Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08QUITO921
2008-09-25 18:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Quito
Cable title:  

CAMPAIGN FOR YES VOTE ON CONSTITUTION COMPELLING

Tags:  PGOV EC 
pdf how-to read a cable
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INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 7756
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 3993
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RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ SEP LIMA 2816
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3819
C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000921 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2018
TAGS: PGOV EC
SUBJECT: CAMPAIGN FOR YES VOTE ON CONSTITUTION COMPELLING

REF: A. QUITO 682

B. QUITO 913

C. QUITO 567

Classified By: Charge Andrew Chritton for reason 1.4 (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L QUITO 000921

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/25/2018
TAGS: PGOV EC
SUBJECT: CAMPAIGN FOR YES VOTE ON CONSTITUTION COMPELLING

REF: A. QUITO 682

B. QUITO 913

C. QUITO 567

Classified By: Charge Andrew Chritton for reason 1.4 (D)


1. (C) Summary: Those planning to vote "yes" in the Sunday
referendum, led by President Correa and his Proud and
Sovereign Fatherland (PAIS) movement, encompass many social
organizations, leftist political parties, and other
Ecuadorians that believe the new constitution will promote
justice, equality, and a better life for all. Some of those
who will vote in favor acknowledge the constitution needs to
be improved, but view the principles included in it as
advances worth supporting. Correa's travels around the
country over the last two months feature a potent mix of
public works inaugurations, promises of assistance, and
constitution salesmanship. The national government has
poured more than $2 million into television and radio ads,
which it says are aimed at making the contents of the new
constitution known to the public. ConGen Guayaquil is
reporting by septel describing the "no" vote supporters,
arguments, and campaign. (End of summary)

TOP TEN ARGUMENTS FOR "YES"


2. (C) The most common arguments we have heard in favor of
approving the new constitution are:

-- It recognizes the Ecuadorian people,s aspirations for
change.

-- It gives the common people a chance to improve their
lives. The Manabi province PAIS coordinator told PolCouns
that before Correa only &professionals8 (meaning the
wealthy and well-educated) had opportunities in Ecuador.

-- It strengthens citizens' rights to health care, social
security, and education (notably free university education).

-- It improves administration of justice and the electoral
system, especially by delinking appointments from political
party influence.

-- It gives citizens a real voice in government decisions
that affect them (through the Social Control and Transparency
function and other mechanisms ) Ref A)

-- It creates a "plurinational" state and recognizes
indigenous justice systems.

-- It promises continued government subsidies to the needy.

-- It establishes the "rights" of nature and commits to
sustainable development (Ref B).

-- It guarantees compliance with the new constitution by
creating a powerful Constitutional Court to interpret it so

the constitution will not be ignored.

-- It is the only way to broaden the political base and
prevent entrenched elites from controlling the country's
social and economic systems.


3. (C) Some advocates for the constitution have focused on
more radical arguments, such as that the constitution will
provide for redistribution of wealth and recover Ecuador's
sovereignty by prohibiting foreign military bases. Generally
these are lesser themes in the "yes" campaign.

PRO-CONSTITUTION "POLITICOS"


4. (SBU) Long before the draft constitution was finalized in
late July, Ecuadorian politicians started to line up for or
against the new constitution. Obviously the Correa
government and his PAIS movement were in the lead in
advocating in favor. PAIS Assembly members we spoke to
following the Constituent Assembly's closing ceremony July 25
all said they would rest for a few days, then planned to
campaign and campaign.


5. (SBU) Other political parties on the "yes" side of the
ledger are the far-left Popular Democratic Movement (MPD),
the Socialist Party, the indigenous political movement
Pachakutik, and individual members of the Democratic Left
party. The latter two parties, and indigenous groups more
broadly, faced challenges in unifying their positions. Some
indigenous leaders unequivocally supported the "yes" vote and
the government, such as Pedro de la Cruz of the National
Federation of Indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, and Peasant
Organizations. Other indigenous leaders wanted to back the
new constitution without necessarily endorsing the Correa
government, given their differences over approval for
extraction of non-renewable resources and other matters (Ref
A). In a statement dated September 4, the most important
indigenous organization, the Confederation of Indigenous
Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE),announced that it would
support the "yes" vote but would continue to be critical of
the government. Indigenous Assembly member Monica Chuji, who
was Communications Secretary at the start of Correa's term,
left PAIS September 17. Meanwhile, the Democratic Left (ID)
party, Ecuador's most important in the 1980s, was divided
over whether to support the new constitution or the null
vote. In the end, ID left its members to vote their own
views without a party position.


