in the government of any country
but this seems like the police were rallied into anger through
misinformation and a desire to get their gold medals .

Zebra3

Here our cops won't even arrest politicans who assault them. :rolleyes:

southsiderosie

The head of the army supports the president, so I don't think it's a coup attempt.

I do think we will see an increase in mass protests as governments all over the world tighten their belts.

Well, everywhere except Ireland, anyway.

Mr Benevolent

Wahoo!

Edit: I though the OP said 'Tullamore'.

Seaneh

Well, I hope they sort it out soon, I'm going to be spending a month there next summer.

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Oh man;

What we're dealing with is a mob mentality now I suppose, if things don't
get violent, or too violent rather , I'm sure he wont be overthrown.

There is a great documentary about South America including a profile on
Correa here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=204oPV9B6aM

This hardly seems like the kind of dispute that should result in the
overthrow of a leader, especially one that seems as aggressive as this.

I can't believe I wasted 10 minutes of my life on that video, which was about CHAVEZ and VENEZUELA, not Correa.

EDIT: why am I not surprised that Oliver Stone put that together?

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

I can't believe I wasted 10 minutes of my life on that video, which was about CHAVEZ and VENEZUELA, not Correa.

EDIT: why am I not surprised that Oliver Stone put that together?

Erm, it's a documentary about South America, which is what I said didn't I?
Didn't I say it includes a profile on Correa? It's a great documentary,
you don't have to waste any time educating yourself if that's how you feel.

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Erm, it's a documentary about South America, which is what I said didn't I?
Didn't I say it includes a profile on Correa? It's a great documentary,
you don't have to waste any time educating yourself if that's how you feel.

There was no profile of Correa on the clip you posted.

Instead it showed Fox News (bad) IMF in Latin America in the 1990s (really bad) and then featured the coup launched by Chavez, which the filmmaker was an apologist for. I can only imagine what the next seven segments are like.

Left wing propaganda is just as bad as right-wing propaganda.

brianthebard

Wonder if the US is going to support the coup like they did in Honduras....

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

There was no profile of Correa on the clip you posted.

Instead it showed Fox News (bad) IMF in Latin America in the 1990s (really bad) and then featured the coup launched by Chavez, which the filmmaker was an apologist for. I can only imagine what the next seven segments are like.

Left wing propaganda is just as bad as right-wing propaganda.

Ah it was obvious from the first post but why not dive in. You obviously
know nothing about the 2002 coup d'etat if you're going to argue that
someone can be an apologist for what happened. Left wing, right wing
bla bla bla your use of these labels in the obviously derrogatory
fashion means nothing when we're talking about the media lying about
people purposely firing on a peaceful march, nevermind lying for those
same people using the commotion as they illegally overthrew a
democratically elected government. You're bs about apologists means
nothing especially seeing as everything is on tape to show who were the
apologists for what.

Oh, and in case the logic isn't clear, I put a documentary up on this page
from the beginning about Latin America & I mentioned that Correa is given
a profile, I can't hand hold you anymore than I already had when I first
explained all of this, it seems you misread me, you misread what happened
in the 2002 coup d'etat too, you might want to have a think about this
trait that has you coming into conflict with people over trivial things like
reading and understanding black and white print...

sponsoredwalk

brianthebard wrote: »

Wonder if the US is going to support the coup like they did in Honduras....

And Chile, and Venezuela, and in Nicaragua, and in Brazil, and in El Salvador,
and in Uruguay, and in... :rolleyes:

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Ah it was obvious from the first post but why not dive in. You obviously
know nothing about the 2002 coup d'etat if you're going to argue that
someone can be an apologist for what happened. Left wing, right wing
bla bla bla your use of these labels in the obviously derrogatory
fashion means nothing when we're talking about the media lying about
people purposely firing on a peaceful march, nevermind lying for those
same people using the commotion as they illegally overthrew a
democratically elected government. You're bs about apologists means
nothing especially seeing as everything is on tape to show who were the
apologists for what.

Oh, and in case the logic isn't clear, I put a documentary up on this page
from the beginning about Latin America & I mentioned that Correa is given
a profile, I can't hand hold you anymore than I already had when I first
explained all of this, it seems you misread me, you misread what happened
in the 2002 coup d'etat too, you might want to have a think about this
trait that has you coming into conflict with people over trivial things like
reading and understanding black and white print...

Why not just post the clip that includes Correa? That would be more useful.

And given that you know nothing about me or what I know about Latin America, might I suggest that you calm the **** down? Thanks.

