>Red World: Ecuador: President Correa advances neo-communist coup with support of broad leftist coalition; cozies up to Caracas, Beijing; harbors FARC

>Pictured here are “The Three Amigos,” Comrades Hugo, Rafael, and Evo (otherwise known as the Presidents of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia) at Dr. Correa’s inauguration on January 15, 2007.

Republic of Ecuador
Type of state: Republic with multiparty system featuring neo-communist government, moving toward constitutional socialism
Independence: May 24, 1822 (from Spain)
President of Ecuador: Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Alliance): January 15, 2007-present
Political composition of national legislature: On November 29, 2007 Ecuador’s newly elected Constituent Assembly, which is stacked with President Correa’s supporters, dissolved the National Congress, elected on October 15, 2006, due to the alleged high level of corruption of its members. In addition to assuming legislative capacities, the Constituent Assembly dismissed Ecuador’s attorney general, bank superintendent, and other state officials. The Constituent Assembly, which is tasked with drafting a new constitution for Ecuador, has a total of 130 seats and contains the following party representations: Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Alliance (socialist) 80, January 21st Patriotic Society Party (left nationalist) 19, Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (conservative) 8, Social Christian Party (conservative) 5, Ethical and Democratic Network (leftist) 3, Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador/Movement for Popular Democracy 4, Socialist Party-Broad Front (merger of Socialist Party of Ecuador and Broad Front, formerly front for Communist Party of Ecuador)-Pachakutik Plurinational United Movement-New Country (left indigenous) Alliance 4, A New Option (pro-business) 2, Democratic Left Party (social democratic)-Citizens’ Power Movement 2, Ecuadorian Roldosist Party (conservative) 1, and Movement for National Honesty 1.

Next general elections: Ecuador’s next general elections have not been scheduled.

Communist government:

1) Presidency of Rafael Correa with support of Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Alliance (socialist), January 21st Patriotic Society Party (left nationalist), Ethical and Democratic Network (leftist), Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador/Movement for Popular Democracy, Socialist Party-Broad Front (merger of Socialist Party of Ecuador and Broad Front, formerly front for Communist Party of Ecuador), Pachakutik Plurinational United Movement-New Country (left indigenous), Democratic Left Party (social democratic), and Citizens’ Power Movement: 2007-present
2) Presidency of Lucio Gutiérrez with parliamentary support of January 21st Patriotic Society Party, Pachakutik Plurinational United Movement-New Country, and Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador/Movement for Popular Democracy: 2003-2005
3) “Glorious May Revolution” presidency of populist José María Velasco Ibarra with support of Ecuadorian Democratic Alliance, including Communist Party of Ecuador, Socialist Party of Ecuador, Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard Party, ex-members of Ecuadorian Radical Liberal Party, and conservatives: 1944-1947

Communist insurgency:

1) May 28 Revolution: Ecuadorian leftists view the May 28 Revolution as the beginning of a communist revolution. President José María Velasco appointed a socialist Minister of Social Welfare and Labor. In July more than 1,000 workers, artisans, peasants, intellectuals, and political leaders convened in Quito to found the Confederation of Ecuadorian Workers (CTE). Socialists, communists, and anarcho-syndicalists were instrumental in defining the CTE’s ideology. The revolution lost steam in 1947 when President Ibarra lost the next election.

2) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP, or FARC): Colombia’s largest insurgent army is using Ecuador as a base of operations, while Ecuador’s neo-communist president Dr. Rafael Correa is apparently turning a blind eye to the FARC’s presence in his country.

In November 2000 eight Canadians and six other foreigners were allegedly kidnapped by FARC rebels operating on Ecuadorian territory. FARC commanders denied that their organization was responsible for the abductions. In September 2005 BBC News reported that Ecuadorian troops patrolling the province of Sucumbios destroyed a suspected FARC jungle camp near the border between the two countries. Reuters, citing the Ecuadorian Defence Ministry, reports that a nearby drug processing plant, assumed to belong to FARC, was also destroyed. In February 2006 BBC News again reported that the Ecuadorian armed forces destroyed a FARC camp on the Ecuadorian side of the common border.

According to an April 2007 Washington Times report: “Colombian security officials say leftist rebels are capitalizing on the institutional weakness of neighboring Ecuador to set up supply routes for weapons and explosives along the two countries’ common border.” Peruvian chief prosecutor Jose Luis Azanero contends that a major arms trafficking ring is stealing explosives, assault rifles, anti-tank rockets, and hand grenades from the Peruvian military and transporting the contraband to Ecuador, where the arms are transferred to the FARC. President Correa denies that the FARC is operating on Ecuadorian territory, but he refuses to characterize the FARC as a terrorist organization and, thus, to cooperate with Colombian counterinsurgency efforts which, he claims, are a pretext for the USA to invade South America. “Terrorists, no,” Dr. Correa declared in a recent radio interview. “They are guerrillas fighting a war.” The FARC reciprocated President Correa’s support by sending him an open letter containing condolences after the death of his defense minister, Guadalupe Lariva, who died in a helicopter crash. Lariva had been accused of maintaining a closet relationship with the Colombian rebels. “She stood out for her loyalty to the revolutionary cause. Her example, flags and ideals will wave with more strength in our camps,” the FARC stated. Officially neutral, Ecuador has resisted requests by the Colombian government to assist Bogota in the eradication of the FARC. Under the neo-communist regime of President Correa, this neutrality might degenerate into covert support for Colombia’s decades-old Marxist insurgency.