6. (C) Of the mayors of Ecuador's three largest cities, only
Quito's Paco Moncayo has said publicly that he views the
provisions in the new constitution as a plus for municipal
autonomy, although he called for clarification of the complex
provisions on local government funding. (He may hope that
his support for the new constitution will persuade PAIS not
to run a candidate against him, but this appears unlikely.)
The majority of the other 220 mayors also support a "yes"
vote. Groups representing 23 of 24 provincial prefects,
apparently expecting increased central government funds to
their areas, have also expressed their backing for the new
constitution.

PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS FOR THE "SI" VOTE


7. (SBU) Transportation workers, unlicensed taxi-drivers,
and street vendors, seeing the GOE as favoring their efforts
to gain recognition and opportunities, all spoke out early in
support of the new constitution. National Educators Union
teachers, labor union federations, women's groups, gay and
lesbian rights supporters, and some student organizations
(e.g., the Federation of University Student of Ecuador),
among others, are also proponents of the "yes" vote. Groups
led by well-known human rights leader Alexis Ponce and
President of the Public Servant's Association Miguel Garcia
were among those that signed a manifesto called "Quito Says
Yes" on August 29.


8. (C) Some business leaders support Correa and the new
constitution because in their view his government has visibly
reduced corruption. For example, Manta port commercial
manager Johny Medranda told Guayaquil pol/econoff that before
this government, he had to pay regular bribes to Social
Christian Party leaders. Under the Correa administration, he
has not been approached by any government officials to pay
bribes.


9. (C) Like the indigenous group CONAIE, some of the other
groups who plan to vote "yes" acknowledge that they see
defects in the document, but believe they are outweighed by
advances overall. For example, AFL/CIO-funded Solidarity
Center's representative Patricio Contreras told poloffs
September 10 that labor unions generally support the new
constitution, but disagree with the restriction on
unionization of public sector workers. Academic and PAIS
Assembly advisor Rafael Quintero expressed displeasure to
PolCouns July 25 when he discovered that the Assembly's
review commission had changed "guaranteeing" food security to
"promoting" it, discarding the language the committee and
plenary had agreed on. A Health Ministry contact told us in
August she did not consider the document perfect, but
welcomed the commitment to increased health care spending.

GOVERNMENT AND PAIS OUT ON THE HUSTLINGS


10. (SBU) President Correa has consistently stated that it is
his moral obligation to campaign for the yes vote, consistent
with the mandate he received from Ecuadorians in 2006. He
has made no bones of the fact that he meets with the PAIS
leadership to plan the campaign during his near-daily
official visits to different cities. During his September 6
radio address, he stated: "It would be immoral for me not to
campaign for the yes vote. But I cannot employ public funds,
I can only use my voice. So yes and 1,000 yeses to the new
constitution!" To support his claim, he cited President
Bush's message of support for McCain during the Republican
Convention. Correa mixes campaigning for the new
constitution with inaugurations of public works and delivery
of agricultural goods and subsidies all over the country.


11. (SBU) Former PAIS Assembly president Alberto Acosta has
campaigned nationwide, extolling the benefits of the new
constitution, but on an individual basis, without hiding the
fact that he and President Correa have not reconciled their
differences (Ref C).


12. (SBU) PAIS organized a large national rally (estimated
participation 150,000) on August 23 in Quito in favor of the
"yes" vote. It is conducting an extensive door-to-door
campaign organized through its provincial, cantonal, and
neighborhood coordinators. The PAIS campaign uses a comic
entitled "The Birth of the New Fatherland," which was
reportedly printed by the GOE's National Secretariat of
Peoples. The comic shows the opposition as green monsters,
with citizens dressed in typical clothing shown beating them.
The comics appears to represent two prominent television
journalists who have discrepancies with Correa as the "the
same old, same old."


13. (SBU) Since the campaign period opened August 14, the
national government has pumped more than $2 million into TV
and radio ads, according to Infomedia. Its ads focused on
constitutional articles on the right to life, heterosexual
marriage, adoption by heterosexual couples, right to
property, freedom of education, and the financial system
(mostly countering criticism from constitutional opponents).
In addition, the government prepared a series of 15 programs
focusing on different themes included in the draft
constitution. Media outlets, initially reluctant, agreed to
broadcast the government's programs in accordance with
existing legislation, not previously enforced, that
guarantees up to one hour per day to the government to
broadcast health and education programs.

COMMENT


14. (C) President Correa and his PAIS movement have outspent
and outcampaigned the organizations supporting the "no" vote.
They have succeeded in translating the dry constitutional
text into issues Ecuadorian citizens care about, like jobs,
education, health care, fairness, and justice. Correa's
personal charisma and plentiful government handouts make him
a potent campaigner. As a result, the only question that
remains on Sunday is the margin of approval for the new
constitution, not the outcome
CHRITTON