Washington Post: Let's Punish Ecuador (Again)

[Judi Lynn]

Washington Post: Let's Punish Ecuador (Again)
By Peter Hart
June 25 2013

Today the Washington Post editorial page (6/25/13) slammed Ecuador for daring to consider an asylum request from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Post declared:

"When it comes to anti-American chutzpah, there's no beating Rafael Correa, the autocratic leader of tiny, impoverished Ecuador."

Correa is the overwhelmingly popular, democratically elected president of a country that has experienced remarkable growth over his time in office. The Post, clearly missing its old left-wing Latin American target, sneers that "replacing the deceased Hugo Chavez as the hemisphere's preeminent anti-U.S. demagogue" is Correa's mission.

The paper slams Correa's record on press freedom, and notes that there is a solution here for the United States:

"Some might find it awkward to be granting sanctuary to one country's self-proclaimed whistleblower while stifling their own. Not Mr. Correa, who for years has been campaigning against the United States while depending on it to prop up his economy with trade preferences. Thanks to the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Protection Act, Ecuador–which uses the dollar as its currency–is able to export many goods to the United States duty-free, supporting roughly 400,000 jobs in a country of 14 million people.

As it happens, the preferences will expire next month unless renewed by Congress. If Mr. Correa welcomes Mr. Snowden, there will be an easy way to demonstrate that Yanqui-baiting has its price."

More:
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/06/25/washington-post-lets-punish-ecuador-again/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=washington-post-lets-punish-ecuador-again

[ocpagu]

1. The Washington Post wouldn't miss an opportunity like that.

Since their enthusiastic campaign in favor of the neocon war on Iraq, they must have realized how profitable it is to serve the interests of the US foreign policy and its military-industrial complex. They haven't improved their writing skills during this time, though.

What an exotic idea: punish Ecuador with economic retaliation over an asylum request, while proceeding to say that the "Latin American populist autocrats" are the irrational ones, lol... neocons are disgusting.