Alberto Acosta while acting as Energy Minister, picture reproduced under conditions of Secretaría General de la Comunidad Andina. [1]
President Rafael Correa has managed to remain in power no matter his popularity among Latin American presidents [2]. He sits in the 5th position and internally in Ecuador there still is a considerable number of people who have started to feel defrauded by the motto, La Patria ya es de todos (The country belongs to everyone now).
Correa has been criticized by many for his personal and political conduct, but what is most important is that he doesn't tolerate the mistakes of others and is quick to react. One of his number one concerns has been the push to have the new Constitution, now being debated and discussed in the Constituent Assembly, be approved by July 24. However, the president of the Assembly and member of Correa's own political party Alberto Acosta, recently announced that he was stepping down as President. Ecuadoran bloggers soon began to discuss the resignation and wondered about the true reasons behind the decision, and how much the pressure was placed by Correa. They also wonder who might fill Acosta's shoes and what that means for the Assembly.
Rubén Darío Buitron [es] [3] thinks PAIS (Correa's political party) has set its sights on increased power.
El anuncio dejó más dudas que certezas: cuando Acosta dijo que no quiere ser “responsable de un atropello” o que no está de acuerdo “con sacrificar el debate a cambio de la premura de los tiempos”, abrió lecturas adicionales a su reiterado mensaje de que no hay crisis en PAIS y que “esa es la manera democrática de resolver una polémica”.
[…]
¿Ganó Correa este primer round? En apariencia, sí, pero no necesariamente: la renuncia o el “minigolpe de Estado” que, por confesión del propio Acosta, le dio la cúpula de PAIS al pedirle que se retirara de la presidencia, reveló públicamente lo que muchos ecuatorianos vienen percibiendo hace tiempo: el presidente de la República y el grupo que lo rodea, capitaneado por Vinicio Alvarado, tienen su propio proyecto de poder.
The announcement left more questions than certainties: Acosta has said he doesn't want to be “responsible for such a mess” or that disagrees “with sacrificing debate in exchange for the time constraints,” he also opened new interpretations to his repeated message that there is no crisis in PAIS and that “It is the democratic way to resolve a controversy.”
[…]
Did Correa win this first round? In appearance, yes, but not necessarily: the resignation or “coup d'etat” that Acosta, by his own confession, was asked by PAIS to step down from the presidency and publicly revealed what many Ecuadorans have been sensing: that the President of the Republic and the group around him led by Vinicio Alvarado, have their own plan for power.
As expected, the resignation has been already accepted and among the possible candidates for the new president are names like: César Rodríguez, Aminta Buenaño, María Paula Romo and Fernando Cordero, who is a controversial figure. El Federalista [es] [4] tells Ecuadorans what will happen if Cordero becomes the new Assembly President:
Sin duda ahora la Asamblea Constituyente marchará más rápido aprobando cada desacierto gubernamental sin discusión, sin al menos el diálogo aparente, con todo y faltas de ortografía, mala redacción y el abuso lingüístico del “todos y todas” en cada párrafo. Para ello Fernando Cordero se prestará diligente para que “llegue, sumíllese y apruébese” cada papelote que llegue de Carondelet, y si no es Cordero será otro (“otro u otra”). Si la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente ya era imitación del peor de los congresos, hoy será peor, una vulgar secretaría del gobierno que baje la cabeza y alce la mano. Qué vergüenza, si es que cabe más.
Surely now the Constituent Assembly will proceed faster by passing each government error without any discussions. It would at least pass the articles without dialogue, including everything with misspellings, poor wording, and an abuse of language in each paragraph. To do so, Fernando Cordero will diligently work so that each instructive from Carondelet (the Presidential palace) will “arrive, be signed and approved,” and if it's not Cordero it will be another. If the National Constituent Assembly was already an imitation of the worst aspects of Congress, today it will be even worse, due to a vulgar secretariat of the government who lowers the head and raises the hand. What a shame, to say the least.
Very few have questioned the tenure of the former Assembly President, and even a few still think “el cargo le quedó muy grande” [es] [5] (the role was to big for him). La Hueca [es] [6] doesn't want to accept the reality of political affairs and still has doubts that Alberto Acosta really should drop his seat:
Esta si que no me la venía venir ni en sueños, que Don Alberto renuncie. Este si es un golpe duro, por supuesto si es que se da; a la Asamblea Constituyente; Don Alberto creo es la única persona del Oficialismo capaz de unir y concensuar todas las ideas y proyectos de la nueva constitución.
Aunque digan lo contrario esto fortalecerá el NO ya que diga lo que se diga la renuncia de Don Alberto se debe a diferencias entre nuestro Presidente Rafael Correo y Don Alberto Acosta.
Mr. Alberto's regignation is something that did not see coming, not even in my wildest dreams. And this is a tough blow, of course, if it occurs, to the Constituent Assembly; I believe that Mr. Alberto is the only person capable of uniting and bringing together all of the ideas and proposals for the new Constitution.
Although they will say the opposite this will only strengthen the NO (vote for the Constitution) no matter what is said. Mr. Alberto's resignation is due to differences between our President Rafael Correa and Mr. Alberto Acosta.
As it's being said this is only the first part of a political drama in which main director is President Correa, let's keep an eye of what's happening in Ecuador especially now that someone who was considered to be capable of briging together the diverse policial parties is now out. Some of his colleages had presented support for Acosta and they are representative of the population at large, such as Monica Chiji and Rafael Stevez [es], [7] both are of the opinion his resignation shouldn't be accepted.