My hands are clean and bloodless, something Uribe can’t say
Interview
with Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador
By Gorka Castillo Read Spanish Version
Público
Translation
done by Machetera.
In
an interview with Público, the Ecuadoran head of state accuses
the Colombian government of lying, and its president, Alvaro Uribe,
of links with paramilitaries.
Ecuador’s
president doesn’t mince words. Over an hour’s interview he analyzed
the Latin American political situation and didn’t hide the wound
opened by Colombia that will take some time to heal.
The
British writer Richard Gott considers Colombia to be the main element
in the region’s instability. Do you share his view?
This
is nothing new, rather something that goes way back. Colombia is the
only country that has paramilitaries, guerrillas, drug traffickers,
extensive coca cultivation and extensive zones of the
country
uncontrolled by the state. Paramilitarism and narco-politics doesn’t
exist in Ecuador. Nor do we cultivate coca. Those are exclusively
Colombian terms. I say this regretfully because [the
Colombians]
are our brothers, but Colombia today is the focus of the greatest
instability that exists in Latin America and this hurts all of
us.
Do
you wish to say that the Colombian government’s image in Latin
America is not a good one?
Uribe’s
government is completely discredited. We’ve already pointed out his
lies; now no-one believes him.
In
Europe it’s not seen that way.
It’s
true that in the European Union as much as the United States, the
backing of his lies by some powerful media has harmed us and for that
reason, very soon, I will undertake a tour of Europe to let people
know about Ecuador and show that we are a decent government and a
peaceful land. What’s problematic is on the other side of the
border. We’re victims of the Colombian conflict. We’re not
perpetrators nor are we accomplices.
You
give the impression that a media war has been launched.
It’s
not that I’m giving that impression; it’s that it’s a fact. We know
with whom we are dealing; with a militaristic country, with a
president who has an imperfect past, with enormous support from
foreign intelligence agencies and with an impressive propaganda
machine. We have faith that the truth and justice will prevail. We’ve
already achieved that in Latin America, where Colombia has been
soundly defeated politically, diplomatically and
informationally.
What
drives Colombia to accuse its neighboring countries of collaboration
with the FARC?
Uribe’s
militaristic policies began when he became president. First in
contradicting the strategy of his predecessor, Andres Pastrana, who
came to embrace Manuel Marulanda. But in came Uribe with the hard
line and he wanted us all to do the same. He’s like the little
emperor who
follows his boss’s dictates. It’s obvious that his
political and economic power is based on the struggle against the
FARC. Peace is not convenient for Uribe because fighting guerrillas
gives the Colombian electorate a secure feeling. What is troubling is
that this conflict is spilling over the borders.
But
before the bombing on March 1, relations between the two countries
was ruled by respect.
Uribe
has always shown a lack of respect toward Ecuador. So much so that
our territory continues to be fumigated with glyphosate and to the
point of frequently violating our airspace with their planes. Anyway,
as to the March 1 bombing, there’s a question that still remains
unanswered.
What?
They
had Raul Reyes’ group under their control when they could still be
found on Colombian soil. Why did they wait until they passed over to
Ecuador to kill them?
Why?
Was
it by any chance done in order to involve Ecuador in a conflict that
is not theirs? Was it not a matter of intimidation? Could it have
been to force us to participate in Plan Colombia? What Uribe didn’t
count on was our response, nor the condemnation he received from the
countries in the OAS. The plan failed because we didn’t fall for
it.
During
the meeting of the Rio Group in Santo Domingo, you showed your hands
to Uribe and told him to take a good look at them because they are
clean and without blood. What were you referring to?
Uribe
has tried to involve us, not only my government, but also the Armed
Forces, as supporters of the FARC. Later he alleged that my
presidential campaign had been financed by the guerrillas. It’s
disgraceful. Where does this gentleman get off, after having
violating every international law, accusing us of support for
guerrilla groups whose actions we’ve said a thousand times we reject;
it’s insulting. That’s why I told him to look at my hands. Just to
highlight the contradiction with Uribe’s position, which has been so
scandalously related to drug trafficking. His warmongering policy is
not going to end the conflict, instead it will exacerbate it and he’s
going to leave thousands dead as a result. My hands are clean and
bloodless. That’s something Uribe cannot say.
However
they continue to claim that you were aware of the FARC’s activities
in your territory. They say that you were warned as many as 16 times
of guerrilla bases in your territory, and were ignored. Is it
true?
This
is an unbelievable infamy. All my orders are on record. It’s all so
coarse and ridiculous that we’ve decided it’s not worth answering.
It’s just that we don’t know why he does it. Just when relations
improve with him, something strange happens and you get stabbed in
the back. Something in his head’s not working right.
How
is it possible that this climate of tension has been reached if at
the end of the Rio Group meeting, you managed to shake hands?
That’s
Alvaro Uribe Velez. Something’s wrong. His behavior is terribly
psychotic.
