BREAKING: Coup d’Etat in Ecuador
In Ecuador a new political controversy has been unleashed, this time around the Council for Citizen Participation and Social Control (CPCCS), a state body that is part of the function of Transparency and Social Control in the South American country and handles Corruptions issues in the country. CPCCS is one of the five branches of government in Ecuador.
One of the functions of this body is to establish accountability mechanisms for public sector institutions and entities; as well as the designation of the authorities of other dependencies, such as the State Attorney General's Office, the Ombudsman's Office, the Public Defender's Office, the State Attorney General's Office, the State Comptroller General's Office, the members of the National Electoral Council, the Contentious Electoral Court, the Judiciary Council and the Superintendencies.
The CPCCS's body is made up of seven councilors who, since 2018, have been elected by popular vote. Its current members are: Sofía Almeida, David Rosero, María Fernanda Rivadeneira, Ibeth Estupiñán, Juan Javier Dávalos, Francisco Bravo and Hernán Ulloa Ordóñez.
The presidency and vice-presidency of the organization fell to Almeida and Rosero, respectively, whose mandate expires in June 2023.
February 8th:
- Legislators from various factions, such as the Union for Hope (UNES), the Christian Social Party (PSC) and Pachakutik (PK), presented the request for a process of impeachment against of the councilors of the CPCCS Ulloa, Bravo, Rivadeneira and Estupiñán.
“We have seen how they have been electing illegally, they want to do without due process. They are going over the country. We have about 80 signatures, from all the benches, except the Government bench (President Lasso's party CREO). With this support we will be carrying out the inspection" said Assembly-woman Mireya Pazmiño from Pachakutik, at a press conference.
February 9th:
- The headquarters of the CPCCS, located in Quito, woke up surrounded by a strong contingent of the Police, an entity regulated by the Ministry of Government. Protected by the police, councellors Ulloa, Bravo, Estupiñán & Rivadeneira arrived at the place and started an illegal session in wich they decided to remove CPCCS's president Almeida and viceprecident Rosero. And they designed Ulloa and Rivadeneira as new president and vice-president.
Ecuador's Executive Branch led by Guillermo Lasso is supporting the Coup.
With this, Rosero referred to protective actions promoted by Almeida to avoid discussion of his removal.
Indeed, Judge Karly Vargas, of the Samborondón Multicompetent Judicial Unit, in the province of Guayas, issued a precautionary measure that prevented the discussion of Almeida's removal from being discussed in this permanent session; however, that decision was revoked by Larissa Ibarra, judge of the same judicial unit.
Despite this, a similar protection action that was filed in a Judicial Unit of Ibarra, in the province of Imbabura, is still pending.
After the session, Ulloa reported, through his Twitter account, that he received a notification from the Ministry of Labor recognizing him as the president of the CPCCS.
On the other hand, Almeida, in a first public complaint, reported that these four councilors "by legal rule" were not responsible for reinstating the session.
February 10th:
- Subsequently, Almeida, Rosero and Dávalos offered a message in which they denounced that "the Government is violating the independence of functions, due process and democracy in an authoritarian and dictatorial manner."
In their message they accused Ulloa, Bravo, Rivadeneira and Estupiñán of being "coup plotters". They pointed out that what they are looking for is to "take over" the CPCCS to "impose the Government's acolytes by finger."
They also sent a message to the country's president, Guillermo Lasso, who until now has not commented on the matter - asking him to demand that his officials respect the autonomy and independence of the fifth state power.
They also called on the National Assembly, social organizations and citizens in general to "supervise, observe and monitor these acts that violate the Constitution by the national government."
Among other things one of the CPCCS's functions in Ecuador is to handle Corruption issues. This Coup d'etat could be a strategy from president Guillermo Lasso to avoid going to prision because Pandora Papers exposed him.
February 14th:
- Two bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge at the entrance to the Durán canton that connects with Guayaquil. First case recorded in the history of Ecuador.
- The former mayor of the El Triunfo canton, Andrés Macías Castillo, was assassinated while driving in his van.
February 16th:
- Supporting Ulloa, the national police entered the CPCCS's headquarters; the prosecutor in charge of the raid, the national judge Walter Macías, authorized this CRIMINAL operation.
"Right now they're riding the offices of the CPCCS, the information and technology area, and only officials who are supporting Councillor Ulloa in this process of taking over the CPCCS have entered.
And they have not allowed me as President of the CPCCS and not even respecting my position as Counselor to be able to observe what's happening within the information and technology area of the CPCCS and to be able to verify that everything is in order and that there's not something against the administration." - Said Almeida.
- Almeida is still staying at her office in the CPCCS's headquarters, insisting that she is the president of the CPCCS and she has not left her office.
February 17th: Anonymous hacktivist enters the scene.
- In response to the police's raid to the CPCCS's information and technology area, Anonymous fearless hacktivist Wonder-ghost from Ghost-Sec team sent a message to the police and the coup plotters:
"After the organized assault to access the CPCCS computer systems, I send this message to those who act illegally.
If you try to alter or delete documents, I have a copy of your file.
Here are the last 3 months as proof" - Said Wonder-ghost. And she shared on twitter a mega-file cointaining the last 3 months of CPCCS documents, see:
https://twitter.com/wond3rghost/status/1494415057756860418?s=20&t=_cUJnXmqPsH4Bj3y80L53w.
The mainstream media are not saying anything about this Coup d'Etat in Ecuador.
Follow @ChalecosAmarill and @wond3rghost on twitter to stay updated about what's going on in Ecuador.
