Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for an urgent meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) to discuss tensions and possible coup plots against the government of Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.
“It's time for us to activate all our solidarity with the people of Ecuador and with President Rafael Correa,” Maduro said on June 13 during an event in the Venezuelan state of Miranda. The call comes after Correa denounced a coup plot being hatched against him as he returned to the country on June 14 from the European Union-CELAC meeting in Brussels.
CELAC, launched in Caracas in 2012, involves all nations in the Americas except the US and Canada and was established as a counter-weight to the traditionally US-dominated Organisation of American States.
For days, parallel demonstrations have been held both against and in support of Correa, who left for Brussels on June 8. The Ecuadorean head of state used his Twitter account to call upon his supporters to gather early at the Presidential Palace on June 15 in support of his government.
Correa tweeted: “Thank you Ecuador for your peace and your presence! I want to thank my partners for their great job, I would have loved to be with you during this day of happiness and revolution ... We are more! Many more!”
Thousands turned out to support the elected president and the "Citizen's Revolution" his government is leading in the face of opposition by the wealthy elites.
Speaking from Milan, the president explained during his weekly television program Citizen Link that the opposition was sowing confusion about a government proposal to raise the inheritance and capital gains tax of the top 2% of Ecuadorean as an excuse to try and to oust him.
Correa said: “The real motive is to overthrow the government. Its not about abolishing the inheritance tax, its about toppling the national government … they had everything ready...they have foreign advisers.”
Maduro, who could not be in Brussels due to illness, warned that the Ecuadorean right-wing will resort to violence in its attempts to destabilise Correa's left-wing administration.
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