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