Not once in my post did I question the fact that people were murdered in the streets of Caracas by the military. But that doesn't change the fact that Oliver Stone is a Chavez apologist, and just as there is a lot of right-wing propaganda calling Chavez a dictator, there is a lot of left-wing propaganda that plays down the fact that he certainly has some authoritarian/megalomaniacal tendencies and has never shown himself to be fully enamored of democratic principles.

Edit: Hi Karma!

Copper23

losthorizon wrote: »

Looks like there might be a coup d'etat starting in Ecuador.


Hundreds of police took over military barracks protesting Correa; airports closed; people are rallying at the Pres Palace to support Correa

Kim Jong Ill will be happy.

southsiderosie

OOh, Correa just came out and said it was an attempted coup. Yikes.

karma_

southsiderosie wrote: »

Why not just post the clip that includes Correa? That would be more useful.

And given that you know nothing about me or what I know about Latin America, might I suggest that you calm the **** down? Thanks.

Not once in my post did I question the fact that people were murdered in the streets of Caracas by the military. But that doesn't change the fact that Oliver Stone is a Chavez apologist, and just as there is a lot of right-wing propaganda calling Chavez a dictator, there is a lot of left-wing propaganda that plays down the fact that he certainly has some authoritarian/megalomaniacal tendencies and has never shown himself to be fully enamored of democratic principles.

Edit: Hi Karma!

Poor form, I'd never comment about a post you had thanked.

Snoogans

My- I dunno, girlfriend, of sorts, I suppose- lives in Guayaquil. I'm talking to her right now, in fact.

There's apparently some doubt among the populace as to whether or not it's a coup, but the military standing by the president is all that's holding back total anarchy, things are still chaotic and awful over there.
I'm worried what things will be like after sundown.

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

Why not just post the clip that includes Correa? That would be more useful.

And given that you know nothing about me or what I know about Latin America, might I suggest that you calm the **** down? Thanks.

Not once in my post did I question the fact that people were murdered in the streets of Caracas by the military. But that doesn't change the fact that Oliver Stone is a Chavez apologist, and just as there is a lot of right-wing propaganda calling Chavez a dictator, there is a lot of left-wing propaganda that plays down the fact that he certainly has some authoritarian/megalomaniacal tendencies and has never shown himself to be fully enamored of democratic principles.

Edit: Hi Karma!

I haven't claimed to know you, all I said was that your views on this issue
were blatantly obvious from the first post. Again we have you misreading
me, you seriously want to keep an eye on that...

It would be more useful to you to see this soundbite of Correa but seeing
we're two different people I felt it would be more useful to give the start of
a documentary that I think is very interesting for people to watch and
judge for themselves on all of Latin America. I don't like taking things out
of context.

I'm not trying to be insulting but when you come out with sentences about
Chavez such as these in which you spout propaganda with no facts to
back any of it up I'm not going to bother. Sure Chavez isn't perfect but
who is? I have read that a lot of Venezuelan anarchists have a lot of
problems with him, just as most of the business classes do but that
doesn't change the fact that he's making life a lot better for the poor in
Venezuela for the first time in a long time. If you watched the
documentary you might learn something apart from news spin, nowhere in
the documentary does Stone "apologise" for him, he merely shows a side
of Venezuela - and Latin America - that most people don't see.

Honestly, if you're going to call him a dictator (I'm surprised you didn't use the
word "tinpot") and go on to make open ended statements like 'well the right
wing use propaganda and so do the left wing so it logically follows that
Chavez is bad' what's the point, I'm just going to be barraged with a load
of second hand spin I can easily read in a newspaper.

---

Here is some video on what's going on in Ecuador and it says Correa was
injured :eek:

brianthebard

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

And Chile, and Venezuela, and in Nicaragua, and in Brazil, and in El Salvador,
and in Uruguay, and in... :rolleyes:

I was referring to the most recent coup.

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

I haven't claimed to know you, all I said was that your views on this issue
were blatantly obvious from the first post. Again we have you misreading
me, you seriously want to keep an eye on that...

Oh really?

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

You obviously
know nothing about the 2002 coup d'etat if you're going to argue that
someone can be an apologist for what happened.

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

It's a great documentary,
you don't have to waste any time educating yourself if that's how you feel.

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

If you watched the
documentary you might learn something apart from news spin

You're basically saying I'm ignorant about the situation. And I'm saying you don't know anything about me, where I get my information, or what I know about Latin America.

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Honestly, if you're going to call him a dictator (I'm surprised you didn't use the
word "tinpot") and go on to make open ended statements like 'well the right
wing use propaganda and so do the left wing so it logically follows that
Chavez is bad' what's the point, I'm just going to be barraged with a load
of second hand spin I can easily read in a newspaper.

