chevron and ecuador

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Don't ask me how the U.S. judicial system can rule on an 8.6 billion judgment in the Ecuadorean judicial system, but it seems they have. Judge Lewis Kaplan, whose record already sucks, says that attempts to collect this judgment "might disrupt the day-to-day business of a company vital to the global economy". That's the kind of stuff fascists say... but not the kind of stuff Americans say.

In the latest twist in a hard-fought international environmental case that reportedly could win a megabillions verdict for the plaintiffs, a federal judge in New York has granted a temporary restraining order banning enforcement of any judgment that might be awarded in the future by a court in Ecuador.

The request for a TRO by Chevron was part of a civil racketeering lawsuit it recently filed against the plaintiffs and a lawyer representing them, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Chevron had argued to the U.S. court that the plaintiffs, in a claimed memo that the oil company said was tied to another law firm representing them, had shown their intent to disrupt Chevron's business worldwide to try to collect any verdict, Reuters reports.

"Helter-skelter disruption for the sake of disruption ... is not in the public interest," said Judge Lewis Kaplan as he issued the order. "The worst that can happen is that the plaintiffs are delayed in enforcing that judgment for 28 days."

Kaplan ruled from the bench, notes the Associated Press.

The ruling yesterday follows a motion by a third law firm representing the plaintiffs, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, to withdraw for unknown reasons, according to Corporate Counsel.

As detailed in an earlier ABAJournal post, one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs, Patton Boggs, is seeking permission of a federal court in Washington, D.C., to sue Chevron and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher for alleged tortious interference with its relationship with the plaintiffs.

A New York Law Journal article provides additional details about Kaplan's ruling.

I got on this to begin with at Public Intelligence, gaping at an ugly and inscrutable document they have posted for download, being reminded of Palast flummoxing Max Keiser the other day, and remembering about Greg being arrested in Azerbaijan, and wondering what he has brewing... and... well... so... ahem... just shoot me....

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love, 99
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viva viva viva correa!

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OMG!

Rafael Correa forever!

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HUNNERTS OF WIKILEAKS MIRRORS....

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love, 99
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viva correa!

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You do not want to forget.

Report confirmed: U.S.
intelligence penetrated the heart of the Ecuadorian police force
JEAN-GUY ALLARD
HAVANA, 7 October 2010

The uprising against President Rafael Correa by a coup faction within the Ecuadorian police force is confirmed in an alarming report into the infiltration of this force by U.S. intelligence services published in 2008, which states how many members of the police departments were developing a "dependency" on the U.S. embassy in that South American country.

The report specifies that certain police units "have an informal economic dependence on the United States in terms of paying informants, training, equipment and operations."

The systematic use of corruption techniques on the part of the CIA in order to secure the "good will" of police officers was exposed on many occasions by former CIA agent Philip Agee who, prior to leaving the agency, was assigned to the U.S. embassy in Quito.

In his official report, published at the end of 2008, Ecuadorian Defense Minister Javier Ponce revealed how U.S. diplomats dedicated themselves to corrupting police officers and also officers within the Armed Forces.

Confirming that fact, the leadership of the Ecuadorian police force then announced it intended to sanction its agents who were collaborating with Washington, while the U.S. embassy declared the "transparency" of its support for Ecuador.

"We are working with the Ecuadorian government, the military and the police, for very important security purposes," declared Heather Hodges, the U.S. ambassador in Quito.

However, the diplomat told journalists that she would make no comment "on intelligence issues."

For her part, press attaché Marta Youth categorically refused to discuss the Ecuadorian government’s condemnations, which include the CIA’s participation in an operation with Colombia which resulted in the Colombian military attack against FARC guerrillas on Ecuadorian territory on March 1 of that year.

Army intelligence chief Mario Pazmiño was removed from his post for concealing information related to the attack on the FARC.

In the past few months, U.S. officials have appeared in Ecuador on the pretext of strengthening relations between Ecuador and the United States.

Arturo Valenzuela, assistant secretary of state for Western hemisphere affairs, traveled to Ecuador and met with President Correa with a view to securing a visit by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to that country.

Valenzuela was accompanied by Todd Stern, "special envoy for climate change", is also known for his affinity to the CIA."

