Pushing back on socialism, Ecuador vents its presidential ire on the streets

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Pushing back on socialism, Ecuador vents its presidential ire on the streets

By Jim Wyss

Quito: Ecuador President Rafael Correa is scrambling to roll out the red carpet for the first papal visit in 30 years, but many in the Andean nation seem intent on sending their leader a less welcoming message.

On Thursday, for the fourth straight week, protesters planned take the streets of major cities, including the capital, to decry Mr Correa's policies. The tumult comes just days before Pope Francis is scheduled to kick off a South American tour here on Sunday.

Hundreds of people gather during a protest against the government in downtown Guayaquil, Ecuador, last week. President Rafael Correa eased a proposed redistribution of wealth to avoid an escalation of conflict with the business sector.

Hundreds of people gather during a protest against the government in downtown Guayaquil, Ecuador, last week. President Rafael Correa eased a proposed redistribution of wealth to avoid an escalation of conflict with the business sector.Credit: Reuters

The rumblings began in early June over Correa's proposal to boost the inheritance and capital-gains taxes, but have evolved to include a wide range of gripes. They're the most sustained protests that Correa - a charismatic socialist and US-educated economist -has faced during his eight years in power.

"The government believes these protests are over the inheritance and capital-gains tax but that's not the case," said Andres Paez, an opposition deputy who has tried to put himself at the front of the movement. "People are protesting because of the continual abuse by the president, people know this situation can't continue."

Police and military officers stand guard outside around Carondelet Palace in Quito, Ecuador last week.

Police and military officers stand guard outside around Carondelet Palace in Quito, Ecuador last week.Credit: Reuters

Fuelled by social media, the demonstrations began after Correa - inspired by the ideas of French economist Thomas Pikkety - proposed reformulating the taxes as a way to redistribute wealth. Amid the backlash he pulled the initiatives and called for national dialogue, but he's hinted the tax push will resume once the pope leaves July 8.

The administration says the inheritance tax will only affect the wealthiest 2 percent and help give the poor more opportunity.

"This is aimed at the richest," Mr Correa told reporters this week. It will "break the inertia, which has lasted centuries, and which has allowed maybe 500 families to dominate us forever - precisely because of the inheritance of that political power."

He's painted the protesters as high-class malcontents intent on dodging taxes and upending his "Citizen Revolution." Borrowing a page from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Mr Correa has said the protests are part of a larger, internationally backed destabilisation plot.

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Protesters have taken to the streets for four straight weeks against Ecuador President Raphael Correa's reforms.

Protesters have taken to the streets for four straight weeks against Ecuador President Raphael Correa's reforms.Credit: STRINGER

Mesias Tatamuez, the president of the Cedocut labor union, began sporadic marches in 2014 demanding, among other things, the decriminalisation of protests and the revocation of a law that allows the government to dissolve civil society organisations if they stray from their stated missions. (That law has been used to go after environmental and free-speech groups.)

Mr Tatamuez's organisation will be joining in Thursday's march along with doctors, indigenous groups and a farmer's association. On the eve of the protests, Mr Tatamuez said his group's goal is to force the government to listen, not to rattle democracy.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa (2nd ring) looks at preparations at the Bicentenario Park, where Pope Francis will hold a mass during his Quito visit.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa (2nd ring) looks at preparations at the Bicentenario Park, where Pope Francis will hold a mass during his Quito visit.Credit: Reuters

"Not a single one of our demonstrations has been about destabilising the government," he said. "The only one who is adding wood, charcoal and gasoline to that fire is Correa himself, who continually insults us."

After a June 25 protest, he noted, ruling party deputy Gina Godoy said she felt the "hate" of young marchers who were "drunk or on drugs." She later apologised but the insult echoes the administration's dismissive tone, Mr Tatamuez said.

A police officer covers the vehicle to be used by Pope Francis during his visit to Ecuador.

A police officer covers the vehicle to be used by Pope Francis during his visit to Ecuador.Credit: Reuters

Mr Correa, who won re-election in 2013 with a sweeping majority, has used his popularity and control of congress to reshape the nation. He's won plaudits for reducing poverty and using the country's oil wealth to build roads, schools and hospitals. He's also tackled entrenched interests to overhaul education and the health system.

But critics accuse him of overreaching - using his might to stifle political dissent and clamp down on the media. As oil prices have collapsed he's made unpopular moves: slapping taxes on imported goods, eliminating the government's 40 per cent contribution to social security and nationalising the savings accounts of the teachers' union and others.

In June, the Central Bank slashed the country's 2015 economic growth forecast from 4.1 per cent to 1.9 per cent.

Adding to the unease is Mr Correa's move to eliminate term limits, which would allow him to run for re-election in 2017.

In that sense, the recent tax proposals were just the final straw, said Simon Pachano, a political analyst with the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences, in Quito.

While the laws might not have a broad effect they create the perception that the administration is going after inheritance and real estate through the capital gains tax, he said.

"He's created a deep degree of uncertainty and mistrust," Mr Pachano said of the president. "And the administration doesn't seem to recognise that it has made a strategic mistake...Now it doesn't know what to do, so it just keeps radicalising and it keeps hurting it more."

Mr Pachano said the recent spate of protests is over "Correa's entire economic and political model" rather than a specific policy.

Despite the protests, Mr Correa remains popular. He won re-election two years ago with 57 per cent of the vote. (His nearest rival, Guillermo Lasso, won just 23 per cent.) And while his popularity has taken a beating recently, he still has approval ratings near 46 per cent, according to a CEDATOS poll from June.

He's also out to prove he can still move masses, having called on followers to gather around the Carondelet presidential palace on Thursday night in answer to the opposition protests.

Diego Rodriguez, a 39-year-old cab driver, said he was considering going to the presidential rally.

"This is the only president who has truly worked for the people of the country," he said. "The only reason there are protests right now is because he's touching the pockets of the rich...but us middle class and poor people are breathing easy and we support him."

Miami Herald

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