Word: correa
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However you see it, ending term limits seems increasingly popular around Latin America. Chávez remains the standard-bearer of the region's resurgent left; and after his first attempt to change the constitution, leftist Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador had their own term limits relaxed by popular vote. Colombia's conservative President, Alvaro Uribe, won't deny that he hopes to engineer a constitutional fix letting him seek a third term when his second mandate ends next year. The trend has democracy watchdogs fretful about a return of the Latin caudillo. (See pictures...
...hand, it was indicative of Washington's inability or refusal to realize that Latin Americans aren't as obsessed with the drug war as los yanquis are - and that they tend to feel humiliated by imperious U.S. conditions like those set on aid for Ecuador's drug police. Correa's chief complaint against the U.S. diplomat, Homeland Security attache Armando Astorga, was "the insolence to pretend that Ecuador is a colony of the U.S." (Neither the U.S. embassy in Quito nor the State Department would comment...
...part of the region's resurgent left, confuse national sovereignty with their own idea that foreign aid should be provided gratis and without political strings. Because Latin military and security forces have an unfortunate history of sliding into drug lords' pockets - a former Ecuadorean deputy interior minister under Correa was recently charged with drug trafficking - it's not all that outrageous that the U.S. ask to have some input in exchange for aid (or "logistical support," per Astorga...
...point is that Washington and Quito could have worked this out more maturely than the outcome shows. The U.S. could have, and should have, been better tuned in to the fact that Correa, love him or hate him, is not one of the obliging military strongmen or feckless oligarchs that used to run Ecuador, and that his anti-American agenda has been pretty clear since he won the presidency in 2006. He recently decided not to renew the U.S. lease at Ecuador's Manta air base (although, ironically, he said Saturday he would grant U.S. planes limited...
...wasn't a shock when Correa, a master at using anti-yanqui bluster to domestic political advantage, last year told the Americans he would no longer accept their veto privilege regarding the top brass of the Anti-Contraband Operations Unit. Nevertheless, early last month, Astorga sent his letter to National Police Commander Jaime Hurtado - informing the top cop not only that the U.S. was terminating the aid but that the force would have to return all furniture, cars and equipment donated by the U.S. in the past. To which Correa on Saturday replied, "Seņor Astorga, keep your dirty money...