RINF<\/a>) – US orchestrated plans to topple Ecuador\u2019s Rafael Correa continue. On August 17, Telesur reported disruptive elements attacked Ecuadorian soldiers and police with live fire. Eleven injuries were reported.<\/p>\nLast week, violence rocked Quito. Dozens of police and several journalists were injured. Correa blasted opposition elements trying to destabilize Ecuador.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen them so violent, so aggressive,\u201d he said. \u201cThose who used violence will be punished with the full vigor of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ecuarunari (movement of Ecuadorian indigenous people of Kichwa nationality) leader Carlos Perez was videotaped encouraging violence. Attacks on police followed.<\/p>\n
Conaie indigenous leader Jorge Herrera called on National Assembly members to reject constitutional amendments being considered – including scrapping presidential term limits, letting Correa run again in 2017. Perez demands he resign.<\/p>\n
He publicly urged insurrection, saying \u201cI call on the military (and) police (to) rebel. You cannot blindly follow an illegitimate act. You cannot do this. If I go to prison for saying this, I welcome this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Correa enjoys strong popular support. He blasted both opposition figures for their disruptive actions.<\/p>\n
He said opposition groups turned to violence because their general strike called last week failed. It drew little support.<\/p>\n
Ruling PAIS Alliance party Secretary-General Doris Soliz said \u201c(t)he Ecuadorian people turned their backs on this strike. There was no strike.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is very important to point out, for there to be a strike that means that you need to shut down factories, halt economic activities, but there was not a single strike in any factory in the country. Workers, business owners, people in the transportation sector, economic sectors did not go on strike.”<\/p>\n
Political analyst Isabel Ramos said opposition forces \u201cwant to show their political strength through violence, not through popular support, not through organization, not through legitimate forms of social protest. Social protest is profoundly democratic. But what is going on here is what actions they are taking and what interests are at play.”<\/p>\n
Expect no letup in US-orchestrated anti-Correa violence and destabilization any time soon. He can\u2019t be defeated democratically. Color revolution tactics continue in plain sight – so far with no success.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen what opposition forces plan next. Right-wing extremism doesn\u2019t back down easily.<\/p>\n
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro expressed solidarity with Correa and Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff – her country wracked by what analyst Joao Feres calls right-wing media orchestrated protests.<\/p>\n
Her supporters call demands she step down a coup plot. Washington\u2019s dirty hands may be involved. Feres believes protests will fade. Support for reconciliation and dialogue are strong, he said.<\/p>\n
Maduro denounced \u201cUS imperialism (and national) oligarchies.\u201d He accused them of \u201csabotaging\u201d left and center-left governments throughout Latin America.<\/p>\n
He praised Correa as an \u201cundefeated leader\u201d – victorious in three presidential elections. He denounced indigenous leaders \u201cbought by NGOs\u201d to appear Ecuadorians \u201care against Correa.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Brazil\u2019s for right \u201chas not stopped conspiring against Dilma.\u201d He ordered Venezuela\u2019s border with Colombia closed in response to paramilitary violence – at least for 72 hours, maybe longer.<\/p>\n
He acted after paramilitaries from Colombia ambushed and injured three Venezuelan soldiers in Tachira state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s outrageous,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone should show solidarity with the armed forces, the military personnel who are at the border to defend the homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough of paramilitary terrorism! It’s time for justice for Tachira.\u201d Its local government expressed support for border closure.<\/p>\n
Maduro has called on Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to cooperate in cracking down on cross-border crime.<\/p>\n
He warned about numerous paramilitary groups operating in Venezuela – vowing to deal with them harshly saying \u201c(w)e will capture all paramilitary groups who want to hurt Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s dirty hands are involved in all Latin American violent and destabilizing activities – part of US policy aiming to establish client states throughout the region, what millions of people wanting to live free oppose.<\/p>\n
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.<\/p>\n
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.claritypress.com\/LendmanIII.html<\/p>\n
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.<\/p>\n
Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.<\/p>\n
It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stephen Lendman (RINF) – US orchestrated plans to topple Ecuador\u2019s Rafael Correa continue. On August 17, Telesur reported disruptive elements attacked Ecuadorian soldiers and police with live fire. Eleven injuries were reported. Last week, violence rocked Quito. Dozens of police and several journalists were injured. Correa blasted opposition elements trying to destabilize Ecuador. \u201cI\u2019ve never […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461,1622],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-175176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-editorials","8":"category-featured"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}