CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY'S BUSY, SEMI-PRODUCTIVE 4TH

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000307

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2018
TAGS: PGOV ELAB PTER ECON EC CO
SUBJECT: CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY'S BUSY, SEMI-PRODUCTIVE 4TH
MONTH

REF: A. QUITO 223

B. QUITO 221

C. 07 QUITO 2622

D. QUITO 90

E. QUITO 75

Classified By: Acting DCM Douglas Griffiths for reason 1.4 (D)


1. (C) Summary: During its fourth month of work, the
Constituent Assembly actively engaged in drafting
constitutional articles on the judiciary, the electoral
function, and fundamental rights, among other topics, but
failed to approve a single article. Assembly members spent
much of their time dealing with other business, including
granting political pardons to former officials, delaying the
appointment of judges, condemning Colombia's bombing of the
FARC camp on Ecuadorian soil, supporting government efforts
to aid flooding victims, and sorting out a major corruption
case. Disputes over reference to God in the constitution,
abortion and gay marriage are threatening to split the
government bloc. (End Summary)

SOME PROGRESS ON CONSTITUTION, BUT THE GOING IS SLOW
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2. (C) Six committees have now approved some draft text for
the constitution, but no committee has completed all of the
articles for which it is responsible. The deadline to submit
constitutional articles to the plenary is approaching fast,
April 30. Haste could lead to speedy, slopping drafting,
which already caused difficulties with the Assembly's tax law.


3. (SBU) The most progress was made on five articles
submitted by the committee on sovereignty, which will be
debated by the plenary for a second and final time on April 1
(Ref A). The sovereignty committee texts deal with topics
such as natural resources and state property in strategic
sectors, which are also being debated in the biodiversity and
development committees. Assembly member Lucio Paredes
(Futuro Ya party) is among those who have publicly criticized
the lack of coordination between committees with overlapping
jurisdiction.


4. (SBU) Other constitutional articles under discussion
include:

-- Electoral: Separate bodies to organize and regulate
elections, with their members selected on the basis of merit
rather than chosen by the top parties in Congress.

-- Fundamental Rights: Principles of equality and
non-discrimination; fundamental rights are inalienable.
Notably, the state accepts responsibility for paying
compensation when government officials violate citizens'
rights.

-- Labor and production: Elimination of third party contracts
except for functions not integral to a company's product or
mission. Elimination of pregnancy test for hiring, and
elimination of the HIV test requirement in most cases.

-- Regime of development: State to lead and plan development
with the participation of the society.

-- Judiciary: Penalizing acts of corruption, guaranteeing the
economic and political independence of the judicial branch,
and alternative conflict resolution.


5. (SBU) Some members are taking advantage of the
complicated, multi-step process to delay final action on
constitutional texts. The steps are committee approval, a
first plenary debate, committee discussion of the plenary's
observations, a second and final plenary debate followed by
voting, and last but not least, a special commission's review
of the text for clarity.


6. (SBU) While the Constituent Assembly's governing board
increased the workload of Assembly members to try to meet the
Proud and Sovereign Fatherland (PAIS) majority's original May
24 completion goal, a one or more likely two month extension
(allowed under the Assembly statute) seems inevitable.
Assembly Vice President Fernando Cordero stated that if the
constitution making process continued throughout June, the
terms of local officials would have to be extended beyond
October to allow time for the referendum on the new
constitution before other elections.

JACKS OF ALL TRADES
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7. (C) The Constituent Assembly has been distracted from its
primary task of constitution drafting by several ancillary
activities, including passing legislation, issuing pardons
and making political statements.


8. (SBU) The Constituent Assembly passed its fifth
constituent mandate on March 10, which allowed the Customs
Office to distribute seized foodstuffs, clothing, and other
relevant goods to the victims of severe flooding. The GOE
had declared a national emergency on February 20 in response
to flooding.


9. (SBU) Colombia's March 1 cross-border action generated a
prompt reaction from Assembly members, who on March 4
approved a statement supporting the GOE's position on the
issue and condemning the incursion (Ref B). After Colombian
intelligence provided evidence of links between the GOE and
the FARC, the opposition requested that the Assembly carry
out an investigation, but President Correa's PAIS majority
voted the motion down. In mid-March, the press released
pictures of PAIS Assembly member Maria Augusta Calle, chair
of the sovereignty committee, with FARC leaders and members.
Calle told the press that linking her with the FARC was part
of a U.S. campaign to discredit the GOE. The Patriotic
Society Party (PSP) requested that the Assembly investigate
Calle, but the request will certainly be denied. The PAIS
majority accepted Calle's explanation that her former job as
an international journalist exposed her to such meetings.


10. (SBU) At President Correa's request, the Constituent
Assembly granted a pardon on March 10 to former Bank Deposits
Guarantee Agency Manager Alexandra Cantos. Four days later,
the Assembly granted amnesty to over 400 people: postal
workers, individuals involved in the Dayuma incident (Ref C),
and some of those involved in conflicts with mining and
petroleum companies.


11. (SBU) Assembly members also devoted their efforts to
impeding the appointment of judges, citing alleged
irregularities in the selection process. Supreme Court
President Roberto Gomez argued before two Assembly committees
on March 27 that the information available was insufficient
to annul the process. However, Assembly members were not
persuaded and are likely to move forward with cancellation of
the inauguration of new judges.


12. (SBU) Concluding action in response to a scandal that
emerged two months ago (Ref D),a majority of Assembly
members voted on March 26 to suspend PSP member Luis Logrono
for 60 days for alleged vote-buying, effectively leaving him
out of the rest of the Assembly process. An ad-hoc
multiparty commission had recommended a 20-day suspension,
but PAIS pushed for a heavier punishment.

SOCIAL ISSUES TAKE CENTER STAGE
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13. (SBU) The differing views on abortion, sexual minorities,
and whether God should be mentioned in the constitution have
created much controversy and generated huge demonstrations in
Quito and Guayaquil. These issues produced the first serious
fissure within the PAIS bloc, with one member suggesting that
two others resign because they joined a pro-life march with
opposition members. The PAIS solution, as advocated by
President Correa and Assembly president Alberto Acosta, is to
avoid mention of such topics based on the belief that those
themes are not material for a constitution. In his March 29
radio address, President Correa stated that the will of the
majority of Ecuadorians would prevail and expressed his
personal preference for a pro-life approach.

AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A 21ST CENTURY SOCIALIST
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14. (SBU) Professor Heinz Dieterich, the intellectual
godfather of Twenty-First Century Socialism (which President
Correa espouses ) see Ref E),was one of the Assembly's more
notable visitors. He expressed his frustration with
Ecuadorian political realities publicly after meetings with
Assembly members. Dietrich said, "Stating that there is
Twenty-First Century Socialism in Ecuador or that the
President pretends to impose it is really a lie, because
there is no empirical reality that supports such a claim."
In his view, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba had developmentalist
economies, while Ecuador had a social market type of economy.

COMMENT
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15. (C) We expect that the Constituent Assembly will continue
to combine activities related to constitutional drafting with

those that respond to what they see as urgent political
needs. A sixth mandate preventing the subcontracting of
workers is in the making, in addition to four laws that the
legislative committee is currently analyzing. The tight
schedule, continued diversions, lack of clarity regarding
each committee's area of work, and the lack of coordination
among them make it unlikely that a constitution could be
ready by July 29 ) unless the text is imposed by the
executive, as PSP leader Gilmar Gutierrez and many other
critics of President Correa have told us they feared. The
Assembly's ability to approve draft articles for the
constitution over the next month will indeed prove very
telling.
Jewell