By Atilio A. Boron
Treason redux: The hour of the abject entreguistas strikes again—with a vengeance— in Latin America
THE CASE OF ECUADOR
[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hatting with some Ecuadorian friends and colleagues in various international forums in which I participated in the last few days I managed to get some details of the management of President Lenin Moreno. As the volume of information increased and its level of precision expanded I could not fail to become amazed at the unpublished scope of this man's destructive work of Ecuador's democratic institutions and the thickness of the media shield that hides those systematic abuses of democracy and the rule of law perpetrated by the Ecuadorian ruler.
The most dramatic case for its likely fatal consequences was the farce built to dismiss former Vice-President Jorge Glas, accused and unjustly condemned with false evidence that could never be proven. But, as Lula's case shows and the statements of judge Sergio Moro, no evidence is needed. In the era of "Lawfare" or Condor Plan 2 what matters are the convictions of the judges, not the evidence. That's why Glas was convicted. To top it all, he was sentenced by appealing to a code that had been repealed. The reason: to be able to increase the penalty to six years in prison and avoid that way his return to freedom in time to fulfill what was left of his mandate and compete in the next electoral contest.
To make matters worse, recently Glas was moved out of Quito to a maximum security prison and despicable conditions of detention in Latacunga (about 80 kilometers from the capital city). No human being - regardless of his quality of former Vice-President - should be treated in so humiliating a manner, violating his fundamental human rights, even by taking him from his family. This abuse prompted Glas to start a hunger strike as a protest for these measures, which remains in effect to this day, adding 39 days in those conditions while the government, disregarding the exhortations of the Ibero-American Association for the defense of human rights and from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which accepted the complaint by Glas' attorney against the Ecuadorian government. As a result of these abuses, Glas' health has seriously deteriorated, but the government remains immutable in the face of this unfortunate situation. Hatred of any person, standard or institution suspicious of "Correísmo" (supporting former President Correa's brand of national leftism), prevails over any kind of moral consideration. I hope Glas reflects upon thes ematters carefully and doesn't continue with his hunger strike. He should not immolate himself because of his tormentors' attacks. Ecuador needs him to rebuild its democracy damaged by the work of this tyrant shielded by the media, and his controllers, who, about twenty years ago, sank the country into the worst crisis in its history.
[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ut there's more. By the simple stroke of the pen, Moreno suspended indefinitely the operations of the supreme Constitutional Court. The organism was effectively decapitated. I haven't heard a peep from any of those "independent" journalists who usually puff up their chests about abuses in Latin America and Spain about a trangression of this enormous magnitude. The reader can easily imagine how this "parajournalism" (the "Parajournalist" is to journalists what the " Paramilitaries " are to the military) would have reacted if something similar had happened in Evo's Bolivia, in the Argentina of Cristina Fernández or in Brazil when ruled by Lula or Dilma, not to mention Bolivarian Venezuela.
In the same way Moreno has intervened in the National Electoral Council, whose steering body, multiparty in the Correa era, is now made up exclusively by parties and flunkies attached to the regime. Its mission: to scour the lists of candidates for the next election of mayors and councillors and to outlaw, irrevocably, anyone branded as "Correísta" or disaffected with the current government. This political "purge", the prohibitions, the persecution, is being carried out with a thoroughness and efficiency worthy of better causes.
And now the dictator is going after Correa himself, against whom he filed an order of capture with Interpol, a writ that was dismissed due to complete lack of foundation. He had already manipulated a referendum and popular consultation (on February 4, 2018) in which a reform was approved, effective retroactively, that would prevent Correa—for life—from running as presidential candidate or for any other public office. Adopting laws or dictating resolutions with retroactive effect - a true legal monstrosity - is part of what instructors teach these days their Latin American students under the rubric of "good practices" in various programs sponsored by the United States government.
Sergio Moro, Lula's executioner, was a prominent student in one of those programs. And this is not all: Moreno meddled too in the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control (only temporarily it was said), but that provisional measure has been maintained for two years now without any signs of a return to normalization. Along the same lines, he appointed officials to the highest offices—nothing less than comptroller general of the state and the superintendent of banks—ignoring the constitutional mandate that requires such designations to be approved by the National Assembly. He also intervened in the University of Guayaquil and named at his own discretion the rector, deans and administrators without complying with any existing regulation.