Communist parties:

1) Citizens’ Movement New Country (MCNP): Founded in 1997 this left socialist party split from the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country.
2) Communist Party of Ecuador (PCE): Founded in 1925 as the Socialist Party, the PCE formerly associated with the World Marxist Review and Communist International.
3) Democratic Popular Movement (MPD): Founded in 1978 as the legal front for the Marxist- Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador, this Stalinist party associates with the Sao Paulo Forum.
4) January 21st Patriotic Society Party (PSP): Founded in 2000 this left nationalist party competes on the lists of the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country and operates under the leadership of Lucio Gutiérrez.
5) Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador (PCMLE): Founded in 1964 as a split from the Ecuadorian Communist Party (PCE), this Stalinist party associates with the ICMLPO(H) and International Communist Seminar. The PCMLE contests elections through its legal front, the Democratic Popular Movement.
6) Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR): Founded in 1965 this party is radical left in orientation.
7) Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country (MUPP-NP): Founded in 1995 this party is left indigenist in orientation.
8) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Ecuador-People’s Defenders (FARE-DP): This is a political-military organization.
9) Revolutionary Socialist Workers’ Organization (OSRT): This Trotskyist party associates with the SIQI.
10) Revolutionary Workers’ Organization (ORT): This Trotskyist party associates with the CITO.
11) Socialist Democracy Current (CDS): Founded in 1992 this Trotskyist party associates the USFI and contests elections on lists of the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country.
12) Socialist Democracy-New Process (DS-NP): Founded in 1997 as a split from the Current for Socialist Demcracy, this Trotskyist party associates with the USFI.
13) Socialist Party-Broad Front (PS-FA): Founded in 1995, this radical left party is a marger of the Socialist Party, founded in 1933, and the Broad Front, founded in 1977 as a front for the Communist Party of Ecuador. The PS-FA associates with the CSL and supports President Rafael Correa.
14) Vanguard-Socialist Workers’ Movement (V-MST): Founded in 1977 this Trotskyist party associates with the UIT and formerly associated with the LIT. The V-MST currently contests elections on lists of the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement-New Country.
15) Workers’ Party (PT): Founded in 1991 this Trotskyist party associates with the ILCWI and appears to be a different organization from the Workers’ Party led by Héctor Valdiviezo Brito.
16) Workers’ Party (PT): Founded in 2000 this Trotskyist party operates under the leadership of Héctor Valdiviezo Brito.
17) Workers’ Party of Ecuador (PTE): Founded in 1996 this Stalinist party is a split from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador.

Communist Bloc memberships: United Nations, Latin American Parliament, Union of South American Nations (merger of Andean Community of Nations and Southern Common Market; to be implemented by December 2007), Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (proposed)
Socialist International presence: Democratic Left Party
Sao Paulo Forum presence: none

Pictured here: Ecuadorian Tyrant-in-Training Rafael Correa receives Li Changchun, pointman for the Communist Party of China, on March 28, 2007.

Moscow-Beijing-Havana-Caracas Axis political/economic/military presence: The neo-communist regime in Quito is nurturing a growing economic and political relationship with Beijing. Russian influence, however, if present, is clandestine. In August 2003 representatives of China and Ecuador signed a contract to explore oil deposits in the latter country. The representing parties were the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation and Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Mines. Present at the signing ceremony in China was Ecuador’s previous leftist President Lucio Gutierrez. In September 2005 China’s two largest oil companies, China Petrochemical Corporation and China National Petroleum Corporation, combined their financial resources to purchase the Ecuadorian assets of Canada’s EnCana Corp. for US$1.42 billion. The previous month, violent demonstrations in Ecuador curtailed oil exports. Protesters demanded that petroleum companies invest more money in the countries where they drill. Ecuador is the second-largest South American oil exporter to the USA after Venezuela.

In March 2007 Li Changchun, senior pointman of the Communist Party of China (CPC), traveled to Quito where he met with leftist Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa in Quito. Li affirmed that China intends to continue “equal and mutually beneficial” cooperation with Ecuador, while Correa insisted said Ecuador wishes to “advance bilateral cooperation in all fields on the basis of sticking to the one-China policy.” Ecuador’s neo-communist president added that “the ruling party of Ecuador is also willing to make more contacts with the CPC and learn from China’s successful experience.” Contrary to the coverage of the People’s Daily Online above, the Correa regime does not feature a ruling party as such but, rather, a coalition of leftist parties, some with and others without parliamentary representation, that support the president.