MONTECRISTI, Ecuador (AFP) — Leftist President Rafael Correa said Friday that Ecuador was facing a "magical" time, after inaugurating a constitutional assembly that has sacked Congress to make way for his Venezuela-style socialist reforms.
"What's happened in the country is something marvellous, magical, regardless of how the losers take it," Correa told the new assembly, stacked with his followers, that is to rewrite the constitution which the opposition warns will usher in a dictatorship.
Correa dismissed the term "package-coup" used by disgruntled lawmakers for the assembly's first order of business Thursday that included voting Congress into a forced "recess" and re-confirming Correa and his vice president in their offices.
"Now it seems that having a majority in a democracy is something bad, it seems democracy is only good when the usual people win, when there is no danger of any change," Correa said about the 100 sacked lawmakers he branded corrupt and inept.
Lawmakers, who officially went on vacation before they were fired, warned Thursday that Ecuador would incur international sanctions for its anti-democratic actions and accused Correa of seeking to expand his power along the lines of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"The dictatorship's begun," several lawmakers shouted when the assembly voted to fire them. They maintain the assembly's usurpation of Congress' powers is unconstitutional.
Correa said the new constitution, which is to be drawn up in six months and submitted to a referendum, will regulate the economy and modify Congress' prerogative of removing presidents -- Correa's three predecessors were sacked by lawmakers.
He said under the new charter Congress will still be able to remove a president, "but in this case, Congress will also be dissolved and ... early general elections called."
In his speech to some 3,000 followers in this southwestern city and before visiting Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Correa said socialist reforms were around the corner.
"Finally, we have a truly national project, backed by enormous political capital that will allow us to legitimately carry out the changes we've wanted for so long."
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
