Rafael Correa and his cabinet have this to say about the situation provoked by the FARC in the Colombo-Ecuadorean border:

Al comentar la operacion de las Fuerzas Armadas colombianas el pasado sabado, en la que murieron 20 guerrilleros, entre ellos Reyes, Sandoval la califica de “masacre”, pues, dijo, “no hubo combate”.

Which translates to …

Sandoval [Ecuadorean Defense Minister], said that the operation conducted by the Colombian Armed Forced was a “masacre” and also said that there were “no signs of combat”.

Would things have been different if there was a combat? Probably some civilian casualties would have made it OK in Sandoval’s eyes. What is the reason behind the unwillingness from the Ecuadorean government to accept that getting rid of FARC VITs (very important terrorist) is a good thing. It has not been mention the amount of time that the Ecuadorian Armed Forces took to respond. Several hours went by before a “rescue” team was mobilized.

Now the Ecuadorean government claims that Ecuador has been violated. This seems to be a smoke screen to cover what is really going on. Correa has not deliver on a single campaign promise. This is looking more and more like a Bucaram style of presidency. At the end we might see Quito’s population raise against the government (president) and videos of the president throwing bags of money (literally) into a limo to escape the country. This really happened. I was there when the population of Quito marched against Bucaram.

Contrary to popular believe, government overthrows are easier than they look. The army is (usually) on the citizen’s side. They, however, need to put up the show by firing gun shots into the air and barricading protesters with tear gas. That happens for the TV cameras. At night you see the line of (milicos) army folk carrying their guns and making sure the protesters do no get into the Governmental Palace (yes, we still call it a palace). The real overthrow happens within the Palace. The army usually needs to take a stance and pressure the President to step down.

I am not a big fan of the Ecuadorean media either, due to its lack of critical thinking and willingness to get involved in the same type of dirty tricks of the reach and wealthy - who happen to also run the government in Ecuador. The quote above was simple reported by www.elcomercio.com as if it was an advertisement. No context, no commentary. Simply printed words.

Also, one thing that puzzled my mind. What is with American-Educated ex-presidents and corruption?

Rafael Correa University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alfredo Palacio - Case Western Reserve University
Jamil Mahuad - Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He lectures there now.