We don't just have to stop them for ourselves.

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love, 99
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don't let it slip away

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Keep this in mind. Keep it in mind.

Ecuador Coup Attempt Engineered by the CIA
TOP STORY | NIKANDROV Nil | 03.10.2010 | 23:25

Ecuador's police forces played the key role in the coup attempt which shattered the country on September 30. The passing of a law affecting the police officers' bonuses and job benefits became a pretext for the rebellion which erupted in the capital city of Quito and the Guayquil seaport town. Actually, the law was not supposed to entail pay reductions, but those who masterminded the coup managed to convince the police that it would and thus provoked the uprising.

The subsequent developments followed the traditional Latin American pattern: rebels created bases, set up roadblocks, and had all flights to and from Ecuador suspended. The country's air force counting scores of US-trained officers partially sided with the police, while pilots from Venezuela who served in Ecuador in the framework of the military cooperation program were isolated. President Rafael Correa barely escaped death when he approached the police barracks to explain the reforms personally: shooting was audible around, he was sprayed with tear gas, and, moreover, several combat grenades exploded nearby. The president and his bodyguards took refuge in a military hospital which was promptly besieged by the rebel police forces and armed civilians evidently furnished by the opposition. The siege continued for several hours until special forces arrived and escorted Correa to the presidential palace.

Over the past several years the police of Ecuador was courted by the US Embassy which no doubt had its own interests in mind. Money from funds run by the FBI, the CIA, the DEA, and other US agencies was routinely poured into bonuses for the police top brass and operatives, equipment for various police divisions, etc. The cooperation became so cordial that occasionally the US intelligence community used Ecuador's police and army intelligence service to keep under surveillance the country's politicians, journalists, and others regarded as potential opponents of the US. Ecuador's intelligence services rushed information to their US partners during the crisis that hit the country's relations with Columbia after the latter bombed FARC camps in the territory of the former, leaving their own government blind to details of the situation.

The January, 2007 advent of Correa's patriotic administration largely put an end to the abnormal arrangement as the Ecuadorian government started to regain control over the country's agencies. Among other things, Correa forbade them to maintain unofficial ties with the US Embassy or get on its payroll. The efforts predictably angered Washington which, in one instance, demonstratively demanded that the Ecuadorian drug enforcement agency return the computers formerly supplied to it by DEA. The relations between Ecuador and the US saw another chill when Correa closed the US airbase in Mante. In response, Washington slammed Quito over its friendship with Venezuela and Nicaragua, diapproval of Plan Colombia, and the implementation of an original model of socialism.

The success of the operation which led to the ouster of president Manuel Zelaya in Honduras inspired the US hawks to put similar schemes to works elsewhere in Latin America, Washington's eventual goal being to isolate Hugo Chavez and remove his allies from power across the region. The US Administration reckoned that Ecuador was the easiest target on its political hit list. Correa's reforms meet with staunch resistance mounted by the local oligarchy, pro-US elites, and the army officers corps zombied in the notorious School of the Americas to fight communism which under present-day conditions circulates as a bracket term for whatever political movements Washington frowns upon.

The subversive activity targeting president Correa is coordinated by Heather Hodges who was appointed as the US ambassador to Ecuador in August, 2008.She did a job in Guatemala during the reign of its bloody dictator Rios Montt and served as deputy director of the US State Department's Cuban division which is known to be tightly interwoven with the CIA. Mrs. Hodges also worked with USAID in several countries and served as the US ambassador to Moldova where her mission was to alienate the country's leadership from Russia and to organize a color revolution with the help of pro-western NGOs and the energetic youths from the US Peace Corps. At the moment her trainees are employed by the CIA stations in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

US Secretary of State H. Clinton visited Quito last June to assess the situation from within and to probe into the possibility of reorienting president Correa from Chavez to the US, but failed to exact any concessions from the Ecuadorian leader. As a result, Hodges was instructed to launch the operation aimed at weakening Correa's positions and – in the longer run – toppling him. USAID alone made a $40 mln financial infusion into the cause, former president Lucio being the key figure in the plot. Gutierrez's disastrous presidency ended with his escape from the country. Following an amnesty, he challenged Correa in the 2009 presidential race which he explainably lost.