Repugnantly obedient to a fault to the orders he receives from Washington, he's tightening the noose around Julian Assange's neck, imposing the conditions of a maximum security cell on a man who is a real press freedom champion in the modern world. A gesture illustrating the courage and mean-spirited pettiness of Moreno's 'statesmanship' is that in recent days he has demanded that Assange pay for his food, as well as other incidentals, the whole thing designed to humiliate and harass him and make his life even more unpleasant, a policy denoting growing animosity towards the Australian who has done so much for the truth to be known around the world.
Abjectly obliging to the empire, Moreno leaves UNASUR, excoriates the memory of its founders and incorporates Ecuador into the "Lima Cartel" hegemonized by the " Narcoregimes " of Mexico's Peña Nieto and Colombia, while preparing to restore the presence of American troops not only in Manta Base, but in other parts of the national territory. It is not an accident that this turn towards total subordination and sucking up to the empire was accentuated after the visit US vice president Mike Pence made to Ecuador in June of the current year.
In Sum, we are in the presence of a sinister character evocative of the most infamous personages in Shakespeare's tragedies: Traitor, devious, unscrupulous. The Ecuadorian people, bombarded and stunned for so long by the monophonic choir of a press absolutely controlled by the right is starting to stir out of their lethargy. In his recent visits to some cities in that country: Manta, Bahia de Caraquez y Pedernales (from the province of Manabí) no one came out to greet him. Rather, the police had to work hard to control insults and aggression. What a difference with Correa's tours around the country, invariably with crowds waiting for him, eager to talk to him, to plead for specific works or policies, or to thank him for his presence and his acts of good government!
But, the consensus fabricated by imperialism and its impressive media apparatus and the "Parajournalism" (Euphemism: "independent journalists ") makes sure that, for now, very little of this appears before the eyes of public opinion. Such complicity of the media and "respectable" opinion with a despot like Moreno leads us to ask ourselves: Are there tyrants who are virtuous and others who are not? Or as Franklin D Roosevelt once said when some congressmen reproached him for his support to the spooky dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza. "He's an SOB", they said. "It's true," Roosevelt answered, " but he's our SOB!" Replace the name of the Nicaraguan with Moreno's and discover the reason why a character of his ilk has all the support of the press and the ruling class not only in Ecuador but in the whole capitalist world, starting with the United States government. Luckily history shows us that rulers like him do not have much gas in their tank and most likely sooner rather than later the Ecuadorian people will say enough! and kick this bastard out of the Carondelet palace.
Translated, poorly, by Patrice Greanville. Apologies.
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Se desata la tiranía de Lenin Moreno, esbirro de los yanquis.
(Por Atilio A. Boron) Conversando con algunos amigos y colegas ecuatorianos en diversos foros internacionales en los que participé en los últimos días logré interiorizarme de algunos detalles de la gestión del presidente Lenín Moreno que si bien no los ignoraba sólo los conocía un tantio superficialmente. A medida que el bagaje de información se acrecentaba y su nivel de precisión se agudizaba no podía dejar de asombrarme ante los inéditos alcances de su obra destructiva de la institucionalidad democrática del Ecuador y el espesor del blindaje mediático que ocultaba esos sistemáticos atropellos a la democracia y el estado de derecho perpetrados por el gobernante ecuatoriano.
El caso más dramático por sus probables fatales consecuencias fue la farsa construida para destituir al ex-vicepresidente Jorge Glas, acusado y condenado injustamente con falsas evidencias que nunca pudieron ser comprobadas. Pero, como lo enseña el caso de Lula y las declaraciones del juez Sergio Moro, ya no hacen falta pruebas. En la era del “lawfare” o del Plan Cóndor.2 lo que importan son las convicciones de los jueces, no las evidencias. Por eso Glas fue condenado. Para colmo, se lo condenó apelando a un Código que había sido derogado. La razón: poder aumentarle la pena a seis años de prisión y evitar de ese modo que recuperase a tiempo su libertad para cumplir con lo que le quedaba de su mandato y competir en la próxima contienda electoral. Empeorando aún más las cosas, en fechas recientes Glas fue trasladado fuera de Quito, a una prisión de máxima seguridad y deleznables condiciones de detención en Latacunga (a unos 80 kilómetros de la ciudad capital). Ningún ser humano – independientemente de su calidad de ex vicepresidente- debería ser tratado de manera tan humillante y violatoria de sus derechos humanos fundamentales, incluso alejándolo de su familia. Este maltrato motivó que Glas iniciara una huelga de hambre como protesta por dicha medida, misma que se mantiene hasta hoy, sumando ya 39 días en esas condiciones mientras el gobierno desoye las exhortaciones de la Asociación Iberoamericana para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos y de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos que aceptó la denuncia elevada por el abogado defensor de Glas en contra del gobierno ecuatoriano. A resulta de estos abusos su salud se encuentra seriamente deteriorada, pero el gobierno permanece inmutable ante esta lamentable situación. El odio ante cualquier persona, norma o institución sospechosa de “correísmo” prevalece sobre cualquier tipo de consideración moral. Ojalá que Glas reflexione y no prosiga con su huelga de hambre. No debe inmolarse a causa de los ataques de sus verdugos. Ecuador lo necesita para reconstruir su democracia dañada por obra de este tirano blindado mediáticamente y sus mandantes que, hace unos veinte años, hundieron al país en la peor crisis de su historia.
