Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador, has been concentrating power and eliminating opposition, just as Hugo Chavez did in Venezuela. Correa's government has taken control of most media outlets in Ecuador, going from owning one radio station in 2007 to now owning multiple TV channels, radio stations, newspapers, and magazines. Correa is trying to destroy or silence remaining independent media by filing lawsuits against journalists who report on topics like government contracts awarded to Correa's brother. In one case, Correa sued a newspaper editor for calling him a dictator, and a judge quickly ruled in Correa's favor, sentencing the editor and directors to three years in prison and $40 million in damages. Critics say Correa is waging

1. By Editorial, Published: July 28
THE POPULIST authoritarianism that a few years ago
seemed to be sweeping Latin America is beginning to
wane. Voters and politicians alike have watched the
deepening economic and social disorder in Venezuela and
its allies, and they sensibly concluded — most recently in
Peru — that they want none of it. But in Venezuela itself,
and in those countries where acolytes of Hugo Chavez took
control, abuses of power and of human rights are only
growing worse.
CONTINUA

2. The latest evidence of this came last week in
Ecuador, a small Andean nation where an erratic
populist, Rafael Correa, has been faithfully
imitating Mr. Chavez’s methods for concentrating
power and eliminating opposition. As happened in
Venezuela, Mr. Correa’s government has taken over
much of the media: According to a recent report for
the National Endowment for Democracy, the
government controlled one radio station when Mr.
Correa became president in 2007, but it now owns
five television channels, four radio stations, two
newspapers and four magazines

3. CONTINUA
Mr. Correa is seeking to destroy or silence the
remaining independent media, which to his distress
have taken on topics such as the hundreds of millions
of dollars in government contracts awarded to his
brother. The president has filed one lawsuit against
the authors of a book about his brother and a second
against the editorial page editor and three directors
of one of Ecuador’s most influential newspapers, El
Universo.

4. CONTINUA
Employing an archaic law that criminalizes
expression “to discredit, dishonor or disparage” an
“authority,” Mr. Correa demanded prison sentences
and $80 million in compensation for a column in
which the editor, Emilio Palacio, referred to the
president as a dictator and faulted his behavior
during a controversial episode in which soldiers
clashed with striking police officers last year. Last
week the president personally attended the trial
while thuggish supporters threw eggs and bottles at
the defendants outside the courthouse.

5. CONTINUA
To no one’s surprise, the provisional judge hearing the
case quickly ruled in the president’s favor, sentencing
Mr. Palacio and the three El Universo directors to
three years in prison and awarding $40 million in
damages to Mr. Correa — an amount that exceeds the
total value of the newspaper. The defendants are
appealing to higher courts, but as the media
rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission for
Human Rights noted, the decision “constitutes a grave
warning to any citizen or media outlet that has
opinions or information about public officials that
could be considered offensive, thus obstructing
processes that are natural and necessary in any
democracy.”

6. CONTINUA
Such criticism is unlikely to deter Mr. Correa, who
recently won approval of a constitutional
amendment setting up a media oversight panel he
could use to censor and fine journalists without
bothering to go to court. The conclusion offered by
Inter-American Press Association President Gonzalo
Marroquin was grim but appropriate: This is a
“systematic and hostile campaign to do away with
the independent press and establish, by law or
through the courts, ownership of the truth that all
the Ecuadoran people must swallow.”

7. AUTÓCRATA DE ECUADOR ARREMETE
CONTRA LA LIBERTAD DE PRENSA
EL AUTORITARISMO POPULISTA QUE HACE UNOS AÑOS
PARECÍA ESTAR BARRIENDO AMÉRICA LATINA ESTÁ
COMENZANDO A DISMINUIR. LOS VOTANTES Y LOS POLÍTICOS
HAN VISTO EL DESORDEN, PROFUNDIZACIÓN ECONÓMICA Y
SOCIAL EN VENEZUELA Y SUS ALIADOS, Y LLEGARON A LA
CONCLUSIÓN SENSATA - MÁS RECIENTEMENTE EN EL PERÚ -
QUE NO QUIEREN NADA DE ESO. PERO EN LA PROPIA
VENEZUELA, Y EN AQUELLOS PAÍSES DONDE LOS ACÓLITOS DE
HUGO CHÁVEZ TOMARON EL CONTROL, LOS ABUSOS DE
PODER Y DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS SÓLO SON CADA VEZ
PEORES.
CONTINUA

8. LA ÚLTIMA EVIDENCIA DE ESTO SE PRODUJO LA SEMANA
PASADA EN ECUADOR, UNA PEQUEÑA NACIÓN ANDINA,
DONDE UN POPULISTA ERRÁTICO, RAFAEL CORREA, HA SIDO
FIEL IMITACIÓN DE LOS MÉTODOS DE CHÁVEZ PARA
CONCENTRAR EL PODER Y LA ELIMINACIÓN DE LA OPOSICIÓN.
COMO OCURRIÓ EN VENEZUELA, EL GOBIERNO DE CORREA SE
HA HECHO CARGO DE GRAN PARTE DE LOS MEDIOS DE
COMUNICACIÓN: SEGÚN UN INFORME RECIENTE DE LA
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, EL GOBIERNO
CONTROLÓ UNA ESTACIÓN DE RADIO CUANDO CORREA
ASUMIÓ LA PRESIDENCIA EN 2007, PERO AHORA ES DUEÑO DE
CINCO CANALES DE TELEVISIÓN, CUATRO ESTACIONES DE
RADIO, DOS PERIÓDICOS Y CUATRO REVISTAS..