Ecuador is holding a referendum and popular consultation that include sensitive aspects for national politics and security. In this context, we invite Ivonne Tellez, international politics expert. teleSUR
00:00Now we go to Ecuador that is also holding a referendum and popular consultation that
00:05include sensitive aspects for national politics and security. In this context, we invite Dr.
00:11Yvonne Tellez, international politics expert. Hi Yvonne, thank you for joining us today.
00:17Hello Alejandra, happy to be here. Yvonne, to begin, how would you describe
00:22the political and social environment in which this referendum is taking place today?
00:28Ecuador is highly divided, mainly due to the polarization that the same government has
00:39been carrying out, because since President Noboa has been in charge, one of the main characteristics
00:47is to exert a kind of a division between those in favor and those against. And in that context,
00:58what the government has done is try to convince the population that those against his ideas or his
01:09initiatives are against democracy, against security, and against the values that he's withstanding. So
01:18it's a highly polarized, but also a highly misinformed population, a highly misinformed group of people
01:28people that do not know very well what's the agenda, the current agenda, because everything has been
01:37wrapped in a sense of propaganda, but not in a real political agenda or a real political program that is
01:49managing the state. So this is what we find that this is what we can see in the streets.
01:59There is a divided opinions between those yes and no against the today's polly in Ecuador. So
02:06I think that's the environment. I also have found, and this is based on research, academic research,
02:16that most of the high ages of the population, I'm talking about people 40 years old and above, are more
02:30more critical of the government, those are alleging for and promoting the no vote, before the most
02:41youngest people and the youngest part of the population, who are the most misinformed. And those are,
02:50I think are the most available for the government propaganda. And those are the ones that have
02:57fallen into this discourse of the yes, of the security of the military races, and all these things that
03:05are being decided today. And Yvonne, speaking about the content of this process, one of the most
03:13controversial points is the possibility of allowing foreign military bases in Ecuador. On your opinion,
03:18what concerns are rising about sovereignty, regional geopolitics and democracy regarding this specific aspect?
03:25Well, I think those, this question is one of the most sensitive, in fact,
03:32because, as you're saying, it's not only a sovereign decision, we're not talking just about
03:39the interest of Ecuador, but geopolitical interests that are being carried out, that are at stake here.
03:49I think in that, in that sense, there seems to be kind of a moderate position, because under these polls or these studies that were being held before today's election, most of the people tended to say no, and tended to, to show that they were going to vote against this one. One, what is at stake? Well, of course,
04:17the fact that Ecuador's sovereignty, because that means that due to also the, the, the, the closeness that Ecuador and the United States have right now, but also, of course, the, the fact that the Ecuador can be
04:33an autonomous country regarding issues that deal with security concerns. The other thing is that, of course, we all know that this is not a legitimate interest of favoring Ecuadorians and favoring their security, but in, on the other sense, what is being held here is a very strong geopolitical interest.
05:01a very strong geopolitical interest to get into the Indo-Pacific Ocean, and to kind of restrain China's
05:09China's
05:11hegemonic
05:13hegemonic
05:15pressure and hegemonic
05:17not just pressure, but just
05:21standing here in the Pacific. So, of course, this
05:25goes under
05:27the geopolitical interest
05:29of the United States,
05:31how it is trying to recover
05:33its hegemonic
05:35hegemonic
05:37power within the Latin America and within
05:39the oceans and especially the Pacific Ocean.
05:43What I think is that
05:45people are getting
05:47or being aware of this because there has been a very strong campaign towards the know towards explaining what is behind those interests.
05:57also because what we've seen historically, and that's also a fact, for example, in Colombia, military bases in our countries do not represent anything.
06:11I mean, do not constrain drug dealing. Also, they do not represent any winnings regarding the drug dealing politics. So, it is, there's something behind that doesn't deal and doesn't mean anything getting better with its presence.
06:35So, the last thing that I want to take into account is that this is prohibited under the Constitution of Ecuador. So, of course, this is what's being decided today because the idea of stating military bases in Ecuador, again, has to go under a constitutional reform and that's what's being decided.
07:00that's what their government is trying to do because this is a prohibition under the Constitution.
07:05Also, another of the aspects of this consultation is the elimination of state funds for political parties. How could this damage small parties and social movements in the country and also representativeness in the country?
07:19Well, there's, of course, I think it's a demand for a technocratic state and a demand for a minimization of the state.
07:34We understand that there have been strong, strong demands of reforming those institutions that sometimes have fallen into corrupt conducts.
07:51But, however, reducing the size of the institutions of the state and reforming, for example, the size of the funds that go for the political parties, that means that that tends to weaken representation, particularly minorities and rural sectors.
08:18It also increases the dominance of the executive. That's already a chronic problem in Ecuador.
08:25And that's also that risks pushing parties toward private and also to opaque funding streams and opaque funding systems.
08:39So, even if these measures try to show a little popular support, what they reflect in reality is a technocratic desire to shrink politics.
08:54And that, of course, in the long term would mean the reduction of accountability.
09:00One last question, Yvonne. In general terms, if this consultation is approved as it is proposed, what would be the implications in terms of human rights for Ecuadorians?
09:12Well, I think that's one of the main concerns. It is indeed because what we've seen is that those measures proposed all tend to weaken the human rights regime, tend to weaken the safeguards and the guarantees that the constitution offers towards citizens and towards specific groups.
09:41There's a high risk of what could happen. We do not know the scenario, but definitely what it is, it is a reality that those measures, all of them and for who are listening to us, excuse me, who are listening to us at the moment, that means that all of them tend to weaken and to restrain and
10:10and to reduce the safeguards, the human rights safeguards.
10:19So, that's a high risk. That's a high risk because there's an issue of sovereignty. There's an issue of the shrinking of the state.
10:33And that means that in that sense, all of the institutional guarantees that are proposed and that have been taken in the constitution and that also have been weakened by those, the current government that we have, tend to lessen the human rights guarantees, the human rights regime.
10:58So, it is a high risk.
10:59So, it is a high risk for the Ecuadorians. We hope that those measures do not have, do not pass.
11:07Because we are, we are, there's a big sector of society that is worried about the outcome.
11:16That will mean also that the executive will gain more and more power and without guarantee, without constitutional safeguards.
11:27That means the risk of abuse and the risk of a growing authoritarianism.
11:39Thank you very much, Yvonne, for joining us today in this crucial moment for Ecuadorians.
11:44Thank you very much.
11:46We are speaking to Dr. Yvonne Tellez, international politics expert in the context of Ecuador's referendum and popular consultation underway in Ecuador today.
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