Saturday 27 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
ECUADOR:
Gearing Up for a New
Constitution
By Rosa Rodríguez
QUITO (IPS) -
Voters in Ecuador are
getting ready to go to
the polls Sunday, where
they are expected to
approve a new
constitution that
recognises ethnic
diversity and expands
social and environmental
rights.
In the debates over the
last few days of the
campaign, the rightwing
opposition said the
constitution, which was
rewritten by a
constituent assembly,
grants so many rights
"that it would be
impossible to live up to
them without creating a
bulky fiscal deficit,"
as analyst Francisco
Rocha, who is opposed to
the new document, told
IPS.
The new constitution
would create a free
universal health care
system, compulsory
health insurance and
free education up to
university level, and
would recognise the
unpaid work of
homemakers as productive
labour and make them
eligible for social
security.
It would also legalise
same-sex civil unions,
following the lead of
Uruguay, the first Latin
American country to do
so, and would grant
rights to migrant
workers, refugees and
young people, while
recognising the right of
nature to "exist" and
guaranteeing access to
water as a fundamental
human right.
In the latest survey by
the Consultora Santiago
Pérez y Asociados
polling firm, 57 percent
of respondents said they
would vote in favour of
the new constitution --
seven percentage points
more than the 50 percent
needed for approval.
Centre-left President
Rafael Correa said
compliance with the
social obligations
outlined in the new
constitution would not
generate a budget
deficit.
The president, a
U.S.-educated economist,
said the warning about
financial difficulties
came from "certain
mafias" that remain in
the Finance Ministry,
which were installed by
previous administrations
that followed
"neoliberal" free-market
policies, and that are
pressuring against an
expansion of social
spending.
"We have obtained the
best fiscal results in
Latin America," said
Correa. "We are
extremely responsible
people, and we know what
we are doing. All of the
financial costs are
covered, and anyone who
claims the contrary is
lying."
Ecuador’s strong fiscal
performance is a result
of windfall oil profits,
the renegotiation of
contracts with foreign
oil companies, which
boosted the state’s oil
revenues, and the
initial payment for the
renewal of the
concession by mobile
phone companies
operating here.
Correa said the
government has 1.6
billion dollars in its
coffers to meet
budgetary needs,
including those that
will arise if the new
constitution is
approved. In addition,
it has public spending
on social projects,
infrastructure and
assistance for the poor
covered until the end of
the year, he added.
The president ended the
campaign for the new
constitution Thursday
before a crowd of
thousands of his
supporters in his
hometown, Guayaquil,
where he said the
document would open the
door "to a future of
change."
He decided to hold his
final campaign rally in
Guayaquil, Ecuador’s
economic capital and
main port, because it is
the only major city
where the new
constitution may be
voted down.
The opposition also held
its own rallies and
events, the largest of
which was a caravan of
cars led by Guayaquil
Mayor Jaime Nebot, of
the centre-right Social
Christian Party.
Nebot said that if his
city votes against the
constitution, it will
strengthen the
opposition movement and
bolster demands for
autonomy.
Analysts say that if the
constitution is voted
down in Guayaquil, the
capital of the province
of Guayas, conflict
could break out in the
southwestern Pacific
coastal area, which
would be the last
stronghold of the
rightwing opposition and
traditional elites.
Correa warned of the
risk of an outbreak of
pro-autonomy demands,
similar to what is
happening in Bolivia’s
eastern provinces, like
Santa Cruz.
He said the opposition
in Guayaquil may even
foment violence along
the lines of what has
been seen in Bolivia
this month, where
pro-autonomy rightwing
sectors blocked roads
and seized control of
central government
buildings, and at least
20 supporters of
leftwing President Evo
Morales were killed in
unclarified
circumstances in the
northern province of
Pando.
"The press has tried to
dismiss these warnings,
but they are
well-founded," said the
president. "If the ‘no’
vote wins in Guayaquil,
the elites will try to
do the same thing there.
"Nebot already said that
‘if the yes vote wins,
I’ll go home, but if the
no vote wins, we can
continue fighting for
autonomy’," Correa
pointed out.
Over the last few
months, the opposition
in Ecuador has focused
its campaign on
criticism of the Correa
administration, without
debating the merits of
the constitution itself.
The government,
meanwhile, depicted the
opposition as a
throwback to the past,
with the campaign slogan
"I’m voting ‘yes’
because I already
experienced the ‘no’."
But outside of the media
spots, hundreds of
debates, seminars and
workshops were held in
neighbourhoods, social
organisations, academic
institutions and sports
clubs, and more than two
million copies of the
new constitution were
distributed to the
public.
For its part, the
country’s powerful
indigenous movement,
which broke with the
Correa administration in
May, saying the
government had continued
to follow the rightwing
"neoliberal" economic
policies and "racist"
social policies of past
administrations, also
campaigned for the new
constitution.
But it clarified that it
was backing the new
constitution, not the
government.
Alberto Acosta, former
president of the
constituent assembly and
along with Correa one of
the most popular
political leaders in
Ecuador, told IPS that
the new constitution is
the most democratic
constitution in the
country’s history.
"This is literally a
citizens’ constitution,
not one drawn up in
barracks like the
current constitution,
which was written in the
army war academy in
1998," said Acosta.
He added that "more than
150,000 people showed
up, presenting over
3,000 proposals, besides
the hundreds of
thousands of people who
took part in the mobile
seminars and workshops
held by the constituent
assembly around the
country."
"Only if everyone takes
part (in Sunday’s vote)
can we contribute to the
construction of a free
and equitable society,
the goal that has
oriented the drafting of
this new constitution,"
which has been "a
process of building
democracy."
Another controversial
point in the debate was
raised by the Catholic
bishops’ conference,
which alleged that the
constitution would pave
the way for legalisation
of abortion, even though
there is not a single
reference to the issue.
One of the articles of
the constitution merely
"guarantees people’s
right to reach free,
responsible and informed
decisions on their
reproductive health and
life, and to decide when
to have children and how
many to have."
The Catholic Church
leadership also
protested because the
constitution would
eliminate the state’s
economic support for
Catholic schools and
universities, in order
to strengthen funding
for public education.
In one of the editions
of his weekly radio
programme, Correa lashed
out against the
propaganda strategies
used by those
campaigning against the
new constitution, like
the Catholic Church.
"Have you seen the ad
that shows a young girl
who says something like
‘Mommy I’m pregnant, but
don't worry, with the
new constitution I can
decide whether or not to
have it.’ Look how they
lie to people, using
adolescents, and playing
on religious
sentiments!" said
Correa, who clarified
that the right to family
planning has been
present in the
constitution since 1978.
Among other changes that
would be introduced by
the new constitution are
the right to run for a
second consecutive
presidential term, a ban
on foreign military
bases in Ecuador, a ban
on genetically modified
seeds, with a few
exceptions, greater
state control over
strategic economic
sectors like mining, and
the redistribution of
unproductive or idle
land. |
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