Defending the Revolution

That photogenic populist, Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador, is in Cuba this week.

First the papers here in Ecuador reported he was going there for vacation with his family--I would too, if it weren't such a hassle. Later, the papers mentioned he'd be getting a medical check-up while there. Strange. Ecuador has good doctors and, as president, you'd think Correa could pretty much get whatever medical care he might need right here. (I wonder what Ecuador's doctors think about this?) The latest report from Cuba shows Correa in a tete-a-tete with a very hale Fidel Castro.

It is no secret Correa is an admirer of Cuba--he is firmly in the left-field of Latin leaders--and in this he's joined by most of his countrymen, who tend to feel rather kindly towards Cuba. This doesn't bother me. What does trouble me, however, is Correa's recent decision to bring a peculiar Cuban innovation to Ecuador. Which of Cuba's attributes does he have in mind? Cuba's vaunted public health system? Its post-secondary education model? The island's excellent disaster response and relief program? Nope. None of the above.

What Correa wants to copy is Cuba's revolutionary defense committees (comites de defensa de la revolucion, or CDR).

The CDR is Cuba's grass-roots spying program, in which neighbors report on each other to the government which, thereby, knows the whereabouts and doings of each person in every corner of the country. This neighborhood network has been one of the most effective organs of repression in Cuba since it was founded shortly after the revolution. The CDR was designed, in Fidel Castro's words, to be "a collective system of revolutionary vigilance" and to report on "who lives on every block, what everyone does, what relations each has with tyrants, and with whom each person meets." Yikes!

The other country in the region that has adopted Cuba's revolutionary defense committees is Venezuela. And what has happened there since Hugo Chavez instituted them? He has gone from being a one-term, interim president, to someone who seems to covet a sojourn in office that can only be described as Castrian. So far, he's at year eleven of his "revolutionary" reign and showing no signs of stepping down soon.

So, why would Correa want to replicate the creepy CDR program in Ecuador? And exactly what revolution is he so concerned about protecting?

Ecuador's "revolution" was a quiet one. In fact, it was no revolution at all. Correa may call it the "Citizen's Revolution" (la revolucion ciudadana) but it was really a series of populist reforms he instituted after his election two years ago, including a massive public works program, changes to the labor laws, etc. The culmination was a successful referendum to draft a new constitution, which was hastily done and rushed to a vote in a cowed--and soon to be disbanded--Congress. No Federalist Papers here, no provincial ratifying conventions, just Correa in the bully pulpit hammering away with the rhetoric of the citizen's revolution.

But now, Correa is concerned these changes may be at risk. In a recent speech, he warned the citizen's revolution is in jeopardy to unnamed elites in Ecuador. But what elites is he talking about? The right wing, business-dominated party that long controlled the county is in tatters after the death last year of its ancient and wizened leader. The press seldom criticizes Correa, so awed are they by his popularity and communication skills. He's changed the constitution and sacked the entire Congress; its successor, the national assembly, is full of Correa's political allies. So, with the assembly in his back pocket, a new constitution, a nearly silent press, and sky-high approval ratings, one wonders what Correa is so afraid of.

The answer, it appears, is Honduras. The revolutionary defense committees, he says, are necessary to prevent what happened in Honduras from happening in Ecuador. Correa is referring to the recent ousting of Honduras's populist president, Manual Zelaya, by the military--on the orders of the country's Congress, it should be pointed out--to prevent him from holding an illegal referendum to change the constitution. Correa is wagering that if he can effectively organize his supporters into neighborhood cells as in Cuba and Venezuela he'll be able to avoid being overthrown should his Assembly ever turn on him. (See those defenders of revolution, the red-scarfed Chavez and the dapper Correa, left.)

I asked a few Quitenos what they think of the revolutionary defense committees proposal.

"I think it is all a joke," said one woman. "He's just trying to take our minds off his other problems."

By other problems, she's referring to 1) allegations Correa's brother has been receiving preferential treatment in bidding for government contracts and 2) revelations Colombia's FARC guerrilla movement funneled money to Correa's presidential campaign. Given those headaches--particularly the second one--I'd probably be trying to change the debate, too.

But what about those scary revolutionary defense committees, I asked? Would these work in Ecuador? After all, they have been very successful in helping Chavez keep a vice-grip on power in Venezuela.

"This isn't Venezuela," said another Ecuadorian. "Venezuela's people have never overthrown a president. We do it all the time. We go into the streets. We'll do it again if he isn't careful."

Hmm. Perhaps President Correa does have something to worry about after all.

Is this what's worrying Rafael Correa?