According to the coup blueprint drafted by the CIA, Gutierrez was to announce the removal of “dictator” Correa and the transfer of authority to a provisional government in a televised address. The plan additionally included the disbandment of Ecuadorian parliament and the organization of snap elections. The conspirators, however, were dispersed by the defenders of the legitimate president and failed to clear Gutierrez's access to TV. Besides, the Indian organizations from the PACHAKUTIK group chose not to partake. The coup therefore collapsed.

Currently Ecuador is under emergency rule. Correa plans to purge the country's law enforcement agencies and to find out who – including the army officers – was involved. Charges are already being pressed against Gutierrez and his Sociedad Patriotica.

Causes of the unrest in Ecuador and the steps necessary to prevent the recurrence of coups in Latin America were analyzed during the UNASUR emergency meeting which convened in Buenos Aires on October 1. Attention should be paid to the fact that Washington chose not to condemn the perpetrators of the coup in Ecuador.

No way was this not our doing.

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love, 99
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bear in mind those poker players and who invites them, please

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I can't make up my mind if I admire this guy's focus on the local responsibility to withstand the psyops seeking to dupe them, or revile that he's skipped an opportunity to awaken comatose Norte Americanos to their poker dealers. I think I'm leaning toward admiration because he's gotta know there's no waking this beast to this stuff and he's putting his energy where there is more hope of influence, but it doesn't escape me the sort of luxury of that little outpost of lucidity he gets to inhabit.... The determining factor, everywhere, will be The People, and it's almost a copout such a brilliant kid would not spend his talents on the hardest nut to crack.

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love, 99
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i can't read spanish

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So I have to rely on what passes for coverage these days on al Jazeera, the troops freed him from the—US-backed—coup attempt and I have seen him addressing his nation, safe....

Foreign leaders condemn riots in Ecuador

Foreign leaders and international organizations expressed their support for the president of Ecuador and condemned violent police protests which left at least one person dead.

Police officers of the Latin American state took to the streets on Thursday a day after the parliament passed a controversial bill to end their bonuses and other benefits. At least one person was killed and dozens injured in the protests, including the country's foreign minister, who was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the head.

President Rafael Correa was also taken to hospital after a tear gas attack and was unable to leave the building, surrounded by an angry crowd, until recently. An operation to release him took about half an hour. About 500 servicemen took part and at least 12 of them were injured.

Correa was taken to the presidential palace, where he delivered a speech to his supporters from a balcony.

A weeklong state of emergency was declared in the country. Media reported of violence and looting in the capital Quito and other cities.

Colombia and Peru, sealed their borders with Ecuador, Argentina's C5N TV said.

"I talked to the president of Peru and we have decided to close the border with Ecuador to demonstrate political support to President Correa," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said.

The press office of UN Secretary General issued a statement to express concern about the situation in Ecuador.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about developments today in Ecuador, including reported acts of insubordination by some members of the police and military," the statement reads, adding that the UN head urges all the parties "to intensify efforts to resolve the current crisis peacefully, within the rule of law."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement her country "deplores violence and lawlessness and we express our full support for President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in that country."

"We urge all Ecuadorians to come together and to work within the framework of Ecuador's democratic institutions to reach a rapid and peaceful restoration of order," she added.

About verbatim from her script after she set the Honduran Coup in motion last year....

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is Correa's main ally, condemned the protests and called on the country's military not to support protestors. He also urged Latin America's largest international organizations, ALBA and UNASUR, to be "on alert."

"There is a coup attempt against President Correa. I alert the people of the Bolivarian alliance! I ask the UNASUR peoples to be on alert! Long live Correa!" Chavez posted on his Twitter account.

Spain's EFE news agency reported that UNASUR leaders would convene for an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires to discuss situation in Ecuador.

The Organization of American States (OAS) unanimously passed a resolution in support of Correa and his government.

The government of Spain said it "strongly condemned any constitutional violations" and "reiterated its support for the legitimate government and democratic institutions of Ecuador."

Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez read a declaration from the Cuban Government, which says that Havana "fully backs the legitimate and constitutional government of President Rafael Correa and supports the Ecuadorian people that are mobilizing to rescue their president."

