President Rafael Correa has concentrated power in Ecuador by strengthening the executive branch and weakening congress and the judiciary through constitutional reforms. He has dismissed political opponents and rules by decree when he sees fit. Correa has been accused of violating civil and political rights through intimidating critics in the media and imposing new restrictions on press freedom. He does not respect the land rights of indigenous peoples or obtain their consent before allowing resource extraction on their traditional lands, contradicting Ecuador's constitution. These actions pose challenges to Ecuador's democracy by diminishing basic human rights and shifting power away from the people.

1. Gabriel Passmore
Political Science 456
Term Paper
12-13-2012
Violations of Civil and Political Rights in Ecuador
In recent years, Ecuador has sustained a series of political set backs and challenges to
its democracy with the election of Rafael Correa. Upon taking office, President Rafael
Correa has managed to concentrate power by strengthening the state and skewing the
separation of powers while giving the executive branch more control over congress and
the judiciary for the purpose of developing checks and balances for his own authority. As
president, Correa has attempted to control the process of constitutional reform through a
referendum that would allow him to rewrite the constitution. While carrying out this
process, Correa tried to “bypass the legislature and consolidate presidential authority with
a special assembly on constitutional reforms”(Cabrera). Correa dismissed half of
Ecuador’s congressmen after they tried to reverse his plan to rewrite the constitution.
After Correa had dismissed his congressional opposition, he won an overwhelming
victory in the referendum to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution
that would increase executive powers while reducing congressional and judicial power.
This change to the constitution gives President Correa an extended term in office and the
power to rule by decree if he sees necessary.
Ecuador’s political opposition has accused Correa of using his enhanced presidential
powers to violate certain civil and political rights in Ecuadorian society. One violation
that challenges the political and civil rights of Ecuador’s democracy is Correa’s

2. intolerance towards the freedom of speech. The Correa administration has been extremely
harsh towards their critics, including the press. Correa was not the first president in
Ecuador’s history to have an appetite to silence free speech and press freedom. Correa’s
predecessor, President Gutierrez took similar measures to attack the freedom of speech
against opponents in the media that actively criticized Gutierrez and his administration.
President Gutierrez ordered executive officials in the Interior Ministry to prepare a law
that would punish any person who expresses criticism towards the government.
In the same year that Correa took office, he “threatened to cancel the broadcasting
license of any television company that conspired against the government”(Latin
American Weekly Report 2007). Correa also had a protestor arrested and imprisoned for
making obscene gestures at the president while he was in route to the airport. Ecuador’s
independent media has become an obstacle to Correa’s political agenda. In December of
2010, Correa ordered the police to raid the offices of Vanguardia, seizing computers and
searching people’s belongings. Correa targeted Vanguardia because they have been
investigating corruption surrounding his administration. The Correa administration has
also harassed and eventually demanded the closure of the TeleAmazonas television
station “for airing an audio tape that appeared to show Correa discussing how officials
changed language in the new constitution after it had already been approved by the
National Assembly”(Cardenas).
As a way of combating the private media and their use of free speech, the Correa
administration is trying to create a new media law “that would impose new restrictions on
the media and increase government oversight of their content”(Cardenas). President
Correa believes that the private media is doing and saying whatever they please and

3. getting away with what he views as corrupt press. Because of these measures, Correa has
proposed the theory that “freedom of expression should be a function of the
state”(Higuera). In which, information should be regulated by the government before it is
addressed to the public. The Correa administration has also proposed legislation for an
anti-monopoly law that aims at promoting fair competition and preventing, regulating,
and punishing corporations that abuse their position practices within the market. “The
law forces shareholders with more than six percent ownership of a banking or
broadcasting company to divest their interests in other sectors”(Guniganti). Opponents of
the law argue that this is a way for the President “to weaken his enemies in finance and
the media”(Guniganti). This law is coincidental due to the fact that Correa has been in
constant conflict with the private media since he took office.
When Ecuador’s private media choose to express their thoughts and criticize Correa
for his actions, they take the chance of being punished for freedom of speech. President
Correa has gone so far as to use an article from “Ecuador’s penal code, which prohibits
disrespect of the president”(Lauderbaugh). Citizens who are found in violation of this
code have libel suits placed against them. This was the case in July of 2011 when an
editor and three directors for the newspaper El universo were sentenced to three years in
jail after writing an article in which they referred to President Correa as a dictator. Correa
believes that it is his political objective to control the media with an iron fist because the
more people criticize his corrupt policies, the less credibility he earns as a president,
which could ultimately lead to his downfall.
Another challenge to Ecuador’s democracy is the violation of civil and political
rights towards indigenous people and the land in which they live on. Correa’s

4. government exploits resources in the form of petroleum, timber, and water from the areas
that are home to indigenous societies. The Correa administration does not let the
indigenous people decide if the government’s exploitation of these resources will ruin
their environments and lives. Even though the United Nations recognizes the legal rights
of indigenous people and their cultures, as exemplified in the International Decade of
Indigenous Peoples (1995-2005), Ecuador’s government still refuses to recognize the
ownership of land by indigenous people. Since the discovery of oil in Ecuador, the
government has allowed foreign oil companies like Texaco to enter into indigenous
territory without their consent, destroying the land on which they live “through
unregulated and unsupervised extraction methods”(Kennemore).
Correa’s government has also been involved in water privatization, which has
indigenous groups proclaiming that this measure violates their constitutional rights. The
legislation would give companies access to water sources, which would involve little to
no restrictions on contamination and the water, will be controlled through the
government. These measures create tension and conflict within these indigenous
societies, while displacing indigenous residents from their traditional areas. When
Ecuador’s government applies these tactics for the extraction of resources from
indigenous areas, it contradicts all the constitutional measures for the rights of indigenous
people, which is supposed to honor a sustainable living for the indigenous people as
established in the constitution. This contradiction from the government shows a clear
indication for the unequal enforcement of the law.
These civil and political rights violations to free speech, constitutional reforms, and
indigenous people pose a challenge to Ecuador’s democracy because it disintegrates the

5. essential notion of basic human rights. A democracy is defined as a government for the
people, by the will of the people. When President Correa dismisses half of his political
opposition from congress in order to rewrite the constitution to give himself more power
is a clear indication that contradicts a democracy as being a government for the people.
Correa is simply creating a government for himself instead of for the people. By giving
the executive branch more authority and weakening congressional and judicial powers
puts Ecuador’s democracy operating in reverse of how it should be. A true democratic
country gives more power and authority to the legislature in regards to policy making and
grants limited powers to the executive office. When a president accumulates unchecked
powers, which Correa has illustrated, they become more authoritarian in nature and their
policies represent less democracy, but more repressive measures for the sole purpose of
concentrating power.
President Correa’s crackdown and blatant attempt to silence free speech is a direct
threat to Ecuador’s democracy because freedom of speech is an inalienable right that
every citizen should possess and to take that right away from them erodes the founding
principles of democracy, as the will of the people turns into the will of the government
dictating what a person is allowed to say. An Ecuador that has its freedom of speech
harassed and targeted by the government for openly criticizing President Correa is a
country on the verge of a democratic collapse because if the government controls what
people say then it’s not a government by the people it becomes a government over the
people. Invading and contaminating indigenous areas causes a problem to Ecuador’s
democracy because if Correa’s government is able to ignore the constitutional rights
regarding a sustainable living for all indigenous people, but instead ruins their quality of

6. life through non-consented land exploration, then nothing is stopping Correa from
enforcing his will throughout Ecuador for the goal of absolute control.
In order for these civil and political rights violations to be corrected, a change in
leadership will have to take place in the near future. President Correa will have to be
replaced or the country will be in jeopardy of slowly sliding into an authoritarian state
under Correa’s leadership and policies. The Ecuadorian people will have to find a reliable
candidate to run against Correa in the next presidential election and point out all the civil
and political rights violations that have occurred during his presidency and demand that
democracy be restored by the will of the people.

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