MEDIA REACTION: ECUADOR RELATIONS WITH

UNCLAS QUITO 001841

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, WHA, WHA/AND, WHA/PDA
DIRONDCP FOR PA
EMBASSIES FOR PAO/IO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL OPRC KIRC KPAO EC
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: ECUADOR RELATIONS WITH
VENEZUELA

"Take Advantage, Ecuador," a column (08/09) by
Gonzalo Ortiz Crespo in Quito's leading centrist "El
Comercio" (circ. 70,000)

Quote: "A statement that no one can argue about is
that Ecuador must take advantage of all economic
options available that can used to benefit its
population. Today it seems that Venezuelan
President, Hugo Chavez, is offering various options
to Ecuador, which, using absolutely pragmatic
criteria, the government of Alfredo Palacio must take
advantage of. . . .

"Chavez is not doing this out of altruism, we know
that. He is doing it to increase his geopolitical
weight in the region, displaying the populism he uses
in his country at an international level. . . .

"The Venezuelan opposition, weak and fragmented, says
that everything is wrong since Chavez ascended to
power. It is not true: a lot was already wrong
before Chavez, especially the fierce concentration of
wealth. And neither it is true that Chavez has not
done anything good. . . . The problem is that poverty
still exists in Venezuela . . . despite the hundreds
of millions of dollars that the government receives
each day from the sale of its oil. . . .This is
because Chavez populism has not changed, nor does it
pretend to change, structures...

MEMMOTT