El Comercio - Quito - Ecuador | 28 de mayo del 2008

http://tinyurl.com/4nbc5y

¿Qué le preocupa al Gobierno?

Por Sebastián Mantilla Baca

[a heavily edited google translation]

With his customary shirt, microphone in hand and an audience ready to listen, (Correa) began his radio broadcast on Saturday. To everyone's surprise, the focus of his grievances and criticisms was not only the opposition but now his speech, acrid and vehement, addressed the assembly of his own party.

The warning to the Acuerdo Pais block is due to the result of surveys done recently by the firm of Santiago Perez, close to the Government, which indicated that only 5% of Ecuadorians have much, 32% some, 38 % little, and 17% no trust in the work of the National Constituent Assembly. In a nutshell, if the referendum were conducted today, the new constitution would not be approved and would receive a resounding no.

For this reason, last Saturday, Correa criticized his assembly "light" in dealing with topics that are outside the agenda. This was referring to controversy that arose around the right of sexual enjoyment of women, changing the national symbols, marriage between individuals of the same sex, etc.. Visibly upset and vexed, he said: "Confidence has declined, probably due to the mistakes of the assembly, a noise meter for taste." And unauthorized sheep who dared to leave the flock, Correa has called to order, and to submit to honour the name that until now they have difficulty accepting: "raise hands."

To this regime it matters not if the Constitution includes or not the name of God (to evoke Alfaro, bring his ashes, make a monument to him and trample one of his most essential and important legacies: secularism), abortion, multinationalism etc.. The discussion of these issues - and which had in due course the presidential approval - served to create a smokescreen and distract attention from really delicate matters, such as the approval of arbitrary and unconstitutional laws and mandates by the Constituent Assembly. The Montecristi show has also served to obscure the deficient and substandard governmental performance, among other things..

The problem arises not only because after six months the Assembly has barely advanced by 15 percent in drafting the new constitution, but because people have begun to realize that this is all a hoax.

The fundamental concern then, is not so much how the New Constitution turns out, but to lose the referendum and with it the mandates, laws and everything that allowed Correa to concentrate power so absolute and authoritarian. With this, his desire for an extended presidency, to satisfy his vanity and to exceed the glories of emulation like Chavez or Castro, might end. Here you see the deeper meaning of the Twenty-first Century Socialism!

Thus begins the campaign for "yes." No one knows how the new constitution will turn out, however, this regime urges us to support it. I imagine how frustrating it must be to have it all and, at the same time, to lose it little by little not because of the opposition, but from neglect and folly.

***

ebear