On April 5, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa rashly declared the U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges persona non grata. Hodges has been ordered to leave the country in short order. The U.S. State Department rightly called the action “unjustified.” The reason for Correa’s pique is the unauthorized release via WikiLeaks of a July 2009 cable asking for the revocation of the U.S. travel visa of Jaime Aquilino Hurtado Vaca, then commander of Ecuador’s national police. In the cable, the State Department drafter observed that “Hurtado’s corrupt activities were so widely known within …
The radical left in Latin America often prides itself in its ability to stir up the masses and make nations ungovernable by elected officials and representative governments, especially centrist or conservative regimes. But when popular unrest or insubordination, threatens a Leftist leader, the Left cries “coup” and “conspiracy.” The current situation in Ecuador following clashes between the government of Rafael Correa and striking police officials is unclear. Political instability is nothing new to Ecuador. It has had eight presidents in the last 13 years. Since his election in 2006, Correa …
While Colombia’s new president Manuel Santos was at the United Nations today, he received welcomed news: Colombia’s military had located and attacked a camp belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Killed in the assault was Jorge Briceno (born Victor Julio Suarez, AKA El Mono Jojoy) second highest FARC commander, military mastermind, and emblematic hard-line leader. Santos called it a “historic moment.” As chief of the Eastern Bloc, Briceno commanded the largest single body of FARC fighters. He was also an architect of the terrorist strategy of kidnapping …
The cold blooded murder of 72 illegal migrants by members of Mexico’s notorious Zeta cartel in the state of Tamaulipas is another stark and gruesome reminder of the current criminal and drug-related turmoil in Mexico. According to press reports the victims came from Honduras, El Salvador, Brazil and Ecuador. The lone survivor stated the migrants were killed for failing to pay off their Mexican captors. This massacre runs against the conventional narrative that the escalating violence in Mexico primarily pits drug trafficker-against-drug trafficker. It shows the significant overlap between transnational …
Many feel Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went overboard while visiting Quito on June 8 and courting populist President Rafael Correa. Reported The New York Times, “Clinton woos a Leftist President, while Foreign Policy observed ‘Dearest Hillary’ charms Ecuador’s President Correa. Before the Secretary traveled to Quito, veteran diplomat Roger Noriega warned: The high-level visit to Quito is clearly part of a charm offensive to coax Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa out of the camp of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez. However, no rapprochement is worth asking Secretary Clinton to turn a …
Muzzling the freedom and independence of the press and restricting information flows are the tools of 21st century tyrannies, as well as of Cold War holdovers like Cuba. Whether in Tehran, Caracas, Havana, or Quito, silencing the independent press is essential for consolidating and holding power. Blaming domestic unrest on foreign demons, particularly the international media or the U.S., is another tired-and-true demagogic technique. Latin American leaders of the Castro-Chávez school recognize that today’s outpouring of popular unrest in the streets of Tehran might soon repeat on their turf. Furthermore, …
More than 75% of the world’s oil reserves are controlled by national oil companies. Of the world’s top 20 oil-producing firms, 14 are state-run. Those areas where private companies have been able to drill have recently been shrinking, and remaining private companies are facing hostile governments that may try to nationalize them. Meanwhile, Congress, pandering to the least economically sound sentiments of the American public, recently tried to pass a bill to curb oil market speculation. This, lawmakers argued, was the way to get prices down. Speculation is just trading …
