March 19, 2007   Although Ecuadorean president Correa will send his chief pornographer to Washington, D.C. to satisfy the private sector interests in Ecuador who sincerely need to have their own administration’s commitment to free trade first before hopping in to bed with Ministra Espinosa, so to speak, we remind that beneath it all is a profound commitment by the Correa administration to fraud, deception and theft….of U.S. company assets. Rafael Correa’s team has no intention of acting legitimately or responsibly, witness the scandalous attempt to distract with pornography underway- a buy out of remarkable proportions. Unless and until Rafael Correa and his “cabinet” stands firmly for international law, transparency and respect for standard normative behaviors, they do not.

It is this point that offends deeply about the Correa circle of intimates: its aversion to normative behaviors and lawful performance. With every intention to lie and deceive, it is unconscionable for any to take Rafael Correa and his gaggle seriously and they should not. With not one scrap of paper and not one item worthy of respect, Correa is coming up short- in the negative column- on all standards of performance. In fact, he is a liar and has already cost Ecuadoreans billions in losses. And his honeymoon is not even over yet.

Rafael Correa actually blames his errant dependencia on the flaws of the IMF and the World Bank. While we agree that neither sister organization are saints, we note that the alternatives are not but opaque political tools of errant regimes for profound mischief which always leads to misery. Our point is not to undo the overzealousness of the previous Francophile IMF leadership (aka tax and spend statism) but to remind that no government is forced to play with the IMF which itself is a lender of last resort. Correa has simply spent his career whining and complaining about the World Bank and the IMF as if they are the devil incarnates. He also blames free markets, free trade, jobs and employment as well as the Catholic Church for all the world’s ills. Correa also blames the evil empire and the evil Plan Colombia. The only thing he is not blaming yet- are space aliens. We can only imagine that this will be next.

What Rafael Correa should be doing is growing up from his adolescent and childish rants and perform the service of his high office responsibly instead of cynically, deceptively acting with every intention to ruin Ecuador.

Even though everyone knows that OCCIDENTAL did nothing whatsoever wrong or justifiably illicit to warrant the billions of their assets seized (except perhaps to have had some of the most dim witted, third rate, tepid representatives imaginable which Correa seems to feel misrepresent or lie about the real facts when this has obviously never occurred) and in fact deserves to have their assets returned in full, we are aware that even as former President Palacio noted, ` it’s a political thing.’ Politics of anarchy in no way supplant the facts or law and order. Correa is unbelievably offensive this week end to claim that he will sue Occidental as a diversion to his own support for theft and corruption so deep and so unimaginable that his presidency should be shuttered- not Occidental.

Follows are two pieces from the 3-17-07 and 3-18-07 El Comercio regarding Correa’s rants against Occidental. Correa actually seems to enjoy playing the game that he accuses this company of crimes which it did not commit. In many nations, those who act to support what Correa is doing are called “accessories” to crime. We note that those who pay court and attend Ministra Espinosa are accessories to this unrealistically illicit regime in Ecuador. Those who aid and abet grand larceny, theft and the ruination of their nation are added to the growing list of the Dishonored. Those who promote criminality will be known for the company they keep with the seekers of authoritarianism-communism, deceptive Hugo Chavez Bolivarianism and pornography. There is no honor and nothing to be gained by relationships with persons whose sole intent is to debase, manipulate, and deceive as is underway in Ecuador. And there is no cause to claim that Correa is an ally of anything respectable for he is not.

Apparently, Correa seeks to hold the U.S. government as hostage to his extortionary plan that if he promises (again – which of course he does not keep promises) to straighten up a little, the USA will magically confer upon Ecuador the free give away of an ATPDA extension when Correa’s own team is paying for every step they can accomplish to harm Uribe’s Plan Colombia and enshrine Ecuador as a narcostate. Apparently too Correa seems to believe that he can support stealing from U.S. companies and be rewarded by his leftist friends across Washington because he has been an effective mouthpiece for their We Hate Bush foolishness. Rumor holds in Washington that Roger Noriega was a paid mouth organ for this ridiculous effrontery that has led to the notion that Correa’s Ecuador deserves an ATPDA extension for its fraud, its deceptions and its thefts so grand that the head swims. Noriega has clamped down all discussion of how much he has been paid by the Government of Ecuador and no one is talking- yet. Noriega knows well that disclosure of foreign representation and payments thereto are regulated so we will not spread canard except to note that Noriega is widely held to have been active to aid and abet Ecuador of late. And even more apparently Correa seems to believe that he will have every financial benefit and great wealth as long as he lies, steals and cheats his way to fame and fortune. Maybe he will. He is sending Ministra Espinosa to Washington to fondle the feckless and gullible to make sure that every prurient distraction will aid and abet his crimes.

-Pedro Camargo for ECrisis
--------------

http://elcomercio.terra.com.ec/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=99228&id_seccion=3

El Presidente dice que demandará a la Oxy

Redacción Política

Oxy, banca, minería y crisis política fueron algunos de  los temas a los que  Rafael Correa pasó revista ayer en su noveno  programa radial.