Please point out where I call him a dictator, or say that the logical conclusion is that he's bad. Stop jumping to conclusions. The right (i.e. Fox News types) call him a dictator, and the far left thinks he is great. I don't think he's either, but I am definitely not a fan.

As for the sorry Correa situation (which is what this thread is actually about), hopefully order will be restored quickly.

Sk8lom

Well, I'm from Ecuador so... >>;
You know, the thing is... right now we are in a situation in which Correa wanted to practically become a dictator (he wanted to, he's not one) and unless they started all this chaos you would have heard of another country getting into socialism, and as far as I recall, my country is Ecuador, not Cuba. I like my freedom thanks a lot.

However, the weird thing here is the fact that it seems the military have something else planned, I have no idea which their real intentions are, but they just used the "WE'RE BEING CUT OUR BONUSES!" thing to start all this mess. Right now they have Correa trapped inside a hospital, you could practically say they have him kidnapped and it's supposed the assembly has to discuss this in their headquearters in order to find a solution but they won't let them.

Also, it's sort of sad, you know, the president said goodbye to his family because as far as I'm seeing I think they are even trying to kill him. ._. I don't support him personally, but this is starting to get pretty freaking awful. I seriously don't recall the last attempted/then became serious Coup d'etat that we had a few years ago to be like this... seriously. .-.;

southsiderosie

Sk8lom wrote: »

Well, I'm from Ecuador so... >>;
You know, the thing is... right now we are in a situation in which Correa wanted to practically become a dictator (he wanted to, he's not one) and unless they started all this chaos you would have heard of another country getting into socialism, and as far as I recall, my country is Ecuador, not Cuba. I like my freedom thanks a lot.

However, the weird thing here is the fact that it seems the military have something else planned, I have no idea which their real intentions are, but they just used the "WE'RE BEING CUT OUR BONUSES!" thing to start all this mess. Right now they have Correa trapped inside a hospital, you could practically say they have him kidnapped and it's supposed the assembly has to discuss this in their headquearters in order to find a solution but they won't let them.

Also, it's sort of sad, you know, the president said goodbye to his family because as far as I'm seeing I think they are even trying to kill him. ._. I don't support him personally, but this is starting to get pretty freaking awful. I seriously don't recall the last attempted/then became serious Coup d'etat that we had a few years ago to be like this... seriously. .-.;

El Pais is reporting that the head of the military maintains that the armed forces support the president; it is the police that are causing problems.

sponsoredwalk

When you claim that there is some form or propaganda or apologist bias in
a documentary that covers how the media lied about Chavez and his
followers then that obviously shows you know nothing about what happened.
Propaganda, which seems to be a core part of your argument, is important
in this situation but this is a case where the propaganda was against Chavez.
How can you claim that there is any form of apology when most of the
world was told he was shooting protestors and that an uprising had taken
place to remove a despot? The apologies in this situation were for those
who illegally removed a democratically elected president.

Furthermore I don't see how a documentary about Latin America and it's
positive things is being an apologist? You haven't even seen the full thing
and you're jumping down his throat with "Chavez apologist", do you claim
the same when a documentary about Thomas Jefferson comes on do you
jump on the phrase "slave apologist"?? :rolleyes:

As I said if I wanted to read old nuggets of wisdom like those I'll read a
newspaper. All I said was that if you're going to claim that there is some
form of apologism during parts of a documentary about how the media
lied about Chavez then you obviously know nothing about what actually
happened, educate yourself before you roll off apparent slander such as
"Chavez apologist" at Stone who was making a documentary about South
America and not trying to apologise for the fact that Chavez was made
to appear like he was shooting protestors...

losthorizon

http://www.euronews.net/2010/09/30/president-attacked-as-unrest-rocks-ecuador/

http://www.chavezcode.com/2010/09/urgent-coup-underway-in-ecuador.html


Spain has given condemned the coup. The US has remained silent so far

sponsoredwalk

Ecuadorian Ambassador rules out coup d'état against President Correa


The Head of the Joint Command of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces said
that the Army is subordinate to President Rafael Correa and respects
his authority

"There is no coup d'état against President Rafael Correa," said Ecuador's
ambassador to Venezuela, Ramón Torres Galarza, amid heavy protests by
police in the last few hours.

"There is an insubordination of a small group of members of the National
Police that seek to defend privileges and sinecures related to medals and
bonuses, which are supposedly undermining their interests," the Ecuadorian
diplomat told El Universal.