Pero hay más. De un plumazo Moreno descabezó la Corte Constitucional y suspendió su funcionamiento por tiempo indefinido. No sólo quedó acéfala: tampoco está en actividad. No escuché a ninguno de los “periodistas independientes” que sacan pecho en toda Latinoamérica y España denunciar una decisión de tamaño calibre. Imagine la lectora o el lector cómo este “paraperiodismo” (el “paraperiodista” es a los periodistas lo que los “paramilitares” son a los militares) habría reaccionado si algo semejante hubiera ocurrido en la Bolivia de Evo, en la Argentina de Cristina Fernández o en el Brasil de Lula y Dilma, para ni hablar de la Venezuela bolivariana. De igual modo Moreno intervino en el Consejo Nacional Electoral cuyo directorio, pluripartidista en la época de Correa, ahora está constituido exclusivamente por partidos adictos al régimen. Su misión: escrutar las listas de candidatos a todos los cargos de la próxima elección de alcaldes y concejales y proscribir, de modo irrefutable, cualquiera que incluya a “correístas” o candidatos desafectos al actual gobierno. La “limpieza” política, la proscripción, la persecución se realiza con una prolijidad y meticulosidad digna de mejores causas.Y ahora el dictador va por Correa, contra el cual elevó un pedido de captura a la Interpol que fue desestimado al carecer por completo de fundamento. Ya antes había manipulado un referendo y consulta popular (el 4 de Febrero de 2018) en el cual se había aprobado una reforma, ¡con efecto retroactivo!, que impediría -de por vida- que Correa se postulase como candidato presidencial o a cualquier cargo público. Aprobar leyes o dictar resoluciones con efecto retroactivo –una verdadera monstruosidad jurídica- es parte de lo que enseñan a sus alumnos latinoamericanos los profesores que dictan cursos de “buenas prácticas” en diversos programas del gobierno de Estados Unidos. Sergio Moro, el verdugo de Lula, fue un destacado estudiante en esos programas. Y esto no es todo: Moreno intervino el Consejo de Participación Ciudadana y Control Social, transitoriamente se dijo, pero esa medida provisoria se mantiene desde hace dos años sin perspectiva de normalización. En la misma línea, designó funcionarios del más alto nivel –nada menos que el Contralor General del Estado y el Superintendente de Bancos- soslayando la previsión constitucional que exige que para tal designación se requiere de la aprobación de la Asamblea Nacional. También intervino la Universidad de Guayaquil y nombró a su capricho al Rector, decanos y administradores sin atenerse a reglamento alguno. En línea con las órdenes que recibe con todo tipo de genuflexiones desde Washington, cierra el cerco sobre Julian Assange, y le impone condiciones propias de una celda de máxima seguridad a quien es un verdadero campeón de la libertad de prensa en el mundo moderno. Un gesto que ilustra la valentía y la calidad de estadista de Moreno es que en fechas recientes se le requirió a Assange que pagara por su comida, amén de otras exigencias que denotan una creciente animosidad hacia el australiano que tanto ha hecho para que la verdad sea conocida en el mundo. Obsecuente hasta lo indecible abandona la UNASUR, vitupera la memoria de sus fundadores e incorpora Ecuador al “Cartel de Lima” hegemonizado por los “narcogobiernos” del México de Peña Nieto y de Colombia mientras se apresta a restaurar la presencia de tropas norteamericanas no sólo en la Base de Manta sino en otras partes del territorio nacional. No es casual que este giro hacia una subordinación total y lambiscona al imperio se acentuó luego de la visita que el vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, Mike Pence, realizara al Ecuador en Junio del corriente año.
En suma, estamos en presencia de un siniestro personaje sólo homologable a los más infames que dejaran su estela en las tragedias de Shakespeare: traidor, artero, inescrupuloso. El pueblo ecuatoriano, bombardeado y atontado durante tanto tiempo por el coro monofónico de una prensa absolutamente controlada por la derecha y la reacción está comenzando a salir de su letargo. En sus recientes visitas a algunas ciudades de ese país: Manta, Bahía de Caráquez y Pedernales (de la provincia de Manabí) no hubo nadie que saliera a su encuentro para saludarlo. Más bien, la policía tuvo que trabajar duro para evitar insultos y agresiones. ¡Qué diferencia con las giras de Correa, que tenía invariablemente una multitud esperándolo, ansiosa de conversar con él, sea para reclamarle obras o políticas tanto como para agradecer su presencia y sus actos de gobierno! Pero, el consenso fabricado por el imperialismo y su impresionante aparato de medios y el “paraperiodismo” (eufemismo: “periodistas independientes”) hace que, por ahora, muy poco de esto aparezca ante los ojos de la opinión pública. Tamaña complicidad de los medios y de la opinión “bienpensante” con un déspota como Moreno nos lleva a preguntarnos: ¿será que hay tiranos virtuosos y otros que no lo son? O como decía Franklin D. Roosevelt cuando sus congresistas le reprochaban su apoyo a la tenebrosa dictadura de Anastasio Somoza. “Es un hdp”, le decían. “Es cierto”, respondía Roosevelt, “¡pero es nuestro hdp!” Reemplácese el nombre del nicaragüense por el de Moreno y descubriremos la razón por la cual un personaje de su calaña cuenta con todo el apoyo de la prensa y la clase dominante no sólo en Ecuador sino en todo el mundo capitalista, comenzando por el gobierno de Estados Unidos. Por suerte la historia nos muestra que gobernantes como él no tienen mucha gasolina en su tanque y lo más probable es que más temprano que tarde el pueblo ecuatoriano diga basta y lo arroje a puntapiés del Palacio de Carondelet.
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Things to ponder
While our media prostitutes, many Hollywood celebs, and politicians and opinion shapers make so much noise about the still to be demonstrated damage done by the Russkies to our nonexistent democracy, this is what the sanctimonious US government has done overseas just since the close of World War 2. And this is what we know about. Many other misdeeds are yet to be revealed or documented.
Parting shot—a word from the editors
The Best Definition of Donald Trump We Have Found
In his zeal to prove to his antagonists in the War Party that he is as bloodthirsty as their champion, Hillary Clinton, and more manly than Barack Obama, Trump seems to have gone “play-crazy” — acting like an unpredictable maniac in order to terrorize the Russians into forcing some kind of dramatic concessions from their Syrian allies, or risk Armageddon.However, the “play-crazy” gambit can only work when the leader is, in real life, a disciplined and intelligent actor, who knows precisely what actual boundaries must not be crossed. That ain’t Donald Trump — a pitifully shallow and ill-disciplined man, emotionally handicapped by obscene privilege and cognitively crippled by white American chauvinism. By pushing Trump into a corner and demanding that he display his most bellicose self, or be ceaselessly mocked as a “puppet” and minion of Russia, a lesser power, the War Party and its media and clandestine services have created a perfect storm of mayhem that may consume us all.— Glen Ford, Editor in Chief, Black Agenda Report
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Moreno is (literally) such a tool. I hope the people of Ecuador realize they’ve let the fox into the chicken coop and kick him out–however, with his lawfare on the constitutional state he may be able to thwart the will of the people.
Im almost sure the empire has given him assurance sof protection, and the claws of the ghoul are deeply embedded in many important countries already, making it easy to mount hstile operations against anyone defying Washington, or to support one of its tottering puppets. Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Colombia (now even in NATO), are all in Washington’s criminal network of crypto-fascist nations, ready to recommence the rape of Latin America.
I have not heard a word of all this from anywhere else, except of course what has been said about Assange. How desperately sad after all the achievements this century of the Latin American democracies and the people most in need. How Moreno fooled Correa and managed to get power is bad enough, but if he stays in like Pinochet he can do untold harm. Macri and Bolsonaro will be his soulmates, and Christian VP Mike Pence will really make his day.