It seems that Ecuadoreans will elect Rafael Correa as their next president when they go to the polls on Oct. 15. He is young, charismatic and intelligent; an economist with a degree from a U.S. university who communicates well with the public...What's likely to happen, however, is that, despite his notable personal features, Correa will fail noisily and drag the country down with him...Like many of his compatriots, his intentions are right, but his therapy is irremediably wrong. It's true that a good portion of Ecuador's population lives in wretched conditions, and Correa does not err when he says that the institutions are rotten, corruption is rampant and many in the ruling class have gained or maintain their wealth thanks to their toadyish links to power...old and endemic ills are not solved by rejecting a free-trade agreement with the United States, exacerbating ethnic conflicts, picking a fight with the World Bank and the IMF, placing Ecuador in Hugo Chávez's insane orbit and spouting nonsense such as the search for ``alimentary sovereignty.''....Ecuador marching rapidly toward the cliff, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami Herald, , 10/23/2006
Every so often, it seems, we need to be reminded of what American interests really are. Montaner is not deluded into thinking we should be greatly concerned about the ongoing soap opera highlighted by current campaign ads about the foibles of various US Representatives and US Senators. The American hemisphere is under threat again. The 15-year party since the fall of the USSR should not put us at our ease about the ambitions of thugs either north or south of the border. But you have to go outside of New York, Washington, and Los Angeles to see this, apparently.
Luther
No comments:
Post a Comment