The bolivarian rot spreads to Ecuador, writes Michael Moynihan (emphasis added):
So what do the committed democrats in Ecuador do when confronted with a “politically partisan” media opposed to things “that the electorate voted for”? How about a three year stint in the clink for counterrevolutionary opinion editors! (Incidentally, using Weisbrot’s rickety logic, Amy Goodman should have been kicked off the air for her partisan criticism of a twice-elected president. Or are Americans more mature consumers of opinion journalism, who can separate truth from fiction, wheat from chaff, unlike those easily manipulated Latin Americans?) Writing at Cato’s @Liberty blog, Gabriela Calderon de Burgos explains the case of Emilio Palacio, opinion page editor of Ecuador’s largest daily El Universo, who was sentenced to a three year prison stint for an editorial the government claimed was defamatory:
Palacio accused Camilo Samán, director of a state-owned bank, of having sent protesters to El Universo’s offices after the newspaper reported on possible acts of corruption at the bank. The President has repeatedly stated that Palacio should be punished for what he wrote. In a country where everybody knows that the courts are not independent of political power, it’s not surprising that the ruling went against the editor.
I have known Palacio since I began writing op-eds for El Universo in late 2006. Although we hardly ever agree on policy issues, I certainly don’t believe he (or anyone else) deserves to go to jail (and possibly pay a fine of $3 million) for expressing an opinion. (The court actually found Palacio guilty of libel, but even if we were to agree with that finding, the punishment surely does not fit the crime.)
Correa’s government has accused at least 31 people of offending “the majesty of the presidency,” jailing many of them for short periods of time. To do so, the President revived a law that the first military dictatorship of the 1970s put into place that made such an offense a crime and that was never taken off the books.
For details on Correa’s previous harassment of El Universo click here. Radio Sucre reports that the government’s attack on Palacio has achieved its goal; the sentence has “put the media on alert” that it must watch what it says.
Correa’s brand of chavismo? Monkey see, monkey do.
Hat tip: Instapundit.
This is sad. I have lived in Ecuador and I have friends there who voted for this man. They are left of center, but got way more than they bargained for and wish they could have their vote back.
This is how it happens: Bring them in with middle of the road happy talk about justice and equality and then bring out the hammer once elected. Sound familiar America?
One of the warning signs seems to be a penchant for wearing authentic “native” garb.
Ecuador (like Uruguay) only exists because the two bigger nations on either side couldn’t decide who gets it, and it doesn’t have anything resembling a history of stable democratic rule. Correa, I’m sorry to see, is just the latest in a long line of would-be caudillos, stretching back to Flores.
So true, Anthony.
Reminds me of the war between Ecuador and Peru over a piece of jungle. Once both sides realized there was no oil there, they reversed positions and tried to make the other side take it. And this was back before Bush’s supposed Blood for oil wars…