Violent right-wing protests erupted in Ecuador on June 8, sparked by plans for a new inheritance tax law that would target the richest 2% of the population.
In response, President Rafael Correa agreed to temporarily halt two planned laws to carry out a nationwide debate on inequality and wealth redistribution 鈥 challenging the opposition to prove his government's laws would hurt the poor.
On June 18, Correa took to social media to start the debate, asking: 鈥淗ow can we call a country a 'democracy' if less than 2% of families own 90 percent of big businesses?鈥
Ecuador
Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa has called for dialogue with his country's right-wing opposition amid a wave of protests over proposed reforms aimed at taxing the rich.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for an urgent meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to discuss tensions and possible coup plots against the government of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
鈥淚t's time for us to activate all our solidarity with the people of Ecuador and with President Rafael Correa,鈥 Maduro said on June 13 during an event in the Venezuelan state of Miranda. The call comes after Correa denounced a coup plot being hatched against him as he returned to the country on June 14 from the European Union-CELAC meeting in Brussels.
As opponents of Ecuador's President Rafael Correa made calls on social media for a military coup, a caravan of vehicles by right-wing protestors descended on the highway leading to Quito's international airport on June 14 in a bid to block Correa from being able to safely return to the country.
Social media posts called on those opposed to Correa's democratically-elected government to flood the highway and try to take the airport. Pro-opposition newspaper El Comercio said more than 200 cars participated in the convoy.
Ecuador鈥檚 President Rafael Correa announced radical plans to support asylum-seekers and stateless people. Ecuador鈥檚 socialist government is proposing a new law to make all migrants legal in the country.
Correa said during his weekly address: 鈥淭he right to migrate is guaranteed in the rules. No human being will be considered illegal.鈥
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa announced on May 16 that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will provide assistance to the thousands of Asian immigrants stranded off the coast of Thailand.
鈥淭his world is crazy, it shows a total disregard for human life to have people stranded on a boat, dying of starvation without being allowed to get off the boat,鈥 Correa stated during his weekly presidential address.
President Rafael Correa led some 55,000 workers into Santo Domingo plaza. Photo: TeleSUR.
May Day celebrations in Quito took on a divided political nature with two marches happening simultaneously, .
The revolutionary 鈥淭he Law for Labour Justice and Recognition of Work from Home,鈥 was passed by Ecuador's National Assembly on April 14, . The law, which was first proposed by President Rafael Correa on November 15 to about 100,000 workers, passed by 91 votes to 29. The law will extend the benefits of the social security system to all Ecuadoreans wishing to be affiliated.
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela began his visit to Panama City for the Summit of the Americas with a visit to the impoverished neighbourhood of El Chorrillo to lay a wreath at the monument to those killed by the US bombing of the community during the 1989 US invasion of Panama.
The seventh Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City on April 10 and 11, was widely hailed as a victory for left-leaning and progressive forces in the region, particularly Venezuela and Cuba.
Ecuador has lifted 1.3 million people out of poverty in the past eight years, a new survey revealed on April 13, .
The results of the first 鈥淪urvey of Living Conditions in Ecuador鈥 showed that poverty has fallen by one third. It also revealed that 900,000 individuals have been lifted out of extreme poverty, whilst the Gini coefficient, which measures wealth gaps, has dropped 4.8 points since 2006.
Experience proves that left-wing movements can win government, but nevertheless not hold power. Democracy, in other words the exercise of power by the people and for the people, requires much more.
The problem is now being faced in Greece with with radical left party SYRIZA, which won elections in January. It will have to be faced in Spain if the new anti-austerity party Podemos wins November elections.
The Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is an anti-imperialist trading bloc first formed by the left-wing governments of Venezuela and Cuba to promote trade on the basis of solidarity rather than competition.
It has since expanded to include 11 nations, with Venezuela and Cuba joined by Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Honduras was an ALBA member, but was forced to withdraw when a 2009 US-backed coup installed a right-wing dictatorship.
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