Tag Archives: Correa

Doctor in Quito: President Correa Behind Military Attack on Hospital

A message has arrived in Spanish, that alleges to be written by a medical doctor who was attending president Ragael Correa in Quito, Ecuador, in the Police Hospital on 30 September. This is the original text:

El Dr. Fernando Vargas, médico Bioquímico Farmacéutico, Coordinador de Medicinas e Insumos Médicos del Hospital Quito No.1 de la Policía Nacional ecuatoriana cuenta detalles del llamado “secuestro” presidencial.
En una nota que nos envía explica lo lamentable de los eventos ese día.
La publico pues coincide con las apreciaciones que antes escribí en estas páginas.
He aquí su reporte:

“El señor presidente nunca estuvo en calidad de secuestrado, estuvo siendo atendido por el personal médico del hospital de la Policía, después que de una manera prepotente, en vez de conciliadora realiza el desafío incoherente que lo maten si son valientes, nadie quería matarlo ni derrocar al régimen, es mas desde el interior del Hospital el dio varias declaraciones vía telefónica en múltiples ocasiones durante el día.
Minutos antes del salvaje asalto militar a esta casa de salud (ojo, no cuartel policial) con armas de grueso calibre y municiones reales en donde se encuentran mujeres, niños y ancianos la mayoría de ellos graves, pues nadie va a un hospital de vacaciones, con diferentes dolencias y que por la gran lluvia de gases y la balacera sin medida resultaron con asfixia y crisis nerviosas.
Ya se estaba cantando el Himno Nacional y preparada la calle de honor por la que se disponía a salir el Sr. Presidente para ser trasladado al Palacio de Gobierno, por tanto, la incursión fue provocada por este cobarde para ganar protagonismo, hacerse la víctima y mantener su postura de prepotencia.
Compañero transmite este mensaje a todos tus contactos para que sepan la verdad y no como lo dicen que fue un secuestro y mucho menos un intento golpista.
VALOR DISCIPLINA Y LEALTAD”

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador in hospital after being exposed to tear gas Sept 30, 2010
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador in hospital after being exposed to tear gas Sept 30, 2010

In short, the doctor says that Correa was there to receive treatment, that he was never held against his will, and that they were just preparing to dismiss him with honors – even singing the national anthem – when he himself had the military attack the hospital in order to make him seem a victim and to gain sympathy. A hospital with women, children, sick people (!), was attacked with live ammo, just for political effect, by the country’s commander in chief, according to this report.

Media: WSJ has a more detailed story by Mary O’Grady, supported by a handful of witnesses (in Spanish).

Update: Even several days after this came out, Liberal Swedish newspaper DN still carries the official version from the ALBA-nation, affiliated with the narcoterrorist-sympathizer Hugo Chavez.

First Honduras, now Ecuador?

Update 2010-10-01: The president was brought out from the Police Hospital by the military last night, after a firefight with the police that we could see on live TV here in Miami. There was never a declaration of a coup, and the whole things seems to have been nothing but a protest that went out of hand when someone fired a tear gas grenade in the face of the president. In that respect this event was of a completely different nature than last year’s events in Honduras.

In Honduras, the protests started with peaceful mass demonstrations, in which unarmed civilians dressed in white demanded that the president respect the constitution and the rule of law. At the same time, a judicial process was being carried out against the president in the courts. The first loss of life was many days after the president had been deposed, and then as a result of a deliberate stratagem to create a martyr, staged by the deposed president and his supporters.

In Ecuador the kettle immediately boiled over as a result of seemingly spontaneous protests by the police, and, weapons being fired, it caused the loss of lives on both sides the first day. Yet the situation is similar in many respects in the two countries. Both were members of ALBA, and both presidents were taking bribes from a foreign country, Venezuela (the so-called ALBA “loans”), thus potentially committing treason but at the very least a severe case of corruption.

Another similarity is that both presidents were pursuing policies that threatened the very existence of the popularly elected Congress, the ultimate voice of the people between elections: Zelaya by holding a referendum that would have opened the door for him to abolish the constitution, and Correa by threatening to abolish the Congress and rule by dictates. Anybody concerned with the rule of law and democratic institutions thus had reason to distrust the president in both countries.

Honduras painstakingly pursued a legal process to stop their president, peaceful protests coupled with a judicial process. It is the civilized way to do things.

Coup d’etats can never be justified, and that goes for autogolpes, too. If Correa insists in his plans he will be guilty of an autogolpe, but that in and of itself does not justify the police starting to riot in the streets. The deposing of a self-coupster has to be initiated in the proper democratic institutions, as was the case in Honduras. The rule of law cannot be defended by violating the rule of law.

Original text 2010-09-30: Yesterday I blogged about how Honduras could have started a new centrist trend in Latin America when the democratic institutions, led by the popularly elected Congress – got rid of an increasingly despotic president.

Today the fury of the masses was directed at Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa, who also is showing increasingly despotic traits. The president was taken to a hospital, allegedly injured by tear gas as police was protesting.

The word is that there is a strong sentiment among ordinary people that he has to go, but as I write this nobody has declared that he has been replaced. Perhaps it will, this time, stay at a strong warning sign for Correa, and not develop into a coup. Or maybe not.

At any rate, here is a reminder to him that no president is above the law:

Ceremonial Pajamas of the Republic of Honduras
The Ceremonial Pajamas of the Republic of Honduras is offered as a loan to Ecuador (or Nicaragua, or even Cuba), but they need to return it promptly after use in case it is needed again, I am told.

A friend was flying out today but the flight was cancelled when it was about to take off, as the military blocked the runway. Stay tuned.

Swedish Media: DN.