Analysis of Ecuador’s President dismissing military high command

By José Hernández on February 13, 2016 Analysis

Rafael Correa has dismissed the military high command; cut short the career of ten generals; provoked protest from those in passive military service; and mobilized his supporters to take to the streets arguing that “coups will not happen” … all this for an administrative problem worth a total of $41 million and created by his own Government.
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It’s not the first time the Ecuadorian President has created an institutional crisis by the peculiar way he and his Government have asserted their political expediency on legal procedures or common sense mechanisms. One only has to remember the police revolt of September 30, 2010, where law enforcement officers protested against a Public Service law. The President, after a knee operation, descended upon the barracks, triggering discontent and challenging the police to end his life. This event left 5 people dead and a couple of hundred injured.

SPEAK SPANISH LIKE AN ECUADORIAN – SPANISH SLANG ECUADOR

This time, the problem relates to a matter which, under normal circumstances, should never be dealt with on a presidential level. Five years ago, the Ministry of Environment bought a piece of land in the city of Guayaquil from the Social Security Institute of the Armed Forces (ISSFA). The land was calculated to be worth $48 million, according to standards from the National Appraisal & Land Registry Office. After a review, last November the Office found that the sale should have been made according to the municipal assessment of just $7.3 million. To deal with the impasse, the President decided to order the transfer of $41 million from the accounts of the military health facility to the State. An illegal intervention by all accounts, as the Attorney General had already outlined the available options for resolving the problem: either the parties could reach an agreement; or the military could take legal action, considering that the deal had been made according to the laws of the market and that the President’s actions had harmed the assets of the health fund and its members. These options were rejected by the Government. Read Article

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