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Now
It now looks as if Rafael Correa, a
leftist candidate in Ecuador, has handily won his country's presidential
election. As of Monday morning, with about 21 percent of the
ballot counted, Correa had 65 percent compared to 35 percent
for Alvaro Noboa, according to Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
If Correa wins, he will preside over Ecuador for a four year
term.
It's yet another feather in
the cap for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had long cultivated
the aspiring leader's support. What's more, it's a stinging
blow against the Bush administration which now must confront
a much more unenviable political milieu in the region. Ecuador
now joins other left leaning regimes such as Brazil, Argentina,
Uruguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Chile, all of which are sympathetic
to Chavez.
Bush cannot dismiss the Correa
victory as inconsequential: Ecuador is currently the second largest
South American exporter of crude to the U.S. The small Andean
country hosts the only U.S. military base in South America, where
400 troops are currently stationed. Correa opposes an extension
of the U.S. lease at the air base in Manta, which serves as a
staging ground for drug surveillance flights. The U.S. lease
expires in 2009.
"If they want,"
Correa has said ironically, "we won't close the base in
2009, but the United States would have to allow us to have an
Ecuadoran base in Miami in return."
It's no secret that Chavez
and Correa had a personal rapport. During a short stint in 2005
as finance minister under the regime of Alfredo Palacio, Correa
brokered a $300 million loan from Chavez. As a result of his
diplomacy, Correa was forced out of the government. Allegedly,
Correa pursued the loan deal behind Palacio's back. He later
visited Chavez's home state of Barinas, where he met with the
Venezuelan leader and spent the night with Chavez's parents.
"It is necessary to overcome
all the fallacies of neoliberalism," Correa has declared.
Borrowing one of Chavez's favorite slogans, Correa says he also
supports so-called "socialism for the twenty first century."
Correa:
"Whipping" Ecuador's Politicians, and the U.S., into
Shape
Unlike Chavez, Correa does
not come from a military background but grew up in a middle class
family; the young politician also dresses impeccably. He got
his doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois and
is a follower of left wing economist and Nobel prize winner Joseph
Stiglitz.
To his credit, Correa spent
a year volunteering in a highland town called Zumbahua and speaks
Quichua, an indigenous language. Natives from Zumbahua remember
Correa as a man who walked two or three hours to remote villages
in a poncho and broken shoes to give classes.
Correa pursued an amusing campaign.
During rallies, he would bounce on stage to his campaign anthem,
set to the tune of Twisted Sister's "We're Not Going to
Take It." As the music blared, Correa would break out a
brown leather belt, which he would flex along to the music.
For Correa, the belt became
the chief slogan of his campaign: "Dale Correa." In
Spanish, the phrase means "Give Them the Belt." Correa
promised to use that belt
to whip Ecuador's politicians into shape.
Correa campaigned on pledges
to prioritize social spending over repaying debt. He has even
stated that the Andean country might want to default. He also
declared that he would renegotiate contracts with foreign oil
producers doing business in the country. Correa says he wants
to increase funds for the poor and opposes a free trade deal
with the U.S.
"We are not against the
international economy," Correa has stated, "but we
will not negotiate a treaty under unequal terms with the United
States."
Correa, too, has nothing but
contempt for George Bush.
When he was recently asked
about Chavez's "devil" diatribe against the U.S. president
at the United Nations, Correa remarked amusingly, "Calling
Bush the devil offends the devil. Bush is a tremendously dimwitted
President who has done great damage to the world" [after
he was defeated by Noboa in the first round of voting Correa
toned down his rhetoric, stating that his comments about Bush
were "imprudent" and that Ecuador would like to continue
its strong tries to the United States]
Noboa
Plays the Chavez Card
In an effort to scare voters,
Alvaro Noboa, a banana magnate in Ecuador, sought to label Correa
as a Chavez puppet. Noboa, in an allusion to Chavez's military
background, labeled his adversary "Colonel Correa."
Correa, the Noboa campaign
charged, was being financed by Venezuela. In a bombastic tirade,
Noboa even declared, "the Chavez-Correa duo has played dirty
in an effort to conquer Ecuador and submit it to slavery."
If he were elected, Noboa promised, he would break relations
with Caracas.
Correa denied that his campaign
was financed by Chavez and in a biting aside declared that his
friendship with the Venezuelan leader was as legitimate as President
Bush's friendship with the bin Laden family.
