[dwestemesse]

Big news!

U.S.-educated economist Rafael Correa assailed Washington's free-market policies in his first speech as president of Ecuador, promising to push for an “economic revolution” that would emphasize renegotiating the country's foreign debt. He's going to give the IMF the middle finger.

Correa said the policies promoted by Washington since the 1980s failed to help Ecuador develop. This is true. No way around it.

His remarks drew applause from several U.S. antagonists who attended the ceremony – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Iran's hardline leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – as well as from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and more moderate left-leaning leaders from Brazil, Chile, Peru. SignOnSanDiego.com > News > World -- Ecuadorean leftist takes office, pushes radical reform

Many speculated that Latin America would not be able to build bridges with each other and Condi sure did try to make sure that wouldn't happen.

During the campaign last fall, Correa threatened to cut ties with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and said he would not rule out a moratorium on foreign debt payments unless foreign bondholders agree to lower Ecuador's debt service by half. While some of you fall into the fantasy that America is on a march for freedom and democracy and we war with those that hate our freedoms .....

Meanwhile, the rest of us understand that threats like the one Correa made against the the IMF and WB are where real wars come from.

“If he goes ahead with it (a moratorium), I don't think it's going to help Ecuador's economy. I think it's certainly going to give the jitters to Wall Street and the financial community,” Shifter said. Million dollar question would be - why would it give Wall Street the jitters?

I keep saying that we are headed into a cold war with Latin America, but I think I spoke too late.