Rafael Correa, a leftist economist and friend of Venezuela's anti-US leader, plans to lose no time implementing radical political and economic reforms after he is sworn in as president today.
Correa, 43, won Ecuador's November election runoff as a charismatic outsider who pledged to lead a "citizens' revolution" against a political establishment widely seen as corrupt and incompetent.
Correa says his first act as president will be to call a national referendum on a special assembly to rewrite the constitution -- a move he says is vital to limiting the power of the traditional parties that he blames for the country's problems.
"Citizens are fed up. We need a profound political reform, including a new generation of leaders," Correa said in an interview with the Associated Press shortly before his victory.
The US-educated Correa displays a fiery nationalism. He has called US President George W. Bush "tremendously dimwitted." He has rejected a free trade pact with the US, saying it would hurt Ecuador's farmers. And he has said he will not extend the US military's use of the Manta air base on the Pacific coast for drug surveillance flights when a treaty expires in 2009.
Correa joins a string of recently elected leftist presidents -- in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Nicaragua, where old US foe Daniel Ortega returned to power last week -- many of whom plan to attend his inauguration. Some, like Correa, admire Venezuela's firebrand anti-US president, Hugo Chavez, but others have distanced themselves from him.
Correa's call for a constitutional assembly follows similar moves by Chavez, who last week began a new six-year term after a landslide re-election, and Bolivian President Evo Morales, the first Indian to govern his nation.
Some analysts worry that Correa will use the assembly to consolidate and strengthen presidential power. But he says his reforms aim to make elected officials more accountable, including having cong-ressmen represent districts instead of being elected in a national vote. He supports allowing all elected officials to be recalled.
Correa also wants to strip the parties in Congress of their power over the judicial system. Currently the parties name members of the Constitutional Tribunal and the National Election Tribunal and appoint key officials such as the attorney general.
But Correa could have a tough challenge ahead, as he will be attempting reforms in a country that has suffered chronic political instability since its return to democracy in 1979. Congress dismissed the last three elected presidents -- violating impeachment proceedings -- after huge street protests demanding their ousters.
While Correa has shown a strong will that could help him stand up to the political establishment, some worry he also shows signs of an authoritarian governing style and an arrogance that could exacerbate efforts to reach peaceful compromises.
Last week he had a reporter expelled from a news conference, saying he did not show proper respect for him as the future president. He also warned recently that if Congress chooses an attorney general he does not like, he will not recognize his authority.
He plans to increase the state's control over the economy, especially the banking system, and expand the state oil company's role in the production and commercialization of the country's oil. Correa also intends to renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies to force them to share more of the oil they produce with the state.
He intends to cut ties to the World Bank and the IMF, and has threatened a moratorium on foreign debt payments to free up money for social programs.
Recent polls show 75 percent of Ecuadorians support his plans.
"Our hope is that with this new government there will be jobs, work, health care, education," said Maria Condor, 45, a Quechua-speaking vendor in Quito's San Roque market.
But Santiago Nieto, director of the Informe Confidencial polling firm, warned that Correa's support was based on inflated expectations and could easily fall.
"The people are expecting a lot more than he can deliver," Nieto said. "They view the constitutional assembly as a magic wand."
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese