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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Ecuadoreans Vote in Favor of National Assembly |
| 2007-04-16 |
| Ecuadoreans voted overwhelmingly in favor of President Rafael Correa's plan to rewrite the constitution, giving him the support needed to implement more socialist policies in the South American country. Exit polls showed 78 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of calling a national assembly to replace the constitution, while 11.5 percent voted against it, according to a government Web site statement. Correa, who had threatened to default on Ecuador's $10 billion in foreign debt, said today that the government made its final payment last week due to the International Monetary Fund, according to a recording of his comments provided by his press office. Ecuador wants to cut ties with the lender, according to the comments. In comments broadcast by CNN, Correa said his country has changed ``definitively.'' ``Economically, we're going to overcome this disastrous neo-liberal model,'' he said. Elected last year without the backing of any political party, Correa began campaigning for today's referendum shortly after taking office in January. He pledged to eradicate government corruption and to create a socialist state along the lines of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela. In a speech today at a ceremony in Guayaquil, he called politicians opposed to the national constituent assembly a ``mafia.'' Tension between Correa and congress heightened over the past few months after lawmakers voted to replace the head of the country's top electoral court for backing Correa's referendum plan. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 As someone pointed out, had the Russian peasantry not been brutalized and massacred for 70 years by the communists, they probably would have been worse and more dangerous today. Maybe South America need to be dominated by monsters for a while, to teach them how much better things can be if government just leaves them alone. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-04-16 09:34 |
| #2 After all, Hugo's plan is working so well. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-04-16 04:20 |
| #1 I think Hugo just got a few steps closer to "restoring" the nation of Gran Colombia. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2007-04-16 00:36 |