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Chaos erupted in Ecuador yesterday as members of the police and military protested budget cuts proposed by the government. 150 troops occupied Quito (Ecuador’s capital) airport to contest the move made by Congress, but it was when President Correa became involved that things truly got ugly. At an address to the disgruntled police and troops outside the Presidential Palace, a volley of tear gas canisters were fired at the President’s entourage, and members of the police were caught on video attempting to assault him. Clearly struggling to breathe from behind his gas mask, the President was bundled from the scene to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for tear gas inhalation. He immediately responded to what many have commented on as the early tremors of a coup attempt:
PRES. RAFAEL CORREA (VOICEOVER TRANSLATION): If you want to kill the president, here I am. Kill me. Kill me if you’re not happy. Kill me if you’re brave. But we will continue with one policy, one of justice, dignity, and we will not take one step backwards.
Thankfully, Ecuador didn’t follow Honduras’s lead (for more on the 2010 military coup that ousted President Zelaya, visit the Honduras page) as one of the top military chiefs has come out in defense of Correa. Let’s hope he doesn’t go the same way as Chilean Army Chief of Staff Rene Schneider, who was murdered in a bungled kidnapping attempt co-sponsored by the CIA for standing behind Chilean President Salvador Allende. His death led the way for Augusto Pinochet to take the reins and lead the now infamous coup that plunged Chile into a military dictatorship. To read that story in comics form, click here. For an interesting debate on the US’s level of involvement, read this post from Foreign Affairs.
Courtesy of SOAW (School of the Americas Watch):
In his radio address the President did talk about this being a Coup attempt lead by the Police, Military close to an ex-President, but also by the Opposition and the ex-President Lucio Gutierrez. He stated that there is an attempt to destabilize the democratic citizen revolution that has happened in Ecuador. At this moment, the pro-democracy movement is gathering in the thousands in the capital but in all the plazas across the country. There are also people marching to the hospital to protect the President.
For more on the story, check out Narco News’s coverage here.
Apologies for the delay in getting this next page up – as you can see, there’s a lot more going on, panel-wise. This scene shows Hecksher and Atlee Phillips, both CIA operatives based in Santiago, as they report back to Langley/Washington the current plan of action and situation on the ground. Dissatisfaction clearly arose from the diplomatic ‘Track 1’ route that Atlee Phillips mentions here, which refers to the non-confrontational means of preventing Allende’s inauguration as President. DCI Helms, AP’s boss back at the CIA, had proposed this two-track path under the ominous sounding project FUBELT, but as you will see in the next page, a far more harebrained scheme of direct action was already on the cards…
You’ll notice the title has changed too. This is to reflect the change of focus onto what happened before Allende’s inauguration as opposed to the now infamous coup that culminated in his murder.
Start at the beginning of this comic by clicking on the right hand nav bar link.The action has now moved to Chile and the CIA station where Field Agents Henry Hecksher and David Atlee Phillips are directing the CIA’s misinformation campaign against Allende.
Start at the beginning of this comic by clicking on the right hand nav bar link. This scene depicts the meeting between Richard Helms, Director of the CIA, President Nixon, Secretary of State Kissinger and Attorney General John Helms as they discuss the use of counter-intelligence to stop Salvador Allende’s inauguration as President of Chile in September 1970. The portrait of the Indian is taken from an actual painting hanging in the White House of an indigenous Indian Chieftain, which I thought would serve as a subtle hubristic reminder to the assembled gang of plotters.
Start at the beginning of the story by clicking the link on the right hand nav bar.
You know the drill by now – click on the right hand menu to go to the first page of this story about the 1973 Chilean coup. And thanks for reading! Any comments appreciated.
Start at the beginning of the story about the Chilean Coup of 1973 by clicking the link on the right hand nav bar. Thanks for reading!
Start at the beginning of the story by clicking the link on the right hand nav bar. Thanks for reading!