"We hold the chief of the Armed Forces of Ecuador responsible for the physical integrity of President Correa. They must guarantee him full freedom of movement and exercise of his duties," Cuban News Agency ACN quoted the statement as saying.

Argentina's Foreign Ministry said in a press release that its government "categorically rejects the revolt of military forces and police that put in jeopardy the democratic institutions of Ecuador."

"Latin America doesn't accept attacks against democracy and attempts to mock the will of the people manifested at the ballot boxes," the statement reads.

The turmoil in the OPEC member has already led to an increase in global oil prices.

MOSCOW, October 1 (RIA Novosti)

RIA Novosti's Ecuador coup page....

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Let's send our spokesmodel to go talk to the Ecuadoran police, eh?

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UNASUR held an emergency meeting in Buenos Aires, seven presidents of South American countries were in attendance, and they have made a statement that from now on any coup in South America will be met with borders closed to neighboring countries, trade and energy deliveries halted... no more of this shit. The meeting just broke up an hour ago and there's nothing to link for you yet.

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Listening to the suddenly listless pundits at al Jazeera is creeping me out. They come on and mouth platitudes about a "tradition" of coups in Ecuador... as though it's a quirky Ecuadoran prob. Has there ever been a coup south of us that was not our doing? I can't seem to call one to mind.... Don't you think it's PSYCHOTIC that news outlets don't ever mention OUR tradition of overthrowing South and Central American governments? A vague allusion to it?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

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I used a translator:

The presidents of UNASUR require trial and condemnation of the coup in Ecuador
(AFP) - 29 minutes ago

BUENOS AIRES - The presidents of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) called on Friday to be judged and condemned those responsible for what they described as attempted coup in Ecuador, in a statement from the summit of leaders of the bloc.

UNASUR requires that "the perpetrators of the coup in Ecuador are tried and convicted," said the final statement of the extraordinary summit that was held in Argentina's capital, read by the Argentine Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman.

The South American bloc further noted that their governments "will not tolerate and will reject any new challenge to institutional authority" and said that if "new breaks", measures as closing the border, the trade suspension , air traffic and the provision of energy. "

Good enough for government work....

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VIVA CORREA!
VIVA ECUADOR!
VIVA LAS REVOLUCIONES DE AMERICA LATINA!
EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMAS SERA VENCIDO!

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love, 99
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they kill or try to kill everyone i love

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Maybe I hate Obama more than I hated Dubya because I did hold a tiny bit of hope... not because of his record or his words exactly... just because he was the only one I did not know for 100% positive was owned, and because Martin's dream has never lost even an ion of its rank in my heart. People yelp at me about using the word "hate" when I am a Buddhist. [1] When yer an actual Buddhist you use the lexicon most likely to say the unsayable, without regard to what people only call the teaching; [2] the teaching is ONLY for waking you, and becomes as deluded as the rest immediately upon performing this function; and [3] when murderating pig fuckers stop harming, I stop hating them.

If you think for a moment this police protest in Ecuador, and assault on their President, is actual protest by honestly aggrieved cops, just get off my blog.

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love, 99
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worth it to screw on yer thinking cap for this

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Have I mentioned lately how glad I am Rafael Correa always has his on straight?

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FASCISM FASCISM FASCISM FASCISM FASCISM FASCISM!

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I am stroking out here. Dial 911.

In New York last Thursday, Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered documentary producer and director Joe Berlinger to turn over to Chevron more than 600 hours of raw footage used to create a film titled CRUDE: THE REAL PRICE OF OIL.

Released last year, it's the story of how 30,000 Ecuadorians rose up to challenge the pollution of their bodies, livestock, rivers and wells from Texaco's drilling for oil there, a rainforest disaster that has been described as the Amazon's Chernobyl. When Chevron acquired Texaco in 2001 and attempted to dismiss claims that it was now responsible, the indigenous people and their lawyers fought back in court.

