Wanting to Keep U.S. Trade Privileges is Not Treason! (El Comercio, Ecuador)
"Anticipating the possibility that some might issue opinions
contrary to his own, Correa said traitors and servants of empire will always
come forward to criticize. ... It seems the president confuses blind trust in
his own judgment with the exercise of national sovereignty. He is clearly
convinced that his truth is the only truth and that the views of others are
tissues of lies. He defends his judgment as if defending the nation's
sovereignty."
Ecuador President Rafeal Correa: Miffed at Julian Assange for upstaging him, he has revoked Edward Snowden's Ecuadorian travel documents. At the same time, he has preemptiviely renounced trade priviledges with tye United States, after U.S. lawmakers pressured him to reject Snowden's asylum.
President
Correa has unilaterally and irrevocably renounced Andean Trade Promotion and
Drug Eradication Act [ATPDEA]
tariff preferences for Ecuador, explaining that as a sovereign country, it will
not accept pressure or blackmail from anyone. Anticipating the possibility that
some might issue opinions contrary to his own, Correa said traitors and
servants of empire will always come forward to criticize. He has disqualified
them morally and intellectually, calling them accomplices of the United States
of America.
When
one Ecuadorian or a thousand ask the president to think before making a
decision and put national interests above all other considerations, are they
exerting undue pressure on his person? If someone warns you about the possible
negative consequences of a decision, are they acting as a blackmailer? It seems
that the president confuses blind trust in his own judgment with the exercise
of national sovereignty. He is clearly convinced that his truth is the only
truth and that the views of others are tissues of lies. He defends his judgment
as if defending the nation's sovereignty. For that reason he has renounced the
ATPDEA, and in an ironic attack on the United States, the people of which he
says he loves and admires, he has expressed a willingness to fund, with $23
million a year, a human rights training program for that country.
One must ask what else President Correa will be willing to
renounce, if the commercial damage to Ecuador isn't limited to ATPDEA trade
benefits, and comes to include other areas like the Generalized
System of Preferences or the sugar quota. I don't believe the president
would then consider irrevocably waiving trade with the United States of
America, do you? Following the Snowden case, a delicate problem that neither
China or Russia want to take on, these are the criteria that in one way or
another define the severity of the problem with our most important trading
partner.
Meanwhile,
encouraged by the declarations of Foreign Minister Patiño,
Snowden sought asylum in Ecuador, and Australian Julian Assange, from his office
in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, wrongly assuming a role forbidden to him,
and reported that our government had authorized Snowden's travel documents.
An
official correction later argued that the eventual issuance of the document
would be the responsibility of whoever issued it. Later, President
Correa denied this report as well, and just in case, disavowed and revoked a
document issued by an official whose authority was ultimately withdrawn. Curious
the way our consular offices work!
