Ecuador... Whats going on politically

One of the classes that I took this past semester was a History of Ecuadorian Culture Class. Even though my teacher seemed to harbor a particularly rare breed of paranoia with regard to the influence of foreign powers on Ecuadorian politics and we spent the majority of our time in the classroom talking about the United States and the World Bank, I was extremely interested in a lot of the readings that were assigned and did a little further research. I have also been asking around to a lot of Ecuadorian friends (and Leonor ofcourse) to see what the people think about the current political situation in Ecuador.
To make a very long story short.... this is what I have found out:

Just like many other Latin American countries Ecuador has a history of colonization, domination, and instability. Ecuador is particularly famous for having gone through 9 presidents in 10 years. One of their presidents, Velasco, was actually elected 4 times but only made it through his term one out of four terms. The other three times he was ran out of office before he could finish. Ecuador has also been heavily influenced by monopolies and neo-liberal power houses such as the United States, World Bank, and WTO. Lucio Gutierrez was the last elected President before Correa. He was most famous for having kicked out 90% of the Supreme Court judges. He was voted out of office peacefully by the Congress before his term was up. However I think it must be considered that he was set up for a quite a difficult job when he entered office. Ecuador suffered an economic chrisis in 1999 where inflation rates and national debt soared so high that the entire country went bankrupt and was forced to adopt the dollar as the new national currency as an emergency move. This devalued most bank accounts in Ecuador by about 70%. There is a huge argument that the rich and those that had inside government information had already transferred their money in to foreign accounts and were not effected. By 2001 70% of Ecuador was living on or below the poverty line.

Anyway after Gutierrez, Alfredo Palacio took over as President. He is a little known President in Ecuador. I think this because he didnt have the controversial flair and large scandals that follow most Presidents here. His platforms were moderate and stayed more or less in the center of the political scale. After he retired from the Presidency Palacio moved on to become the President of a lovely little University in the suburbs of Guayaquil called la Universidad de Especialidades Esperitu Santo where I have been studying for the past four months! :) He was President for two years and then handed over the title when Correa was elected in 2006. Since Correa was elected he has passed a new constitution, kicked out many top officials, refused US military presence, and defaulted on the national debt and then bought it all back for 30% of its value.

So that brings us to where Ecuador is now. Currently Ecuador is still very heavily influenced by the power of the Catholic church. It is generally viewed as the most Conservative country left in South America. Correa has been stepping away from US influence and instituting many new developmental programs. He has also designated considerable more spending to improving the health care system as well as education. According to current policy every citizen should receive free health care and free education. The country is divided in to two main political regions, the Sierra and the Coast. The Sierra mainly represented by Quito traditionally belongs to the Conservative parties while the Coastal region (Guayaquil) typically belongs to more liberal parties in favor of foreign trade. Correa has had a harder time winning over the support of the coastal region. He has also had a hard time winning over support of the wealthy. Although they constitute a small proportion of the population they represent a large amount of wealth and power. Ofcourse this is probably due to the fact that he has a tendency to call them names such as Pelocones on national TV (which is a derrogatory term for people that live in the suburbs of Guayaquil). But then again he has a reputation for calling a lot of people derogatory names. He refferred to a reporter one time as "the fat spotted looking one in the corner" When he was questioned about why he called her that his response was he didnt see a problem with it if it was true.
Anyway, Im getting distracted. The big deal right now in Ecuador is about the Consulto Popular, or referendum that is scheduled to take place on May 7th 2011. It consists of 10 questions about 10 different issues, 5 of which would cause amendments to the Constitutions. A rough translation of the questions are as follows:

1. In order to reduce and combat corruption, Are you in agreement that unjustified private enrichment should be considered illegal?

• This means that the government would have the ability to investigate any claims to large personal property that does not match the personal income of that said person.

2. With the purpose to avoid games of financial gain (gambling) from becoming a social problem, especially in the most vulnerable sectors of the population, are you in agreement that in your respective area of municipality, casinos and gambling lounges should not be permitted?

3. In order to avoid killing animals for sheer purposes of entertainment and simple diversion, Are you in agreement, that in your respective area or municipality, that public spectacles that involve the killing of animals should be outlawed?

• This is especially controversial in Quito where Bull fights are extremely popular still. As far as I understand the bull fights are aloud to continue they just cant actually kill the bull in the ring. This same practice is being carried out in Portugal right now. However the question is unclear as to whether this would include the prohibition of cock fighting. Every Ecuadorian that I talk to seems to have a different opinion on whether or not this includes cock fighting or not, which is extremely popular in the countryside.

4. With the purpose to avoid the excesses that exist in the media, Do you think that a Regulation Committee should be established to make rules concerning the distribution of media that contains sex, violence, and discrimination in written press and regular media?

• This is quite possibly the most controversial issue being considered. Many people feel that this is hindering their right to freedom of speech. Others are also arguing that it is an attempt by Correa to gain more control and over the media. Especially after the large role that the media played in the "attempted coup" on September 30th.  However at the moment the Ecuadorian media can be a little raw. For example there are no restrictions on pictures printed in newspapers after a homicide, as such the pictures are often quite graphic and bloody. There are also no restrictions to the type of tv and movies that can be played on the airwaves at certain times of day. For example when I ride public buses they quite often show graphic movies with sex and violence (Im talking full nudity and tons of blood) on buses that are transporting many young children.

5. With the purpose to avoid the unfair exploitation of common workers, Do you think that employers who do not register their employees in Social security should be sent to the Social Security Board?

• When a worker is registered in social security they pay an 8% tax, the employer matches that tax with an addition 8 to 10%. As a result, many workers make negotiations with their employees to simply give them the 8% tax in cash and then they gross an additional 16% earnings and never register for social security. However this means that they are not entered in to the government system and dont receive all the benefits.

So I know this is probably not as interesting for everyone else as it is for me since Im here, but I thought I would give you guys a little taste of some of the debates that I have been listening to for the last few weeks. Its even more interesting to hear what the people have to say about it. Many people believe the whole referendum is simply an attempt by Correa to gain more power while making the people think they are being asked. Half the people believe that their ballot will be counted as yes or no for all the questions in one big group while the other half believe that the votes will be counted per question. I also find it interesting to see how the questions are all written in such a leading manner as if trying to persuade people to answer a certain way. Most of the people I have talked to are resigned to believe that everything will pass due to media coverage and advertisement to the country side.