"We are forgetting about international law," said opposition lawmaker Cesar Rhon. "We have a lot of lawsuits around the corner."

"Is this the signal we want to send to the world, that contracts aren't respected here?" he said.

Exactly my point from a previous post. Rafael Correa, friend of Hugo Chavez, won an election fair and square. Subsequent to that he held a referendum to write a new constitution, also approved by a majority. Following that, members were elected to a constituent assembly to carry out that task. So far, so good.

Then what? Congress is suspended and the assembly assumes legislative powers and starts rewriting everything from the income tax code to telecommunications law to "renegotiating" energy and mining contracts?

Where is the legal authority? These people didn't stand for election.

More to the point, where is the Supreme Court?

These are not my questions, they're questions that are being asked all over Ecuador these days. I'm just repeating what I've read.

It's often misleading to go by what's written in the press. Unfortunately, that's my only source of information right now. Taking the recent events in Venezuela (rejection of extended presidential terms) as my guide, I'd say the mood, if it hasn't already shifted, soon will. What the outcome might be is anyone's guess.

Ecuador doesn't have the deep pockets that Venezula has, and like Venezuela, oil production is falling. They are also mired in a natural disaster that caused extensive flooding and has drained national coffers. They put out 5% as an official inflation rate, but in reality it's at least twice that. Food prices are rising rapidly and people are getting angrier by the minute. Meanwhile, their alleged government dithers and dallies like the pelucones they presume to replace. They even use the same fancy signatures when they sign official documents.

Point: you can change governments, but you can't change human nature. That's why we have laws and division of power to protect us. The law is a shield, not a sword. People who forget that often die by the latter.

ebear, friend of orphaned bear cubs

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Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy. --Franz Kafka