Is
it true that Reyes had contacted the French in order to negotiate the
liberation of Ingrid Betancourt, when he was bombed?
Uribe
doesn’t want peace, nor does he want hostages released, because
Betancourt is a potential presidential candidate. It’s true that we’d
known that contact would be made in a neutral third country in order
to liberate them later on Ecuadoran soil. President Chavez also asked
me if we could receive hostages in our territory because a transfer
over the Colombian-Venezuelan border had become very dangerous. We
were in the middle of that process. Those movements toward liberation
of the hostages that the guerrillas entrusted to Reyes were precisely
the reason Reyes was destroyed.
Ecuador
has just denounced Colombia before the Hague Tribunal for illegal
spraying on its territory.
The
verdict will still take many years but we hope that a stiff sentence
will be handed down to force Bogota to suspend the aerial glyphosate
spraying they’ve been doing since 2006. These fumigations have caused
Ecuadoran farmers on the border to leave their homes, lose their
crops, their income, and have caused serious illnesses, even death.
However, do you know what the Colombian government’s reaction has
been up until today? It’s to say that our demand that the spraying
cease coincides with the FARC’s pleas. It’s shameful.
The
crisis has revealed huge cracks in the Ecuadoran intelligence system
that have caused military leadership to be relieved of its duties.
What reforms should it undertake?
Something
serious is going on with our intelligence services. We still don’t
have all the firm data but we can say that we have been infiltrated
by the CIA and this agency works for Colombia.
There
are some who criticize you for being naive in having waited so long
to change the military leadership, with its loyalties to the prior
regime.
They’re
probably right. And also for having trusted Bogota. You might say
that we underestimated the threat of external attack once things had
been resolved with Peru and we had good relations with Colombia. But
we underestimated the fact that Uribe was there.
THE
BORDER
Is
it true that Ecuador draws its line with the FARC and not with
Colombia?
We
have a jungle border with 13 posts. Colombia only has two, when the
guerrilla conflict is theirs. Why? Because it hopes that we will put
them to death. Despite this, we have 11,000 men deployed which costs
the state coffers around $100 million annually. Last year 13 soldiers
died in a war that is not ours and on top of that we have to swallow
the insolence of Alvaro Uribe Velez. Bogota has around 170,000 square
kilometers where its army cannot go. Against this situation, I repeat
that we don’t limit ourselves with Colombia, we limit ourselves with
the FARC.
SPAIN
What
has been the response of the Socialist government to the political
crisis?
It’s
been a little ambiguous. I am very appreciative of the Socialist
government and of President Zapatero, but his statement was extremely
vague, trying to please both sides when we were the ones attacked.
The explanation that we were given was that he was in the final
stretch of his electoral campaign. We understand that but we expect
something more of the Spanish government. God willing, the hundred
odd transnational businesses operating in Colombia are not being
pressured, because in this kind of affair the principles and
convictions that we share with President Zapatero are more important.
We agree that international law should always prevail.
HOSTAGES
Are
you willing to be a mediator with the FARC to achieve a humanitarian
exchange?
I’ve
said this a thousand times to President Alvaro Uribe: the Colombian
people can count on Ecuador to resolve this civil war that’s been
bleeding it dry for so many decades. That’s what we were trying to do
before the attack. However, they don’t want to resolve it. The
campaign against Ecuador from Bogota shows that. We don’t reject the
theory that they want to destabilize us for not following
Washington’s policies. Neither do we rule out that it may be a
strategy to put a puppet government in Quito that would accept Plan
Colombia and permit the Manta airbase to continue operating beyond
2009, when the contract expires.
INVESTMENTS
Are
you thinking of eliminating the concessions for resource extraction
by large companies?
The
new Constitution that is now being debated in the Constituent
Assembly is part of a new legal framework for this issue. We will
change the law made by those indescribable bureaucrats at the World
Bank, that was such a disaster. It managed to grant more than 4,000
concessions, of which 70% never even managed to start any operation
whatsoever. The contracts will be renegotiated. A very short time ago
we met with Repsol. The interest is mutual. As long as the workers
and the environment are respected and the state is paid the taxes it
is owed, there will not be problems and the projects will be
profitable. The oil belongs to the state, and we want the contracts
to be signed for services rendered.
IMMIGRATION
What
measures are being directed toward immigrants so that they do not
feel so uprooted?
On
reaching the presidency, our government created an immigration
ministry. We are in the process of strengthening our embassies and
consulates, especially in Spain, because we believe that Ecuadoran
migration is already the country’s fifth region. We have just adopted
a provision of $9 million for Plan Return (a program of tax
exemption so that those who return to the country may do so with
their goods and housing subsidies). We are also creating a Migrant’s
Bank. At the political level I will say that there are six immigrant
representatives in the Constituent Assembly for the first time in its
history.
Machetera
is a member of Tlaxcala, the network of translators for linguistic
diversity. This translation may be reprinted as long as the content
remains unaltered, and the source, author and translator are cited.
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=66290
http://machetera.wordpress.com
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