I am SO going back to Gaunzi now.
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Jesus crap! It better be soon! I'm losing it here, man. I want to run out into the streets... except all that's out there are cows, and the battered homeless guy under the bridge! Dial 911. Dial 911! Dial 911!
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UPDATE THE NEXT DAY

The hitch seems to be that the plaintiffs' lawyers solicited the filmmaker to do the documentary, which is a little shaky, opens the door for such a move, but should have been a rock solid means of both getting the public awareness to help them survive in court and, probably, the money for it... a way for penniless natives to get satisfaction out of our judicial system. They would have been relying on the First Amendment freedom of the press protections to keep this from coming to this pass, but this judge seems to interpret the begging for the publicity to be equal to paying for it, commissioning it, turning it into material that must be shared with the defense in discovery.

If this order is allowed to stand, this case can be used against every journalist out there trying to expose the multifarious wrongdoings of the multifarious corporate titans currently tightening the noose around the world's, the planet's, neck.

If you have bothered to read the order, you will see that this decision is heavily weighted by antipathy toward the socialist Rafael Correa. Where discretion is allowed, the politics of the President of Ecuador seem to be the issue weighing on the judge's bias, and Correa's friendliness with plaintiffs' counsel taken as evidence of impropriety—as though attorneys here do not pal around with any government officials, yet still manage to be assumed not to be using those relationships toward improper or illegal ends. Incendiary language is used in this order a few times, almost as though the judge were intending to sway the higher court to uphold his First-Amendment-bashing order because some upstart socialist is trying to have satisfaction for his fleas from our titans.

This is cause to be even more afraid for our Bill of Rights.
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a hard line against our southern friends

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Bush's Third Term

[Yes, I'm ignoring the bullshit about the Iran-operated terrorist-highrise and mosques. I can't modulate my animosity toward the war pigs well enough to endure more than the briefest glance yet.]

correa to moscow

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eva golinger explains the danger of u.s. aggression in south america

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anti-chávez disinformation heating up all over

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Arrests Ordered in Attack on Venezuelan Journalists
17 August 2009

CARACAS – A Caracas court ordered the arrests of two people allegedly involved in the attacks last week that left 12 journalists hurt when they were demonstrating in favor of freedom of expression, the Attorney General’s Office said on Monday.

Last Saturday, the AG’s office announced that it would present in court Gabriel Jesus Uzcategui Beumont, 28, who was arrested that day for his alleged part in the assault.

Last Thursday, 12 journalists handing out leaflets in favor of press freedom were injured by supporters of leftist President Hugo Chavez.

Marcos Ruiz, a reporter for Caracas daily Ultimas Noticias, was punched and beaten with clubs by at least four assailants, colleague Gledys Pastrana told Efe.

All of the journalists who were handing out leaflets to motorists and pedestrians on a busy street in the capital are employees of the Cadena Capriles group, one of Venezuela’s biggest media companies.

Besides the daily Ultimas Noticias, Capriles publishes two business newspapers: El Mundo Economia and Negocios, and the sports paper Lider.

The Chavez partisans arrived on the scene shouting “revolution” and “this street belongs to the people” and then pounced on the journalists, Pastrana said.

“We were there to peacefully distribute flyers and we were savagely beaten,” said reporter Ubaldo Arrieta.

The incident “is not a demonstration of respect for human rights,” Cadena Capriles’ president, Miguel Angel Capriles, told Venezuelan media.

Venezuela has been hauled before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on several occasions to answer complaints about attacks on news professionals, proceedings that resulted in orders to the government in Caracas to provide protection to specific journalists and outlets.

Most of Venezuela’s private media are outspokenly opposed to the Chavez government.

And do note the hallmark use of the color code as protest. This is a theme that has shown itself to work too well. Of course, with President Chávez it is a foregone conclusion which color to choose, but none the less, just as soon as the coup is consolidated in Honduras, the rumors and disinformation and bullshit attacks on bullshit protest start in to connect Chávez with violence in the streets... not omitting to connect him with FARC in the bargain. Doesn't matter how fantastic the allegations! You will only catch snippets and pretty soon, if you aren't already, you will be convinced that everything bad is Hugo Chávez's fault.

Stay awake.