President Correa warned on Thursday that he will not bow in face of the
protests by the police and military. The protesters reject a law passed by
Congress that put an end to economic benefits given to members of both
forces.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Joint Command of the Ecuadorian Armed
Forces said that the Army is subordinate to the President Rafael Correa
and respects his authority.
http://english.eluniversal.com/2010/09/30/en_pol_esp_ecuadorian-ambassado_30A4542655.shtml

Seems like the media blew this one out of proportion...

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

When you claim that there is some form or propaganda...

I would respond, but I can't get over the fact that you are lecturing me about propaganda and media bias and yet the video link of the coup coverage you posted is from SKY NEWS.

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Seems like the media blew this one out of proportion...

If you read my biased posts above (#7 and #25), the media has been reporting all along that the army supported the government. CORREA said it was a coup attempt by the opposition (see my other biased post).

Sk8lom

southsiderosie wrote: »

El Pais is reporting that the head of the military maintains that the armed forces support the president; it is the police that are causing problems.

-nod- The head, but the lower part of the military is also involved and not exactly supporting him.

Also, they handed delincuents the opportunity to raid banks and even supermarkets in freaking silver plate.
Apparently things are calming down though... apparently...

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

I would respond, but I can't get over the fact that you are lecturing me about propaganda and media bias and yet the video link of the coup coverage you posted is from SKY NEWS.

Cop out if I ever read one, there was virtually nothing on the internet
about what happened here so I posted the first thing that I found. All it
claimed was that it said Correa had been injured. The thing hardly
claimed he shot a load of protestors or anything

Don't worry about it, it's not like this is that important, all I'm saying to you
is to actually look at what happens and not repeat old media matras.
Here is a simple test, everytime Barack Obama comes on the air, do you
claim there is some Obama apologist agenda? However, when we see
someone who the media portray's unfairly we're quick to jump on old
phrases. I'm not arguing Chavez is particularly good I'm just saying that
bs about an apologist agenda is a convenient way to write off a person
who has done a lot of good for his people amidst a lot of crap both
internally and externally. If doing a documentary about South America that
portray's the coup d'etat about Chavez is some sort of apologist agenda,
which obviously has negative connotations - unless you want to argue it's
a compliment, then I think we're picking and choosing our standards.

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

If you read my biased posts above (#7 and #25), the media has been reporting all along that the army supported the government. CORREA said it was a coup attempt by the opposition (see my other biased post).

Okay, duly noted...

southsiderosie

sponsoredwalk wrote: »

Cop out if I ever read one, there was virtually nothing on the internet
about what happened here so I posted the first thing that I found. All it
claimed was that it said Correa had been injured. The thing hardly
claimed he shot a load of protestors or anything

Don't worry about it, it's not like this is that important, all I'm saying to you
is to actually look at what happens and not repeat old media matras.
Here is a simple test, everytime Barack Obama comes on the air, do you
claim there is some Obama apologist agenda? However, when we see
someone who the media portray's unfairly we're quick to jump on old
phrases. I'm not arguing Chavez is particularly good I'm just saying that
bs about an apologist agenda is a convenient way to write off a person
who has done a lot of good for his people amidst a lot of crap both
internally and externally. If doing a documentary about South America that
portray's the coup d'etat about Chavez is some sort of apologist agenda,
which obviously has negative connotations - unless you want to argue it's
a compliment, then I think we're picking and choosing our standards.

There is plenty on the internet about the uprising. It is on the front page of every major Hispanic newspaper in the world right now.

I guess it depends on where you get your information from.

sponsoredwalk

southsiderosie wrote: »

There is plenty on the internet about the uprising. It is on the front page of every major Hispanic newspaper in the world right now.

I guess it depends on where you get your information from.

I guess you're right, my meagre googling abilities let me down from my
cold corner of the interweb

losthorizon

CNN in America talking about coup in Ecuador as "constitutional coup", as they did w/Honduras 2009, which they justified as legal.

southsiderosie

losthorizon wrote: »

CNN in America talking about coup in Ecuador as "constitutional coup", as they did w/Honduras 2009, which they justified as legal.

I would definitely not trust US media sources on Latin American news, especially when it concerns socialist countries. The Americas section of the US state department is/was heavily staffed by Cuban-Americans who are rabidly anti-socialist (or anything that even smells of socialism), and these are the people who a lot of the networks are getting their analysis from.

losthorizon

Some incredible scenes in the end. Sections of the military had to rescue Correa from a hospital. Two people were killed in a gun battle.

orourkeda

You cant beat a bit of an aul coup d'etat