Tough on Foreign Interests: How Ecuador Did It

Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador, said last Saturday that his leftist government is able to freeze some assets coming from Repsol (a Spanish oil company) and Perenco (a French oil company) in order to look for payments of some pending debts. President Rafael Correa is facing reelection this coming April 26 2009 and is very popular with his Ecuadorean people. They love him because of his very tough stance when it comes to foreign interest as he believes it interferes with the OPEC nation’s affairs. President Rafael Correa has some very tough actions when it comes to the foreign governments and the investors ever since he took to office last 2007.

A History of Correa’s Tough-Guy Moves

On his first year of presidency, President Correa ended up shocking investors because had taken almost all of the additional revenues which oil companies had generated right above their set benchmark price for every barrel that was extracted. The hike of the windfall tax of Correa ended up sparking a slew of international lawsuits because companies were outraged at such a violation on the measure of their contracts. Additionally, Correa also expelled a United States embassy official sometime in early February. This was his move after accusing the man of meddling in the affairs of his country. Such an action made by Correa had not yet frayed the ties he has with Washington because the official that came from the United States had already decided to leave even before Correa had a chance to order his expulsion. Just last December, President Correa had adamantly refused to pay back the three point two billion dollars worth of foreign debt that were made over charges that the bonds are linked to the corrupt former official as well as the fact that their terms were deemed to be unfair. He had always threatened to stay defaulted on the global bonds of Ecuador.

More Moves from President Correa

In a dramatic move, President Correa even vowed that he would end up cutting off his right arm if he were to extend a lease that was slated to expire this 2009. This was a lease on the coastal air base which the United States troops had utilized for their anti-narcotics missions. He had also said that he will allow the United States soldiers to remain at the base but only is Washington will allow the troops of Ecuador to be stationed in the state of Miami. He had also broken off their ties with Colombia and ended up sending troops to the border right after the Colombian commandos had raided one leftist rebel camp in Ecuador in March 2008. He also refused to mend the ties with Colombia as he said that President Uribe did not do his share of protecting the border and preventing Colombian rebels from going to Ecuador.