I think it is a matter of trust. The Ecuadorian government has flip flopped so many time that they have lost their credibility.

The one thing they're consistent about is their desire to hold onto power at all costs. Gerrymandering election boundaries, illegal campaign contributions, horse trading govt. funding in exchange for a yes vote on a constitution that doesn't even exist yet, stuffing the supreme court, arbitrary firings of public officials etc. etc. The list grows daily.

Just today, a civil judge reinstated Francisco Arellano, Correa's old professor, who was cast out of the Ministry of Business by the Supreme Electoral Commission for making illegal deductions from employee wages to support the AP. It took 80 cops with tear gas to clear a path through angry employees who blocked the doors to the ministry so Arellano could get into his office.

Push is coming to shove very quickly in Ecuador. I expect we'll see defections from AP as members act to protect their individual reputations and their hope for reelection as independents (I did my best, but my hands were tied by intransigent extremists).

I'm actually feeling very good about this. The entire project is going down in flames, and rightly so. The people of Ecuador deserve better than this sorry collection of smug, self-satisfied "intellectual" poseurs. Revolutionaries, my ass. Stalin would have had them all shot by now.

ebear