Ecuadorâs Pseudo-Left Candidate Yaku PĂ©rez Echoes Call for Military Takeover, Nullifying Election, Prosecuting top Candidate
By Ben Norton – Mar 10, 2021
An Ecuadorian presidential candidate from a US-backed party, Yaku PĂ©rez, has requested a military takeover and nullification of election results to prevent the popular socialist Correista movement from returning to power.
Ecuadorâs third-place presidential candidate, Yaku PĂ©rez Guartambel, has called for direct military intervention in his countryâs political system, requesting a purge of electoral authorities and a nullification of the results of the February 7 election that he lost.
PĂ©rez has also demanded that Ecuadorâs corrupt and undemocratic LenĂn Moreno government immediately issue a legal judgment against the socialist-oriented candidate AndrĂ©s 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 PĂ©rezâs 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 nationâs 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 PĂ©rezâs post follows at the bottom of this article.
Academics who signed open letter supporting Yaku PĂ©rez distance themselves from him
In late February, a group of prominent academics signed a lie-filled open letter defending Yaku PĂ©rez, outlandishly smearing this present journalist as a âracist and sexist,â and calling for The Grayzoneâs factual reporting exposing PĂ©rez to be censored. The Grayzone documented how several of the signatories, like PĂ©rez, supported the US-backed far-right military coup against Boliviaâs 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 PĂ©rez after his call for a military takeover of his countryâs democracy.
Some of the signatories have responded by distancing themselves from PĂ©rez.
The renowned critical theorist Judith Butler replied to The Grayzone writing, âPlease know that I do not support the coup or the current âpresident.â 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.â
If at first you donât succeed, try, try again⊠to overturn the election results
Yaku PĂ©rezâs intentions could not be any clearer: He wants to prevent Ecuadorâs popular socialist and anti-imperialist Correista movement, led by former President Rafael Correa and represented by Arauz, from returning to power democratically.
PĂ©rez said so clearly, writing in his Facebook post that âthe soldiers from the Armed Forces should intervene in the polls to give clarity to the elections and thus avoid the return of Correismo.â
When journalist Marco Teruggi reported on PĂ©rezâs request for military intervention in Ecuadorâs democracy, warning that it represents âsigns of desperation and a threat to democracy,â PĂ©rez replied with another conspiracy theory.
According to PĂ©rez, Rafael Correa and the right-wing politician Jaime Nebot âcontrol the CNE,â or National Electoral Council. In reality, the electoral body is led by a member of PĂ©rezâs own political party; CNE President Diana Atamaint is a former National Assembly member from PĂ©rezâs Pachakutik.
No señor @Marco_Teruggi ,@MashiRafael y @jaimenebotsaadi controlan al #CNE las cåmaras y poderes fåcticos. Yo pido fortalecer la #democracia si queda algo luego del fraude electoral, y como?Respetando la voluntad popular, transparentado las #Elecciones2021Ec y abriendo las urnas https://t.co/45WCXginDX
— Yaku PĂ©rez Guartambel (@yakuperezg) March 10, 2021
Whatâs more, the CNE had been corrupted by the LenĂn 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 Arauzâs political party, and even forbade candidates from using images of Correa in their campaign ads.
Contrary to what PĂ©rez claimed, the Moreno government purged the CNE of anyone sympathetic to Correismo and filled it entirely with opposition figures from anti-Correista parties, including PĂ©rezâs Pachakutik, the right-wing CREO party of banker Guillermo Lasso, and the conservative Social Christian Party of Jaime Nebot.
RELATED CONTENT: Ecuador: from Horror and Grief to Electoral Debate and Corruption
Yet PĂ©rez insisted in his tweet that, by calling for the military to take over the Ecuadorian election, âI am calling for strengthening democracy.â
Because he came in third place in the February 7 vote, PĂ©rez 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, PĂ©rez formed a short-lived friendship with the second-place candidate, the right-wing banker Lasso. The two worked with Ecuadorâs National Electoral Council (CNE) to organize a recount of the vote.
But this anti-Correista alliance of convenience quickly fell apart when Lassoâs lead was officially confirmed and he dropped his request for a recount.
So then PĂ©rez 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 Ecuadorâs Electoral Tribunal (TCE).
Now that his antics have failed, PĂ©rez has desperately resorted to echoing a call for a military takeover.
âAnti-corruptionâ 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 Ecuadorâs first and only ever âSuper Minister of the Economyâ during a 1999 financial crash that destroyed the countryâs 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 Ecuadorâs Anti-Corruption Commission, a highly politicized body that has been used by the current, deeply undemocratic government of President LenĂn Moreno to pursue legal warfare, or lawfare, against former President Correa and followers of his leftist Citizensâ Revolution movement.
Moreno was also exposed for stealing millions of dollars worth of public money, in a leak known as the INA Papers. Morenoâs blatant corruption, neoliberal reforms, and authoritarian crackdown on all political opposition have earned him an 8 percent approval rating.
Espinosa Corderoâs article calling for a military takeover of Ecuadorâs 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 âangry,â whereas just 2 percent were âhappy.â
PĂ©rez endorsing a conservative punditâs 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 PĂ©rezâs translated Facebook post calling for a military takeover in Ecuador
Yaku PĂ©rezâs March 9 Facebook post is translated in full below:
SimĂłn 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:
1.- That there is an immediate judicial judgement on the supposed funding that Mr. Arauz has received from criminals;
2.- 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;
3.- 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;
4.- The immediate intervention of the comptrollerâs office in the information systems of the current electoral apparatus, as has already been requested;
5.- The immediate intervention of the attorney generalâs office in the proceedings and facts that have caused social alarm, as has already been requested.
Featured image:Â Ecuador’s coup-supporting “environmentalist” presidential candidate at a rally in February 2021 (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