"They have pursued the
most immoral and dirty campaign against me in an effort to link
me with communism, terrorism, and Chavismo," Correa explained.
"The only thing left is for them to say that Bin Laden
was financing me."
Chavez, perhaps fearing that
any statement on his part might tilt the election in favor of
Noboa, initially remained silent as regards the Ecuadoran election.
But at last the effusive Chavez could no longer constrain himself
and broke his silence.
The Venezuelan leader accused
Noboa of baiting him in an effort to gain the "applause"
of the United States. Chavez furthermore expressed doubts about
the veracity of the voting result in the first presidential run
off in October, in which Correa came in second. In his own inflammatory
broadside, Chavez accused Noboa of being "an exploiter of
child labor" on his banana plantations and a "fundamentalist
of the extreme right."
In Ecuador, Chavez said, "there
are also strange things going on. A gentleman who is the richest
man in Ecuador; the king of bananas, who exploits his workers,
who exploits children and puts them to work, who doesn't pay
them loans, suddenly appears in first place in the first [electoral]
round."
The Noboa campaign, in an escalating
war of words, shot back that the Venezuelan Ambassador should
be expelled from Ecuador due to Chavez's meddling.
Ecuadoran
Indigenous Peoples and Chavez
Judging from the early electoral
returns, Ecuadoran voters, many of whom are indigenous, disregarded
Noboa's fire and brimstone rhetoric. Indians, who account for
40% of Ecuador's population of 13 million, are a potent political
force in the country. Correa has capitalized on indigenous support.
He represents Alianza País, a coalition that garnered
the support of indigenous and social movements which brought
down the government of Lucio Gutierrez in April 2005.
What does the Correa win mean
for Chavez's wider hemispheric ambitions?
As I explain in my book, Hugo
Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.
(recently released by St. Martin's Press), Chavez has long sought
to cultivate ties to Ecuador's indigenous peoples. Ecuadoran
Indians have long feared that their traditional lands were being
exploited to serve a rapacious United States intent on corporate
expansion. U.S. missionaries have fueled the resentment. According
to indigenous activists, the missionaries hastened the penetration
of U.S. corporations. A key example, according to Huaorani Indians,
was the petroleum industry which worked with the missionaries
to open up traditional lands.
Chavez has done much to cultivate
the support of indigenous peoples. He plays up his own indigenous
roots, for example. He also expelled the Protestant New Tribes
Mission from Venezuela, which he said was collaborating with
the CIA.
"We don't want the New
Tribes here," Chavez declared. "Enough colonialism!
500 years is enough!"
In opposing the missionaries,
Chavez has echoed the agenda of Ecuador's indigenous peoples,
who called for the expulsion of North American missionaries from
their country. CONAIE, Ecuador's indigenous federation, in fact
endorses many of Chavez's positions such as an end to U.S. militarization
in the region and an end to neo liberal economic policies. CONAIE,
like Rafael Correa, wants Ecuador to terminate the U.S. lease
at the Manta military base. CONAIE, as well as the movement's
political wing Patchakutik, has backed Chavez. CONAIE in fact
has condemned the "fascist" opposition in Venezuela
and derided U.S. interventionism.
Chavez has not only cultivated
political ties with hemispheric leaders but also with social
movements from below. In an innovative move, Chavez has sponsored
something called the Bolivarian Congress of Peoples in Caracas.
CONAIE officials attended the Congress, as did Humberto Cholango,
president of the Kichwa Confederation of Ecuador. Cholango remarked
at the time, "no one can stop this [Bolivarian] Revolution
in Venezuela, we will keep on defeating the Creole oligarchies
and the Yankeesthe time has come for South America to rise up
to defeat the empireLong live the triumph of the Venezuelan people."
Cholango is an important link
in the future Chavez-Correa alliance. His Kichwa Confederation
has backed Correa. In a communiqué, the Confederation
wrote, "We will not let Noboa, who owns 120 companies and
made his fortune by exploiting children in his companies, take
control of the country to deliver water, deserts, oil, mines,
forests and biodiversity to big private transnational corporations."
Ecuadoran
Oriente: Area of Conflict
Chavez has exchanged oil for
political influence throughout the region in such countries as
Nicaragua, as I explained in my earlier Counterpunch column [see
"A New Kind of Oil Diplomacy:
In Nicaragua, a Chavez Wave?, November 7, 2006]. In Ecuador,
Chavez may opt for a similar strategy but here the Venezuelan
leader has to watch out for pitfalls that could reveal serious
contradictions within his movement.
