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For those folks on this list who have never met a Latin American
national movement they liked, I offer these comments as a way to avoid
having to read a lot of imperialist propaganda but still being able to
hew to the anti-national-movement (i.e., anti-"populist") line.
1. It wasn't a coup. The populists like Chavez and Evo Morales always
say "coup coup coup" to get domestic and international support. This was
just a police union-type protest that got out of hand. And OK, it LOOKED
like the cops in Quito were acting in a coordinated, disciplined manner
in their uprising, I mean picket line, against the government but no one
knows who gave that order and that means nobody gave it. It just "happened."
2. The entire thing was Correa's fault. If he hadn't used his
constitutional right to propose amendments to a law passed by Congress
fine-tuning the abolition of all kinds of grating (to the population)
even if minor privileges for ALL public employees, with Correa insisting
on INCLUDING the internationally (but not in Ecuador) additional
compensation, for example for overtime, working on holidays and
hazardous duty, THEN it could not have been "misunderstood" by the cops.
And the opposition, which presented Correa's insistence on pressing for
these amendments (as is his constitutional right in Ecuador under, well,
the Ecuadorean constitution) as a VETO of overtime clauses and so on, is
absolutely not to blame for the ... confusion ... that ensued.
They are especially not to blame for the police belief that they were
being --in essence-- raped economically. That this happened to coincide
with what the opposition was saying BEFORE the police uprising in Quito
claiming the the cops were being raped economically was ... coincidence.
After all, the opposition didn't say this after 8 or so in the morning,
and it was well after 8:10 that the police rebellion --I mean,
protest-- started.
3. And even after the police protest started, the blame for the
escalation rests entirely on Correa. He should have peacefully accepted
the police doing whatever the fuck they wanted to do, like paralyzing
Quito --the capital-- with barricades and looting supermarkets in
Guayaquil. That's perfectly normal and democratic and --comrades should
note-- entirely in the tradition of proletarian methods of struggle. As
no less an authority in such matters the Voice of America pointed out.
4. Instead, in typical spic machista demagogue peron-fidel-chavez
style, Correa went out to confront the protesting police officers
personally. All right-thinking people know he should have ordered the
army, which remained loyal to him, to massacre the cops, or even better,
he should have resigned and invited ex-imperialist sock-puppet, OOPS! I
mean president, Colonel Lucio Gutierrez, to come back from Brazil to
take over.
Which is --oh happy coincidence!-- exactly what the pitiyanqui --I mean
civil society-- demonstrators who materialized from thin air to
"support" the police and speak on imperialist TV news channels --and I
mean there were literally SEVERAL of them, at the very least a dozen if
not more-- were sloganeering for.
5. By risking his own life to take the message that they had been lied
to and misled to the rank-and-file cops in the protest, Correa showed
what a cowardly, adventurist, miserable, populist, capitalist stooge he
is. That it was very dicey but in the end he came out of it OK shows
that really he has the backing of imperialism. Claims by people like
that senile Cuban guy and his Venezuelan pal that Correa demonstrated
the highest degree of political skill, judgment and courage are
ridiculous. If that were true it would also be true that Correa is a
revolutionary, which he obviously isn't since he was wearing a tie, even
if he loosened it when he dared the cops to shoot him as he bared his
chest for the bullets.
6. Also ridiculous are the claims that all of Latin America united
against the coup. It is NOT TRUE that Colombian President Santos joined
what's-his-name from Venezuela in Argentina at the UNASUR meeting to
repudiate the coup. That's absurd since there was no coup.
Most likely Santos was just there to take the waters of the River Plate
on October 1, as part of an extremely obscure, in fact, entirely
hitherto unknown tradition. And this is being used as a pretext to claim
Colombia was in on the condemnation, just because he happened to be in
the room and signed some sheet of paper. Santos probably thought he was
just ordering pizza. To go with the River Plate waters.
As for right wing Presidents like Chinchilla in Costa Rica and Piñera
in Chile condemning the coup attempt, again, it could not possibly have
happened. Since, as we all know, there was no coup attempt.
Nor did Alan Garcia seal the border with Ecuador, freezing all trade.
What he actually meant to say is that there was a freeze warning at the
equator, given that the spring equinox just took place, and summer is
coming. It was just misunderstood by a few TV networks. They're checking
their cameras verily as we speak to see how they could have recorded
something that the president could not possibly have said.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner obviously wasn't
involved with the UNASUR meeting since her hubby and UNASUR president
Nestor Kirchner could not possibly have called an emergency UNASUR
meeting against the coup since there was no coup. It was all just a
misunderstanding worthy of a Marx Brothers comedy.
7. As for that senile old fool Fidel Castro proclaiming Thursday
afternoon at 5pm that thanks to Correa's skill and courage, the coup had
failed and that even the yanquis would now be forced to join in
condemning it, that didn't happen either. That www.cubadebate.cu posting
is either a mirage or an imperialist plot to make capitalist populists
like Castro popular.
And the gringo undersecretary of state for LatAm affairs didn't come
out on CNN within the hour of the publication of Fidel's comment
proclaiming the Obama's administration's "unrestricted" support of
Correa. That was some guy from central casting CNN hired to pretend
being an American official. After all, we all know how CNN is
*constantly* distorting the news in favor of anti-imperialist forces.
Joaquín
PS: Como dijo Silvio (In the words of the poet)
Agradezco la participación de todos
los que colaboraron con esta melodía
se debe subrayar la importante tarea
de los perseguidores de cualquier nacimiento
Si alguien que me escucha se viera retratado
sépase que se hace con ese destino
cualquier reclamación, que sea sin membrete
buenas noches amigos y enemigos
* * *
I want to thank everyone
who collaborated with this melody
We must recognize the important contribution
of the persecutors of all stripes
If anyone listening thinks this is about them
Let it be known that I am doing it on purpose
Any complaints, let them not be on letterhead
Good night, friends and enemies.
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