May 13, 2007    In a seemingly unrelated story, Ecuador's Rafael Correa mimics Hugo Chavez's illicit theft of Venezuela's RC TV by threatening to act, with no due process and of course no even handed law and order under Correa's kangaroo/puppet courts, to place the head of Quito's La Hora not only in jail for six months [we remind that this will NOT be in a Lucio Gutierrez era hacienda prison but violent hard time] but also facing serious civil suit damages of untold monetary demands, brought by president Correa against one small newspaper which dared to reveal locally what the international media had been roundly reporting  for weeks: that Correa acted illegally to violently remove legitimate and duly elected congresspersons in Ecuador who were performing their constitutional job description and simply demanded answers about Correa and his Finance Minister Patino's bond market manipulations.

For the congresspersons, they were violently ousted. For the newspaper's editorial, they face death inside Correa's prisons and a life time of civil suits if left unabated. Today, if one is targeted by Rafael Correa, there is no security, no legal protections and no guarantees of anything at all except an end to what used to be trusted and now is not.
 
Publius Pundit commendably calls this story for what it is:
 
"Ecuador President Sues Newspaper Over Editorial # The La Hora editorial more or less called Rafael Correa a thug and said he was ruling Ecuador with pitchfork mobs and a cudgel. Given what's going on in Ecuador, I suspect it was reporting straight."

Indeed La Hora did report the features of the violent and illegal overturn of Ecuador's constitution that day.
 
The original editorial, itself unworthy of such a law suit is repinted here: ¨(taken from www.lahora.com.ec)

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"Vandalismo oficial

March 9, 2007

Pensando solamente en sus intereses partidistas o de grupo hemos llegado a una desinstitucionalización y a una pugna en la cual ya no hay mediadores posibles. Los actores de la vieja guardia, las cámaras, la Corte Suprema y hasta la propia Iglesia son ya irrelevantes en el actual contexto político. El desquite, el incremento de la venganza y los resentimientos entre los sectores, son definitivamente los causantes de la crisis en la que sus propios actores ya están temerosos.

Unos y otros han prescindido de todo ordenamiento y el gobierno nacional incentiva esta crisis y se ha encargado en aumentar la confrontación para pescar a río revuelto. Elemento vital es la indecencia de las fuerzas policiales, ya que si bien es lógico que acepten las órdenes del Ejecutivo no pueden convertirse en cómplices y en verdaderos autores por omisión, de las barbaridades realizadas frente a ellos por turbas fanatizadas, enajenados gubernamentales y delincuentes disfrazados, como constató la ciudadanía en los actos cobardes del vandalismo oficial.

Esta política que sale definitivamente de la Presidencia de la República y que pretende gobernar con tumultos, piedras y palos es vergonzosa para el primer mandatario que se ufana de ser un hombre civilizado y respetuoso de las opiniones de los demás. La fuerza pública será desde hoy la responsable de las bandas armadas que los actores políticos no gubernamentales tendrán necesariamente que conformar frente a la complicidad dolosa de la Policía Nacional, porque ya no es un simple descuido, sino una política del actual gobierno."
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We hope that by sharing the facts here, recent visitors to Ecuador such as John Negroponte will avoid further embarrassment stemming from his obvious lack of knowledge about the Correa regime which can no longer be ignored. In fact, it is foolish to pretend that Ecuador is a functional democracy any more and deserving of U.S. give-aways. Ecuador deserves many things but what they deserve the most is sound condemnation for their activities and a fact based Report of the actual crimes committed by the Correa team.
 
By May 11, 2007, the hyperactive but until recently inept media in Ecuador got around to smelling  its own death knell by the Correa-Chavez-Cuban activists crawling over Quito and rallied behind La Hora. Indeed, the media in Ecuador has wholesomely returned to a semblance of its past levels of sound reporting of late and not a moment too soon. In  response, Correa said he cared nothing for the media's positions, rejecting the dire warnings by Ecuador's media associations- again parroting Chavez's scorn for reputable press groups. Correa noted that he would drop his prison sentance for Vivanco of La Hora and monetary damages if and only if Vivanco apologized [also known as retraction and surrender/making an about face] for its March piece.

For its part, La Hora [taken from here: www.lahora.com.ec] ran a serious statement May 11, 2007 admitting that their newspaper had done nothing wrong, had committed no crime and had nothing to apologize for:

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"Correa enjuicia a diario La Hora 

11 de Mayo de 2007 

El presidente de la República Rafael Correa Delgado presentó ayer una demanda penal en contra del Diario La Hora por un editorial del 9 de marzo pasado, que interpretaba y opinaba sobre los incidentes políticos callejeros que en esos días se registraban en Quito.

“Injurias al Presidente de la República” se basa la demanda presentada por el director jurídico de la Casa de Gobierno, Alexis Mera, al fiscal de Pichincha, Washington Pezantes.

“Al día siguiente, 10 de marzo del 2007, personalmente condené enfáticamente los hechos de violencia en contra de ciertos diputados”, dice en su petición el Presidente de la República.

Alexis Mera señaló que se pide respeto a los medios de comunicación, “no a favor de Rafael Correa, sino de la dignidad de un Presidente de la República, a la dignidad presidencial” que ha sido irrespetada en estos últimos 10 años.

Si otros medios de comunicación incurren en este tipo de publicaciones, “sin sustento y calumniosas”, la Presidencia de la República procederá legalmente de la misma manera como lo ha hecho con el diario La Hora, manifestó Mera a los periodistas, ayer a las 17h30, en la Fiscalía de Pichincha. “Estamos dispuestos a responder legalmente ante cualquier medio de comunicación”, subrayó.

Nuestra política editorial está enmarcada en el respeto a todas las funciones del Estado y al ordenamiento jurídico vigente, por lo que, respetuosos como siempre de la ley, ejerceremos nuestro legítimo derecho a la defensa."
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Perhaps the recent media market buy-ins by Al Jazeera and its business partner, Hugo Chavez's TeleSur with the British BBC and its repugnant marketing machinations in Zapatero's Spain and in Brussels, Belgium as reported here are factual. In fact, Venezuelans and Ecuadoreans....and British and Spanish citizens are now enjoined in a struggle to retain free and fair media.

Moreover, one fine day some clever analyst will grasp the concept that even as Iran and Chavez are mutual co owners of the Iranian media agency, so too is TeleSur criminally forcing out any competition to insure that their Hezbollah propaganda to further the Iranian mullahs alone is beamed 24/7. Supposedly with grand plans for their anti-democracy and anti Christian messages envisioned for Europe, the far East and Africa, as well as Latin America, they come for Europe and Africa next. If there was ever a time for the EU in general, the British and Spaniards to review their governmental support for the Iranian mullah TV networks, it is now. They come for you next.  If there was ever a time for John Negroponte of the USA to analyze the TeleSur media buy ins and media positions, it is now. They come for us all next. 
 
-- Pedro Camargo