Activist Post

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s government has recently passed a law to raise taxes on the financial sector to help raise the standard of living for the poor.

President Correa, an economist who is running for re-election, has reduced poverty and increased the overall standard of living in Ecuador during his term.

Understandably, the big banks, some of whom were bailed out, oppose Correa. In fact, his primary contender for the presidency is an entrenched banker.

But Correa may face a more dangerous opponent than his political rival. There is an $88 million CIA plot to destabilize the Ecuadorian government and assassinate Correa, according to reports by a Chilean journalist who tipped off Correa of the CIA plot.

Journalist Patricio Mery Bell released the report of the CIA’s plot to destabilize Ecuador a few months ago, and Correa is taking them very seriously. Bell claimed the covert plot was funded by the CIA’s control of drug trafficking in the region.

“There are many cases of [the CIA] interfering (in Latin American affairs), Correa said on the campaign trail. “These are credible [reports] because this has happened before in Latin America.”

Of course, the head of a US diplomatic mission in Ecuador, Adam Nann, claims that Washington “would never get involved” in Ecuador’s electoral process. Either Nann is incredibly naive or he is lying.

The CIA has a long history of manipulating Ecuador’s leaders and at least one case of alleged assassination.

John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, has documented how the United States of America, through corporations and the CIA, wages economic wars against Third World countries in order to control their resources.

Perkins, a self-described ‘economic hitman’, was personally involved in the corruption of several Latin American leaders. And when he failed to corrupt them, the CIA sent in jackals to assassinate them.

Here is a short clip of Perkins explaining the CIA’s dark history of destabilization and assassination in Latin America, including Ecuador:

Although the new tax on financial institutions may be the latest move to infuriate the corporate empire backed by the United States military apparatus, Ecuador is also guilty of dealing out a $19 billion verdict against Chevron for polluting indigenous lands. To date, this is the largest environmental judgement in history against a corporation.

Clearly, the empire has the motivation to target Correa. The question is will the be able to with the world watching?

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