Yesterday police in Ecuador tried to seize control of the capital Quito as part of a failed attempt to overthrow the left wing President Rafael Correa.

Most of the mainstream media has reported the rebellion as being a protest at “austerity measures”, but there’s lots of evidence that something more sinister is going on. On Wednesday the government passed a law which restricted bonuses automatically given to cops on promotion. However, the government has actually doubled the real wages of the police over the last four years, meaning that they wouldn’t be losing money -- it was part of an effort to reduce bureaucracy. Many, including President Correa and his ministers, have been suggesting the protest was in fact a cover for an attempt to seize power by the right wing opposition, headed by former President Lucio Gutierrez, who was himself overthrown by a popular uprising of people angry at his neoliberal policies in 2005. Further evidence that this was a coup attempt is found in the co-ordinated planning of the plotters, with members of the airforce seizing control of the capital’s airport while cops attacked the parliament building.

After the coup plotters had shut down the airport and several important highways, President Correa went down to the main police barracks to attempt a dialogue with them. As he explained himself later:

“This morning, we were, as is our custom, going to have a dialogue to explain to them what we wanted to do, for no one has supported the police or improved their salaries as much as our government, but seeing the reaction I felt betrayed by them.  There I realized who was behind it: some of them called me ‘a liar” and said that Lucio [Gutiérrez] had given them more support.”

Then, in a display of rampant badassery, he shouted at them “If you want to kill the President here I am. I will not take one step back, come and kill me if you have the guts.”

The cops responded by pelting him with tear gas and stones, forcing him to take refuge in a hospital where they put him under siege. However, by this point crowds of ordinary people were out on the streets to defend the government, and were trying to fight off the attackers. From a balcony, he tore off his tie and shouted “”If they want me, here I am. I leave here as president of a worthy country or they take me out as a corpse.” (See 1:50 into the video below. Somehow, you just can’t see David Cameron or Gordon Brown acting this awesome, can you?)

However, the rebellion was already starting to unravel, as the high command of the military made absolutely clear they remained loyal to the government. After sunset, troops started to move in on the besieged hospital, and, firing on the rebel police with automatic rifles and stun grenades, burst through their lines and rescued the President, taking him to the Presidential palace.

From there he addressed crowds of supporters, declaring:

“I give so much thanks to those heroes who accompanied me through this hard journey. Despite the danger, being surrounded, ministers and politicians came, to die if necessary. With that bravery, with that loyalty, nothing can defeat us.”

He said he hoped the events of the day would serve “as an example to those who want to bring a change and stop the citizens’ revolution without going through the polls”. He added that he “would not forgive nor forget what had happened”, and that there would have to be a “deep cleansing of the national police.”

The coup attempt was universally denounced by Latin American leaders, and, as Fidel Castro predicted earlier in the day, was so unsuccessful that even the Obama administration was forced to condemn it. However, that shouldn’t blind us to the possible role of the US in supporting the Ecuadorian right. Last year the US government initially came out against the right wing coup against democratically elected Honduran President Manual Zelaya, only to endorse the coup regime at the earliest opportunity when it tried to stage fake elections to give itself legitimacy. Research later found that US agencies such as the Millenium Challenge Corporation had been pouring money into Honduras in the months running up to the coup, and after it had been violating the ban on funding the coup regime. It’ll be interesting to see what real investigative reporters are able to dig up about Ecuador in coming weeks.

Rafael Correa was elected in 2007. In power, he followed the path mapped out by Venezuela and followed by radical governments in other Latin American countries such as Bolivia in convening a constituent assembly to write a new constitution and refound the country. He was relected under the new constitution last year. The Ecuadorian constitution is one of the most progressive in the world, since it had strong input from Ecuador’s social movements such as the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE). This means its particularly strong on ecological issues: nature is recognised as having rights as part of the constitution, as is the human right to water and the demand for food sovereignty. The constitution also recognises the indigenous concept of “sumak kawsay” or “living well.” The government has also embarked on significant programmes of wealth redistribution.

The Justice League of Latin America: Correa with Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales

However, there are real contradictions, along lines that are familiar to anyone who’s read about the struggles of social movements and indigenous people in Bolivia. There is a tension for the government between recognising the rights of indigenous people and the environment, and the need for Ecuador to develop economically in order to be able to stand independent of control by the US and the developed world. Many activists who were initially supportive of the government feel that they have got the balance wrong, favouring mining and oil extraction over people and the biosphere. This is reflected in the fact that yesterday CONAIE declared they were neither with the coup plotters or the government. As Al Giordano of Narco News puts it:

“The situation thus also shines a light on the growing rift in the hemisphere between the statist left and the indigenous left and related autonomy and labor movements. The CONAIE is basically saying to Correa, ‘you want our support, then enact the agenda you were elected on.’

. . .The CONAIE’s grievances happen to be very legitimate. Of course, they do not justify a coup d’etat, but the CONAIE is not participating in or supporting the coup d’etat. It is saying to Correa; we’ll have your back, when you have ours.”

That said however, there’s no doubt that the defeat of yesterday’s coup should be celebrated. The motives of the rampaging cops wasn’t protection of the biosphere or indigenous rights, but rather a return to the naked neoliberalism, racism and slavish obedience of US imperialism that characterised Ecuadorian governments in the past. Their victory would have been a victory for Latin American capitalists and oligarchs; for the fascist terrorists of the Cuban exile movement and their new pals the Venezuelan exiles; for organised crime and narcoterrorists like the Colombian far right; and for US imperialism and the CIA. While Rafael Correa may not be perfect, his government has changed things radically in Ecuador for the better, and that’s why thousands of people came out on the streets yesterday to successfully defend him.

Ecuadorian cops thought they were the shit, but they reckoned without being outclassed by THE PRESIDENT

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