Ecuadors pseudo-left candidate Yaku Pérez echoes call for military
takeover, nullifying election, prosecuting top candidate
BEN NORTON·MARCH 10, 2021 The Grayzone
An Ecuadorian presidential candidate from a US-backed party, Yaku Pérez, has
requested a military takeover and nullification of election results to
prevent the popular socialist Correista movement from returning to power.
Ecuadors third-place presidential candidate, Yaku Pérez Guartambel, has
called for direct military intervention in his countrys political system,
requesting a purge of electoral authorities and a nullification of the
results of the February 7 election that he lost.
Pérez has also demanded that Ecuadors corrupt and undemocratic Lenín Moreno
government immediately issue a legal judgment against the socialist-oriented
candidate Andrés Arauz, who won the first round of the presidential election
in a landslide, in an effort to disqualify him based on a debunked
conspiracy alleging he received money from Colombian socialist guerrillas in
the ELN.
The Grayzone has documented how the Pachakutik party of Pérez has received
support from the US government, and how the candidate has misleadingly
portrayed himself as a progressive environmentalist while pushing for
right-wing policies and US-backed coups targeting democratically elected
left-wing governments across Latin America.
Given Pérezs backing of military coups in neighboring countries, perhaps it
comes as no surprise that the candidate has echoed a call for a military
takeover of his own nations democracy.
In a post on his official Facebook page on March 9, Pérez endorsed an
extremely controversial article that demands that the Ecuadorian military
take over, that Arauz be tried, that all of the members of the National
Electoral Council be replaced, and that the first round of the election be
nullified.
A full translation of Pérezs post follows at the bottom of this article.
Academics who signed open letter supporting Yaku Pérez distance themselves
from him
In late February, a group of prominent academics signed a lie-filled open
letter defending Yaku Pérez, outlandishly smearing this present journalist
as a racist and sexist, and calling for The Grayzones factual reporting
exposing Pérez to be censored. The Grayzone documented how several of the
signatories, like Pérez, supported the US-backed far-right military coup
against Bolivias democratically elected Indigenous socialist President Evo
Morales in 2019.
The Grayzone contacted some of the most prominent signatories with a request
for comment, inquiring if they still stand by the letter and support Pérez
after his call for a military takeover of his countrys democracy.
Some of the signatories have responded by distancing themselves from Pérez.
The renowned critical theorist Judith Butler replied to The Grayzone
writing, Please know that I do not support the coup or the current
president. My concern was only to defend eco-feminism as I know it, the
important work on indigenous cultures and languages. I have been dismayed to
learn that my signing of that document translates into support for Yaku
Perez. I do not support Yaku Perez and never have.
If at first you dont succeed, try, try again
to overturn the election
results
Yaku Pérezs intentions could not be any clearer: He wants to prevent
Ecuadors popular socialist and anti-imperialist Correista movement, led by
former President Rafael Correa and represented by Arauz, from returning to
power democratically.
Pérez said so clearly, writing in his Facebook post that the soldiers from
the Armed Forces should intervene in the polls to give clarity to the
elections and thus avoid the return of Correismo.
When journalist Marco Teruggi reported on Pérezs request for military
intervention in Ecuadors democracy, warning that it represents signs of
desperation and a threat to democracy, Pérez replied with another
conspiracy theory.
According to Pérez, Rafael Correa and the right-wing politician Jaime Nebot
control the CNE, or National Electoral Council. In reality, the electoral
body is led by a member of Pérezs own political party; CNE President Diana
Atamaint is a former National Assembly member from Pérezs Pachakutik.
Whats more, the CNE had been corrupted by the Lenín Moreno government and
has shown extreme bias against the Correista movement. In the current
election, it blocked Correa from participating as a vice presidential
candidate, banned Arauzs political party, and even forbade candidates from
using images of Correa in their campaign ads.
Contrary to what Pérez claimed, the Moreno government purged the CNE of
anyone sympathetic to Correismo and filled it entirely with opposition
figures from anti-Correista parties, including Pérezs Pachakutik, the
right-wing CREO party of banker Guillermo Lasso, and the conservative Social
Christian Party of Jaime Nebot.
