NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2009
Correa betrays labor
Ecuador's Rafael Correa government employs phrases such as "citizens' revolution" and "socialism for the 21st century." However, contradictions are being exposed as it confronts organized labor. Ecuador's government budget depends to an unhealthy degree upon royalties from the exploitation of petroleum. Correa sees gold and copper mining as a future added source of government revenue. "We are a poor country," he has said, "we cannot afford not to exploit our natural resources."
The situation has come to a head with the passage of a new Mining Law that would permit Canadian multinational corporations to begin large-scale metal mining in environmentally sensitive areas. A week of demonstrations, marches and road blockages culminated in January with a day of nationwide protest organized by Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) that drew over 10,000 participants.
The government responded with police repression that is reminiscent of previous rightist governments. To add insult to injury, Correa has characterized the protests as infantile and irrational and has accused the leadership of joining with the Right to destabilize the government. These are the very movements that paved the way for his ascension to the presidency.
In January the United Labor Front (FUT), Ecuador's largest labor federation, announced mass protests for a higher minimum wage increase. They said that Correa's proposed increase of $18 a month, to $218, fails to meet provisions in the new constitution ensuring that all Ecuadorians are paid a living wage. Correa's response was to threaten to fire workers who participated in demonstrations during the work day.
Although the Correa government has achieved some important reforms in taxation and social services, its philosophy of depending upon selling the nation's natural resources for financing its "revolution" is no different than the neo-liberalism that has kept Latin American masses in poverty and misery.
In Ecuador, the Correa government will continue making concessions to the Right and to corporate capitalism. However, with a government that calls itself socialist but fails to directly confront capital, the forces from below are once again regrouping for a future confrontation for the eventual destruction of capitalist economic relations and the achievement of a new society based upon human values.
--Participant/observer, Ecuador
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