With a Correa administration
in place, Chavez will be in an advantageous position to advance
his plans for hemispheric energy integration. Ecuador's state
oil company Petroecuador has been involved in longstanding negotiations
with Venezuela to refine its crude. Ecuador is also interested
in acquiring Venezuelan diesel and gasoline to cover its own
internal demand. Ecuador's growing energy ties with Venezuela
have been applauded by important figures such as Luis Macas,
long associated with the CONAIE.
The dilemma for Ecuador is
that, while oil represents about a quarter of the country's GDP,
many disadvantaged communities have been unhappy with development.
The north eastern section of Ecuador, the "Oriente,"
has long been the scene of serious social unrest. I know something
about the social and environmental conflicts in the area, having
written a couple of articles about the Huorani Indians for the
Ecuadoran magazine 15 Dias and the Quito daily Hoy.
In 1992, having just completed
a reporting internship at WBAI radio in New York, I headed to
Quito. At that time, North American as well as Ecuadoran environmental
groups were concerned about Maxus Corporation, a Texas-based
energy company. The influential company had the support of the
government, the press, and North American Protestant missionaries.
The Huaorani had just traveled to Quito, where they had carried
out a protest in front of Maxus headquarters.
The Indians demanded that Maxus
halt its construction of a highway in block 16, which fell in
their traditional homeland. I flew out to the Amazon and interviewed
the Indians who were living in deplorable health and sanitary
conditions. In my articles, I dissected Maxus' unconvincing
propaganda and warned about imminent environmental problems.
Venezuelan
Involvement in the Ecuadoran Oil Industry?
I left Ecuador in late 1993,
and not surprisingly the unrest continued. In 2002, the government
declared a state of emergency following protests in Sucumbios
and Orellana provinces. Protesters hit the streets, demanding
greater investment in their communities. Indigenous peoples
in the area had long felt that they had not adequately shared
in the benefits of oil development. The military used teargas
to break up protests which blocked oil wells.
In August 2005 the disturbances
continued, with an oil strike hitting Orellana and Sucumbios.
At that time, Chavez came to the aid of Ecuadoran president
Alfredo Palacios by agreeing to send Venezuelan crude to the
Andean nation. At the time, Chavez expressed sympathy with Ecuador
"because we [Venezuela] have already passed through this
type of thing with the oil sabotage [the oil lock out in 2002-3
encouraged by the Venezuelan opposition]."
Early this year, Petroecuador
was forced to suspend exports when protesters, unhappy about
longstanding environmental damage, demanded the departure of
U.S. oil company Oxy and took over a pumping station vital to
the functioning of a pipeline. Protesters, led by local politicians
from the Amazon province of Napo, demanded that the government
pay them funds for infrastructure projects in local communities.
In March, the government put
three provinces under military control when workers initiated
a strike for unpaid wages and improved working conditions. At
one point, the government declared a state of emergency in Napo,
when protesters demanded that the oil companies invest more of
their profits in the area.
Guadalupe Llori, the prefect
of Orellana, remarked "If we are treated like animals we
are going to react like animals. We could join the workers and
demand the government respect our rights." Petroecuador
technicians and troops finally took control of oil facilities
and cleared strikers from vital sites.
In May, Petroecuador took over
oil wells belonging to Oxy's block 15 oil concession; the Ecuadoran
state wants the Venezuelan state company PdVSA to refine 75%
of the 100,000 barrels per day within the old concession. According
to the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, Ecuador is considering
Venezuela as a possible partner in the fields formerly operated
by Oxy.
Chavismo
and Its Hemispheric Contradictions
If PdVSA had a presence in
block 15, this would lead to a potential problem for Chavez.
Having proclaimed its support for social and environmental justice,
as well as indigenous rights, Venezuela would now be operating
in an area long marked by social unrest and discrimination of
indigenous peoples.
In the short term, Chavez may
take some pride in the fact that Bush received another black
eye in South America; what's more Venezuela can now count on
Correa's support as well as the indigenous movement. But in
the long term, Chavez could run the risk of alienating many of
his supporters if Venezuela is perceived to be an accomplice
in misguided development schemes.
In the coming years, will Chavez
maintain his political support amongst disadvantaged peoples
throughout the hemisphere, or will his popularity be tarnished
by oil diplomacy? Up to now, Chavez has certainly used oil as
an effective geopolitical instrument, but it may prove his Achilles
Heel if he is not careful.
CounterPunch
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