QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa said yesterday he plans to defend his socialist government with a network of citizen committees, a move that suggests he is radicalizing his “revolution”.
Correa, who took office for a second term on Monday vowing to deepen socialist reforms in the Andean OPEC nation, said his government is under threat from wealthy elites and needs to mobilize its supporters.
“We need to organize committees for the defense of the revolution in every neighbourhood,” said Correa, an ally of Cuba’s President Raul Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, both leftists who have similar groups in their countries.
The plan is likely to draw criticism from his opponents who say Correa is too close to communist Cuba, where neighbourhood watch groups called Committees for the Defence of the Revolution report activities considered counter-revolutionary.
