April 5 (Mon) DC OAS 1889 F St NW 11 am – No to OAS Interference -#World4DemocracyinEcuador

The World for Democracy in Ecuador Statement

On March 4th, an international coalition of citizens, residents and organizations from the U.S., Canada, the UK, Latin America and other nations are launching their 40 for Ecuador – 40 days of action to support democracy in Ecuador – to “March Forth” for Ecuador.

The goals of this effort are to ensure that Ecuador’s runoff election on April 11th between front runner Andres Arauz, supported by a broad coalition called UNES and US supported pro-business  right wing candidate Guillermo Lasso, is conducted without any external intervention, particularly from the United States or Canada, both of which support the neo-liberal candidate and not the people’s choice.

US and international participants understand and acknowledge the destructive nature of U.S. intervention in Latin America throughout the decades and stand firmly against such continued intervention in 2021. The people of Ecuador and the rest of Latin America are tired of voting for leaders who represent the needs of the indigenous and the majority of the people, only to have to turn around and fend off efforts by the U.S. to hand pick their leadership.

The World for Democracy in Ecuador coalition is also committed to building international solidarity throughout Latin America for Ecuador’s right to select its own leader. This will include people from Colombia, who have been fighting against Ivan Duque for real democracy, implementation of the Peace Accords signed in 2016 and an end to the assassination of social, community and environmental leaders.

In early February, current Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, who is a fierce opponent of the UNES candidate, met with the notoriously interventionist Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, in Washington.   On February 12th,  the Attorney General of Colombia, Francisco Barbosa, arrived in Quito to meet with his Ecuadorian counterpart, Diana Salazar, armed with a dossier that falsely accused the campaign of Arauz had received funding from the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerillas in Colombia – an accusation without evidence.  The accusation is being used to bolster calls from right wing elements in Ecuador to bar frontrunner Arauz from participating in the run off or to cancel the election all together.

The Colombian role is unsurprising.  Colombian president Ivan Duque plays a similar part, serving US interests in operations against the nation and people of Venezuela.

The stakes in this election are high for the Ecuadorian people, the majority of whom are impoverished and reap little benefit from the rich land and resources of Ecuador.  There is no dispute that under the governance of Rafael Correa the lives of Ecuador’s majority impoverished were improved drastically.  Lenin Moreno, the current president who succeeded Correa, reversed these improvements and presided over a return to neoliberalism and massive death tolls from COVID-19.  

The World for Democracy in Ecuador  will  “March Forth” for Ecuador as a show of international solidarity to protect democracy in Ecuador and throughout Latin America.  We will organize a series of events including protests and rallies, panel discussions, virtual meetings, artistic presentations and other creative expressions of support for the Ecuadorian people and in opposition to foreign interference of the democracy there.  To become part of this effort click on the button below.