El Presidente atacó a la petrolera estadounidense Oxy, que dejó el bloque 15 luego de la caducidad de su contrato con Petroecuador. Acusó a la firma de hacer ‘lobby’ para que EE.UU.  no  extienda las preferencias arancelarias (Atpdea).

“Lo que sí nos ha hecho mucho daño es la actitud de esta compañía, arrogante, prepotente, que ha hecho ‘lobby’. Por ello anunció que presentará una demanda legal en contra de la petrolera.

Sobre la banca,  anunció que a partir de esta semana mantendrá acercamientos. Sus objetivos: disminuir las tasas de interés, eliminar las comisiones y traer recursos desde el extranjero. El ex diputado León Febres Cordero ya presentó un proyecto de Ley en ese sentido, que está en el Congreso listo para el segundo y definitivo debate.

El campo de las concesiones mineras,  dijo que en  emitirá un Decreto de “movilización”, para atender el “gravísimo” problema,  así como para combatir el contrabando de combustibles.

En lo  político, Correa pronosticó que  el Congreso se instalará esta semana. Al mediodía, se reunió con los gobernadores.

------------

http://elcomercio.terra.com.ec/solo_texto_search.asp?id_noticia=64904&anio=2007&mes=3&dia=17

Gobierno prepara demanda contra Oxy por "daños y perjuicios"
3/17/2007

Quito, EFE

El Gobierno de Ecuador anunció hoy que prepara una demanda contra la petrolera estadounidense Occidental (Oxy), por "daños y perjuicios" causados desde que salió del país, en marzo del año pasado, tras ser sancionada por incumplir un contrato de explotación de crudo en Amazonia ecuatoriana.

El presidente Rafael Correa acusó a la Oxy de promover en EE.UU. falsas informaciones sobre la anulación de su contrato en Ecuador y ocultar las violaciones legales que cometió en el país.

El contrato con Occidental fue anulado unilateralmente por Ecuador luego de un largo proceso legal, en el que, según Quito, se demostró que esa compañía violó el contrato y las leyes ecuatorianas al transferir a la canadiense Encana, sin avisar al Estado, el 40 por ciento de sus derechos de explotación en la Amazonia.

El Gobierno, además, transfirió los bienes de la Oxy a la empresas estatal Petroecuador, como establecían las cláusulas de anulación del contrato, que la estadounidense había aceptado.

Tras su salida, Occidental demandó, ante una corte de arbitraje en Washington, al Gobierno de Ecuador y a Petroecuador por supuestas violaciones a sus derechos, aunque luego suspendió la demanda contra el Ejecutivo de Quito.

Según Correa, Occidental ha hecho "lobby" o cabildeo para hacer aparecer que en Ecuador "se le han confiscado sus bienes, pero no ha dicho que (ella misma) ha roto el contrato", que había prometido cumplir para explotar crudo ecuatoriano en la Amazonia.

Ante esa situación, "ya hemos tenido reuniones con la Procuraduría (del Estado), para ponerle juicios, nacionales e internacionales, a esa compañía petrolera, por los daños y perjuicios" que ha causado o que "pueda ocasionar al país", afirmó Correa.

"No permitiremos que una trasnacional arrogante, prepotente e irrespetuosa del marco jurídico ecuatoriano, dañe la imagen del país y le vamos a poner los procesos legales que sean necesarios para demandar daños y perjuicios, por el grave daño que ha ocasionado al país, esta trasnacional prepotente", reiteró el jefe del Estado.

Correa afirmó que el perjuicio causado aparentemente por la Oxy es el más serio que tiene con EE.UU., en el marco de la solicitud para que Washington extienda las preferencias arancelarias antidrogas (Atpdea) que concede al país y a los andinos de Colombia, Perú y Bolivia.

El presidente ecuatoriano ha ratificado su confianza en que el Parlamento estadounidense, dominado ahora por los demócratas, acepte el pedido de los andinos para extender la vigencia del Atpdea, que vence en junio próximo.

Correa dijo que "las preferencias arancelarias no son una limosna, no es una cosa que el país está pidiendo de rodillas, es la mínima compensación" que EE.UU. debe otorgar a Ecuador por el "gran esfuerzo" que hace en la lucha antidrogas.

Insistió en que "la posición de Ecuador, altiva y soberana", es que las preferencias "deben ser extendidas de forma indefinida, por el tiempo que dure la lucha antidrogas".

Correa indicó que su país gasta mucho dinero en la lucha contra el narcotráfico, aunque "en Ecuador hay más gente que se muere por accidentes" de tránsito y enfermedades que pueden ser curables, que por situaciones relacionadas con drogas.

Ecuador exige "la mínima compensación por una lucha, que para nosotros no es la más importante. Para ellos (los países consumidores) sí es lo más importante", apostilló el mandatario.