Tuesday 26 August
2008, San José, Costa Rica
ECUADOR:
President "Stabbed In
the Back" by Church Over
Constitution
By Rosa Rodríguez
QUITO (IPS) - The
campaign for the Sept.
28 referendum on
Ecuador’s newly
rewritten constitution
has got under way, with
fierce arguments between
the document's
supporters and
opponents.
At the moment the main
conflict is between
those in favour of the
new constitution,
approved Jul. 24 by the
Constituent Assembly,
and the hierarchy of the
Catholic Church.
Church prelates are
vigorously opposed to
the proposed
constitution because
they allege it opens the
door to the legalisation
of abortion and same-sex
marriage, although the
word "abortion" is not
mentioned in any of its
articles.
"Certain aspects of the
text are unacceptable to
a Christian conscience,"
the president of the
Ecuadoran Episcopal
Conference (CEE),
Antonio Arregui, said
earlier this month. He
added that the Roman
Catholic faithful would
be offered "catechism"
about the content of the
new constitution so that
they would be properly
informed when it came
time to vote.
Ecuador is a secular
state, but over 90
percent of its 14
million people are Roman
Catholics.
President Rafael Correa
and the former president
of the Constituent
Assembly, Alberto
Acosta, responded
forcefully to the CEE
statement.
The Catholic Church
hierarchy is taking a
political stance by
openly supporting the No
vote against the
constitution, clearly
aligning itself with
rightwing sectors,
Correa said.
Acosta publicly released
a document he had
received from the CEE,
making a number of
proposals to the
Constituent Assembly,
including recognition of
de facto unions between
same-sex couples.
Acosta told IPS that as
president of the
Constituent Assembly, he
had on several occasions
met with Catholic
bishops. At one of these
meetings they gave him a
document, dated Apr. 1,
2008, signed by Arregui
among others, which
included a proposal for
recognising "stable
unions between couples,
no matter what their
gender or sexual
orientation."
"A good many of these
proposals were included"
in the draft
constitution, Acosta
added.
Last Thursday, in an
interview broadcast by
La Luna radio station in
Quito, Correa said he
felt the opposition by
the Catholic hierarchy
to be a betrayal, "like
a stab in the back."
A practising Catholic
himself, he said that
when he met with other
South American
presidents he used to
brag about being the
only leftwing president
who had a good
relationship with the
Catholic hierarchy, but
now that has changed.
Former CEE presiding
bishop Néstor Herrera
told the Internet news
portal
Ecuadorinmediato.com
that the Catholic
hierarchy would "make
war" on Correa during
the referendum campaign.
"If President Rafael
Correa is looking for a
battle with us,
unfortunately we will
have to make war on
him," the bishop said.
Maintaining that the
Church "has never looked
for a fight before, nor
is it looking for one
now," the bishop said
the Catholic Church is
carrying out its
pastoral task, which is
"to make the faithful
aware of the scope of
this political
instrument (the
constitution), in the
light of Catholic
convictions."
Herrera said the
president was "mistaken"
when he alleged that the
Church was being
"political" by
announcing it would
offer "catechism" about
the text of the
constitution now under
consideration.
Catechism, he said, "is
broad and detailed
teaching on the
foundations of our
faith, so that
Christians may
understand and direct
their lives by it."
The Church has clearly
stated it will not take
a stand on either side
of the matter of the
referendum, he insisted.
But immediately
afterwards he
contradicted himself:
Correa should not worry,
he said, because the Yes
vote looks like it will
win by a comfortable
margin, while the Church
"has neither the
government's publicity
apparatus nor the
president's popularity"
to promote the No vote.
Bishop Mario Ruiz Navas
also complained that the
proposed constitution is
too "statist," and puts
an end to state support
for private schools,
particularly religious
schools.
But several priests and
laypersons expressed
disagreement with these
views.
A new constitution was a
key campaign pledge by
President Rafael Correa,
who took office Jan. 15,
2007. Although over 81
percent of Ecuadoreans
voted in April 2007 for
the convening of a
Constituent Assembly to
rewrite the country's
constitution, the
process of producing the
document which will be
submitted to the will of
the electorate next
month has been arduous.
Tens of thousands of
small farmers,
indigenous peoples and
social organisations
rallied last Saturday in
Quito to hear Correa
speak in favour of the
constitution, according
to international press
reports. The atmosphere
was festive and upbeat,
with music, singing and
dancing.
According to surveys
published by Santiago
Pérez Investigaciones
and Perfiles de Opinión,
two polling firms, 66
percent of interviewees
have already decided how
they will vote on Sept.
28.
The poll results differ
in the percentages of
voter intentions for Yes
or No to the new
constitution, and in the
numbers of blank or
spoiled ballots they
forecast.
According to Pérez
Investigaciones, which
carries out surveys for
the government, 50
percent of interviewees
would vote Yes and 29
percent would vote No.
The survey by Perfiles,
in contrast, indicates
41 percent voting Yes,
while the sum of No
votes, blank and spoiled
ballots would come to
45.9 percent.
For the constitution to
be approved, Yes votes
must reach over 50
percent of the ballots
cast.
Given the current
uncertainty as to the
outcome of the
referendum, in the view
of consultant Paulina
Recalde of Perfiles de
Opinión, the Church is a
significant political
factor because it enjoys
broad credibility.
"The scenario is a
complicated one for the
president, because if he
makes comments
denigrating or offending
the Church in any way,
he may hurt the feelings
of believers," she said.
The questionnaire
administered by Pérez
Investigaciones included
the question: "Are the
groups that oppose the
constitution against it
because it is a bad
constitution, or because
they fear losing their
privileges?"
Sixty-three percent
answered that their
opposition was for fear
of loss of privilege,
and 25 percent replied
that it was because it
was a bad constitution.
According to the same
survey, 55 percent of
interviewees said that
the work of the
Constituent Assembly had
been done well, or very
well.
Cedatos, another firm,
published the results of
a survey of 1,400 people
in 15 cities, indicating
that 41 percent would
vote Yes and 35 percent
would vote No.
On Aug. 16, in
Guayaquil, Ecuador's
main port and largest
city with over two
million people, 250
kilometres southwest of
the capital, during
Correa's weekly
nationwide radio
programme, broadcast
from the Catholic
University of Guayaquil,
groups of university
students supporting the
Yes and No votes clashed
with police.
Both sides have tried to
take the moral high
ground by blaming their
opponents for
instigating the
violence.
In early August, close
to 100 rural and urban
social organisations, in
particular ECUARUNARI,
the Confederation of
Peoples of the Quechua
Nation, the largest
member of the
Confederation of
Indigenous Nationalities
of Ecuador (CONAIE),
announced the formation
of an autonomous "Social
Front" to campaign for
the Yes vote, while
keeping a distance
between themselves and
the government.
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