Yet Pérez insisted in his tweet that, by calling for the military to take
over the Ecuadorian election, I am calling for strengthening democracy.
Because he came in third place in the February 7 vote, Pérez will not go to
the run-off on April 11. So he has resorted to a slew of undemocratic
tactics to try to get the election that he lost reversed.
First, when the results were initially not clear, Pérez formed a short-lived
friendship with the second-place candidate, the right-wing banker Lasso. The
two worked with Ecuadors National Electoral Council (CNE) to organize a
recount of the vote.
But this anti-Correista alliance of convenience quickly fell apart when
Lassos lead was officially confirmed and he dropped his request for a
recount.
So then Pérez cried fraud, without presenting a shred of evidence. He
subsequently convened a deeply suspicious private meeting on a street under
cover of night with a briefcase-wielding judge from Ecuadors Electoral
Tribunal (TCE).
Now that his antics have failed, Pérez has desperately resorted to echoing a
call for a military takeover.
Anti-corruption official who supports corrupt candidates calls for
military intervention
The article that Yaku Pérez endorsed was written by Simón Espinosa Cordero,
a former Catholic priest turned conservative media columnist. In the 2017
election, Espinosa openly supported right-wing candidate Guillermo Lasso,
who is once again running in the current election.
Lasso, a wealthy banker, served as Ecuadors first and only ever Super
Minister of the Economy during a 1999 financial crash that destroyed the
countrys economy, bankrupting millions. And he has himself been credibly
accused of stealing huge sums of money and hiding it in offshore accounts.
Despite his open support for corrupt candidates, Espinosa Cordero is a
member of Ecuadors Anti-Corruption Commission, a highly politicized body
that has been used by the current, deeply undemocratic government of
President Lenín Moreno to pursue legal warfare, or lawfare, against former
President Correa and followers of his leftist Citizens Revolution movement.
Moreno was also exposed for stealing millions of dollars worth of public
money, in a leak known as the INA Papers. Morenos blatant corruption,
neoliberal reforms, and authoritarian crackdown on all political opposition
have earned him an 8 percent approval rating.
Espinosa Corderos article calling for a military takeover of Ecuadors
democracy set off a massive scandal inside the country. It was published by
the major right-wing newspaper El Comercio, which has a feature on its
websites that allows readers to rate its articles with an emotion. The
nearly 5,000 replies reflect the mood inside Ecuador: 97 percent of the
responses said they were angry, whereas just 2 percent were happy.
Pérez endorsing a conservative pundits call for a military takeover of
Ecuadorian democracy is one of many examples that show his true political
colors, exposing his claim to be a progressive environmentalist to be little
more than cynical marketing.
Yaku Pérezs translated Facebook post calling for a military takeover in
Ecuador
Yaku Pérezs March 9 Facebook post is translated in full below:
Simón Espinoza, a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, emphasizes that
the soldiers from the Armed Forces should intervene in the polls to give
clarity to the elections and thus avoid the return of Correismo, his article
emphasizes the following.
Therefore, we suggest that the Armed Forces protect our rights to elect and
be elected without tricks. It will thus fulfill its obligation to defend us
without asking permission from anyone, given we are facing a grave case. It
will be able to do this by means of a constitutional declaration that
includes the following:
That there is an immediate judicial judgement on the supposed funding that
Mr. Arauz has received from criminals;
That all of the members of the National Electoral Council be replaced by
their alternates or substitutes, to not rupture the institutionality of the
law;
That nullifies the first round of the election and that the same candidates
do it again under the direct intervention of national or international
organizations that offer absolute certainty in the proceedings; or absent
this, that the count is totally redone, under the same conditions of
control, observation, and intervention by organizations that offer full
guarantee of the process;
The immediate intervention of the comptrollers office in the information
systems of the current electoral apparatus, as has already been requested;
The immediate intervention of the attorney generals office in the
proceedings and facts that have caused social alarm, as has already been
requested.