Wake the fuck up and stay awake. A man backed by masters at this is in the Oval Office and he has shown no scruples whatsoever. Quit listening to his eloquent pie hole and just look at the stuff he's doing right out in the open for any who would look to see.

more from al jazeera

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I don't feel so good. I ate at a Mexican restaurant and I think my body isn't happy about this....

hero

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The showdown was building to a climax as the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador signed on to accompany President Manuel Zelaya and other figures on a flight to Honduras on Thursday.

this makes me so happy

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oh, what a difference a source makes

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Granma

BBC

Voice of America

Reuters

Periodico

Seems to me it's giving Obama a chance to undo the fascist meddling in Ecuador... but what do I know? The guy is a glory junky, right? Just a witless Latin buffoon....

I wish we had politicians with a tenth his courage.

viva correa

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Ecuador's president orders US diplomat expelled
By GABRIELA MOLINA

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — President Rafael Correa on Saturday ordered the expulsion of a top U.S. diplomat he accused of suspending $340,000 in annual aid because Ecuador would not allow the U.S. to veto appointments to the anti-smuggling police.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said the official in question, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement attache, left the country in early January when his assignment ended, and that the aid suspension was a U.S. government decision.

Ecuador's leftist president said the official, Armando Astorga, announced the suspension of aid to anti-contraband police in a Jan. 8 letter that also demanded they return all donated equipment — including vehicles, furniture, cameras and phones.

Correa said Astorga also said in the letter addressed to Ecuador's police chief that $160,000 in annual aid to the Human Trafficking Unit "is being reconsidered."

"Mr. Astorga, Keep your dirty money! We don't need it. Here there is sovereignty and dignity," Correa said during his weekly radio address, calling the American "insolent and foolish."

"Mr. Foreign Minister: Give this man 48 hours to get his suitcases and get out of the country," Correa said. He told police chief Jaime Hurtado to return the equipment "to the last eraser."

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Marta Youth said Astorga left Ecuador last month and that the decision to suspend the assistance was in response an Ecuadorean government policy, without elaborating.

Fred Lash, a spokesman for the US State Department, said the announcement of the expulsion "caused some people to start some dialogue, at least immediately."

Lash said he heard that U.S. ambassador Heather Hodges was planning to talk with the Ecuador's foreign minister to "check why this announcement was made."

Although Correa has vigorously promoted a socialist agenda in this small Andean nation of 14 million, he did not join his allied leftist presidents in Venezuela and Bolivia when they expelled U.S. ambassadors in September. The actions were taken after Bolivia accused Washington of spurring opposition protests, a charge U.S. officials denied.

U.S.-Ecuador relations have been warmer, with U.S. diplomats praising Correa's cooperation in anti-narcotics efforts even after he accused the CIA, without providing evidence, of paying Ecuadorean military officers for information.

Correa read from the Jan. 8 letter, which said the U.S. came to its decision because an "understanding" that members of the anti-contraband unit, known as COAT, would be jointly chosen "is not functioning satisfactorily."

He said that implied that "the embassy had to approve the person we name as commander of COAT and who we name as personnel."

Correa said if Washington was going to insist on vetting Ecuadorean personnel he would insist on the same for U.S. Coast Guard pilots who land their planes on Ecuadorean territory after the lease runs out in November on the U.S. anti-narcotics base at Manta on the Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renegotiate a renewal of the lease on the Manta operation, the only such U.S. base in South America.

I WISH OBAMA WERE A TENTH AS COURAGEOUS AS CORREA, AS A GROWING NUMBER OF SOUTH AMERICAN LEADERS. I MEAN, BULLY, WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE TRANSPARENT AND COÖPERATIVE AND OPINE OPENLY ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE DECISION TO ALIGN THE MILITARY MORE CLOSELY WITH BIG OIL NOW. SO MUCH LESS TAXING....

But, wait, 99, weren't his decision to run and his appearances in huge crowds and ongoing mingling with the general public courageous enough for you?

No! That's the audacity of hubris, albeit a damn welcome sight, not courage like openly defying the STONE COLD KILLERS who take out any and all third world leaders who persist in defying our will, and it's already abundantly obvious Obama doesn't intend to be that clear, or that moral.

at least he is the best person to deal with this

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There can be no doubt of that.

i love it

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I adore Rafael Correa. Flat adore him. He told Bush that he could renew the lease on our Ecuadorean base if he'd let Ecuador build a base in Florida. In short, he booted us out of Ecuador. I adore Rafael Correa, and I'm glad to see him hugging Ahmadinejad: