Ecuador & Hillary Clinton
Jun 14th, 2010 by Gary
Here is a photo I took of Correa in Cotacachi. He stayed at our hotel Inn Land of the Sun (Formerly Meson de las flores). Hillary? I could not get this close to photo her as you can imagine.
Rafael and Hillary. They seem like an unlikely couple but…
this photo from a Hillary blog (linked below) shows that they got along… for photo ops at least.
Hilary Clinton attended the Organization of American States General Assembly in Lima, Peru and then traveled on to Ecuador, as well as Colombia and Barbados. The obvious areas of her discussion with the leaders of these nations were security, the war on drugs and terrorism plus immigration. She was also there to let Latin America know that the Obama administration cares about them.
An excerpt from the Washington Post article “Hillary Clinton tries to fix relationship with Ecuador President Rafael Correa” by Glenn Kessler says it this way: QUITO, ECUADOR — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reached out Tuesday to one of the left-leaning populist leaders of South America, attempting to edge Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa out of the orbit of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
By all appearances, the charm offensive had an impact. A beaming Correa professed admiration and respect for “dearest Hillary” and for President Obama. He said he and Clinton had discussed tough issues — such as Ecuador’s concern over the U.S. military operating out of seven bases in neighboring Colombia — but said their two countries would have “debate with great openness.”
“The new left that I represent is not anti-anything,” Correa said at a joint news conference after three hours of talks. “We are not anti-capitalist. We are not anti-American. We are not anti-imperialist. We are pro-dignity, pro-sovereignty, pro-social justice, pro-good life for our people. We are in favor of the good things.”
He added that “we love the United States very much,” noting that he “spent the happiest four years of my life with my family in that great country” when he earned a master’s and a doctorate at the University of Illinois.
The Hillary Clinton Blog “Madam Secretary – An Obsessive Blog about Hillary Clinton” posted a message entitled ‘Dearest Hillary’ charms Ecuador’s President Correa that included the following quotes:
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa — who once said Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s comparison of George W. Bush to Satan was offensive to the devil — referred to Clinton as “dearest Hillary.” He spoke favorably of the United States, saying, as reported by Agence France-Press:
How did Clinton “charm” Correa? Well, first, she wasn’t George W. Bush; Correa said he esteemed both her and her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and he said Latin Americans “loved” Barack Obama. But Clinton’s conciliatory remarks and attempts to reassure Correa on tense issues helped, too. Clinton said:
“Now, like any two countries, we will not always agree. But we are committed to a partnership of open dialogue and cooperation that is rooted in mutual respect and mutual interest and for the benefit of both of our peoples.”
Clinton sought to reassure Ecuador on the U.S. military’s use of bases in Colombia to help that country fight the internal problems of the FARC insurgency and drug trafficking. Ecuador thinks the U.S. military presence threatens Latin American sovereignty by extending U.S. power and might even include espionage. Clinton said:
“I want to put your mind at ease that these, this agreement between the United States and Colombia is solely intended to assist Colombia in its continuing efforts against its internal threats.”
There were several photos at the blog by: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP/Getty Images. See a link below.
We just have to wait and see whether this visit will do any real good… but it is positive that Clinton seemed to undo a lot of the damage from the Bush administration. This appears to be a step in the right direction.
Not everything was rosy in this land of roses though. My experience has been that most Ecuadorians have good feelings about Americans. This photo from the Washington post article (linked below) shows that there are some who have some anger at the US.
Let’s cross our fingers (and do our part) to help make this opening for more cordial relations between the US and Latin America grow. We really need something positive in the south as we seem to be expanding war on the Mexican front and creating added economic stress on the US dollar.
Gary
We’ll look at the importance of Ecuador’s history… food…. taste… color… sound… smell… and feel to health and wealth in our Quantum wealth sessions this June 24 to 27.
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Read Hillary Clinton tries to fix relationship with Ecuador President Rafael Correa
