Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mo' Ecuador

There's regionwide condemnation of the police protest/insurrection/attempted coup (choose the one you prefer, I'm not sure which one is right at the moment) with the OAS and Unasur members all speaking out against today's troubles in Ecuador. Man, this is so unanimous that even Hillary in the US has said something against it...mind you, she did that when Zelaya got kicked out of Honduras and look how that one ended.

Anyway, it looks like Unasur will convene an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires in the very near future to get the Heads of States together and make an official "stop that right now" communique, much in the same way they did when Evo had his problems back in September 2008 (sidebar; why is September such a popular month for htis kid of malarkey?).

Meanwhile, recent news is that the anti-govt police force members aren't giving up so easily. They have Correa barricaded inside a hospital near the airport where he was taken after the tear gas attack (which refutes clear govt spokespersons' assertions earlier that Correa was back in the Presidential Palace...odd one, that) and the very latest is that police protestors have broken into a TV station (Gama) to either cut transmission or take over the signal for their own ends (conflicting reports on that). Also, there's a seven day state of emergency been declared by Correa from his hospital hideout, so clubs and restaurants in Quito can look forward to a quiet weekend.

The overall feel right now is that bar some sort of violent attack from the rebelling police officers on Correa's hospital wing, this one is in the hands of the government. What's needed now is a way for both sides to back down from the posturing, more than anything else. As for the medium-term future of the country, a snap election is a possibility as Correa may wish to secure a continued mandate from his fellow citizens...though how that will sit with with the "two term only" constitution is anyone's guess.