Perhaps because such events have become common, the matter may not appear to be particularly newsworthy. But history reminds us that similar judicial attacks took place in Brazil, with Lula first and Dilma later; with Cristina in Argentina, and earlier in Paraguay, in the case of Fernando Lugo. Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Bolivia’s Evo Morales are now the targets.
The first case is linked to the current government’s intention to continue with Ecuador's re-colonization. The brilliant economist Correa, who during his presidency made his country the "true center of the world" and brought the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) headquarters to Quito, now faces legal prosecution, in a pattern similar to previous cases.
Correa is the leader who defended the Amazon rain forest and denounced pollution caused by foreign oil companies that were damaging the environment and illegally exploiting sites considered sacred by indigenous communities. The leader who put social benefits, healthcare plans, education and employment at the top of his government's agenda and made great progress.
A media campaign, like many others, was launched against him, featuring unfounded accusations of corruption and imaginary motives, based on suppositions with no legal foundation whatsoever, that cannot be used according to the country’s laws and other judicial mechanisms.
Playing a central role in this maneuver is the corporate media, that on more than one occasion have made Correa's life impossible and even lent themselves to supporting coup plotters.
The other key element is, of course, the legal emergence of characters also committed to the Ecuadorian oligarchy, and a stage prepared by a President who, if anything, has been able to move like puppets the various elements that accompany him in his plan to reverse all progress achieved during the years of Rafael Correa's government.
Ecuador, like a tree, has been dropping its fruits. Free, inclusive health care plans were eliminated, including the solidarity offered by thousands of Cuban doctors. The nationalization of the country's resources is now being replaced by privatization with foreign monopoly components.
Latin American unity has been cut short with the exit of the Ecuadorian government from Unasur, ALBA and other mechanisms of consensus building and defense of the sovereignty of Latin American and Caribbean countries, and the region as a whole.
In the case of Evo, the same story is unfolding. A military coup was plotted amidst attempts to invalidate the elections, with the support of the Organization of American States’ general secretary, Luis Almagro. Recruited for the task were military officers who an hour earlier had declared loyalty to their President, and then attacked the people’s resistance with full force and all means available.
After the coup, persecution of Morales and the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) was launched, while a character with no charisma or political experience, and few ethical principles, de facto President Jeanine Áñez, undertook the dismantling of a model political and social system, which had produced the greatest economic advances in all of South America over the last decade.
But one of the fundamental elements that could effectively resist the plan was not destroyed: Bolivia’s Movement Toward Socialism, which proved to be strong enough to regroup and re-formulate a strategy for the elections to be held on October 18.
Perhaps for this reason, when it became known that Evo had been denied the right to run for Senator from the region of Cochabamba, Áñez, reacted on Twitter claiming that she would stop the MAS.
In this context, it is worth taking into consideration a remark by Rafael Correa, who recently tweeted: "They don't understand that all they are doing is increasing support." He was referring precisely to judicial attacks organized by the right wing, the OAS and the United States government, against popular leaders in the Latin American region.
Thus, it is up to the peoples and those who have taken on the task of building the Greater Homeland, to come together, today more than ever, to prevent a new version of the Monroe Doctrine from returning us to the status of submissive colonies.
