Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, a Hugo Chavez friend and Latin leftist leader, handily won re-election yesterday. The election comes after the establishment of a new Constitution, the favorite move of leftists as soon as they assume power, that consolidates more power in the executive, extends term limits, and, interestingly enough, drafts the first bill of rights for the environment. The new constitution was drafted by an assembly whose vast majority belonged to Correa’s political party (Alianza PAIS). This president now has the power to dissolve congress within the first three years of its four-year term, rule by decree when congress is dissolved (until new congress in place), run for another term in 2013, and allow him to directly control monetary policy. Here’s an image on his website:

“Hasta la Victoria Siempre” translates to “Until Victory Always” and is a universal communist slogan

Here it is on a Cuban mural

This is yet another Latin American country that has had its political system hijacked and remade by self-described socialists. Correa has already racked up an impressive little resume by Marxist standards. His hits include: defaulting on the national debt (he said that he would not pay because the debt is “illegitimate"), nationalizing tv stations, aligning himself with Venezuela and Iran, allegedly aiding communist guerrillas fighting in neighboring Colombia, and not allowing American use of Manta air base after lease expires in 2009 (Correa offered it to China instead).

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been fighting communist guerrillas that take refuge in Correa’s Ecuador and Chavez’s Venezuela

This just goes to show that ignoring the rise of what can now definitely be described as Latin socialism will only result in a continued “domino effect” across the region. While at the moment, there is no direct military threat, these nations are starting to ramp up military spending and have been invited China and Russia into this hemisphere. In the long-run, it would be better to have our own neighbors on our side than give any other world power an opening.

For now we can expect Correa’s brand of socialism to be more moderate than Chavez’s but with an economic system based on antagonizing any sort of foreign investment, cancelling the national debt, and unstable due to expropriations and renegotiation of contracts with foreign firms, we cannot be sure that a more radical Correa won’t emerge if things start looking bad. Latin America has come to believe that democracy and free markets are not desirable because of the rampant corruption that plagued the systems of government in the past. Once they experience what militant socialism has to offer: poverty, rationing, authoritarianism, and wholesale repression of human rights, they will come to know that freedom, while imperfect, is the best state for mankind.

Oh and curiously enough, Ecuador’s vice-president’s first name is “Lenin"… then again, our president’s middle name is “Hussein"… two leaders that advocated extreme government intervention or control. I guess citizens of free countries miss the warning signs out of tolerance.

-AG