Beggars Seated On A Sack Of Gold?

"We can't be beggars seated on a sack of gold." One of the slogans of the President of Ecuador – Rafael Correa, who has announced that Ecuador will be cooperating with Peru and Columbia in fighting opposition to mining.

Since coming to power on a populist vote Correa has overseen the adoption of a new national constitution, which includes legal recognition of the rights for protecting the Mother Earth, for protecting the environment. But this has not headed off social unrest in response to plans for large scale mining in eco-sensitive areas. More recently Correa has been accused of taking the side of the wealthy elite while Campesino communities see their way of life and their livelihoods threatened by water pollution and loss of land to mines.

According to reports on the Mines and Communities web-site, earlier this year police in Ecuador arrested a number of activists who were meeting to plan the ‘People’s March for Water, Life and Dignity'. The police were apparently challenged to find good evidence of crimes under Ecuador’s broad anti-terrorism laws and some Che Guevara tee-shirts, amongst other items, were later presented as proof of ‘terrorist' intentions. This struck a chord because in my eco-thriller novel ‘Wounded Mountain' I had placed one of the lead female characters in a Che Guevara tee-shirt. I hadn’t thought of the fictional character as a terrorist, but she certainly was committed to a cause. Of course, you see the iconic tee-shirts on sale everywhere.

In the UK mention of the President of Ecuador brings to mind WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and his provocative addresses from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London after taking asylum from answering bail for questioning on rape and sexual assault allegations made in Sweden.

A BBC news item reports the Ecuadorian ambassador as recently saying of Assange: "At a time of year when people come closer together, Ecuador reaffirms the solidarity that our country gave six months ago to a person who was being persecuted for thinking and expressing themselves freely. Julian has become a guest in this house that we all have learned to appreciate… Often it is necessary, as we have done in our beloved country, to stand up and face those enemies of democracy that, far from seeking unity and peace among the citizens of the world, instead seek to ruin socialist peoples and dominate on behalf of small groups of people."

So they feel it is right to express solidarity with a person they believe was being persecuted for thinking and expressing himself freely…but not with small groups who they decide are enemies of their national democracy?

Find Wounded Mountain on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wounded-Mountain-ebook/dp/B00A8GRXVA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356473824&sr=8-2