Ecuador Constitutional Reform Continues To Provoke Conflict

Ecuadorian police have intervened in the continuing conflict between the country’s electoral court, TSE, and Congress over a proposed referendum on constitutional reform. The TSE suspended the political rights of 57 lawmakers after they voted to remove the Court’s president, Jorge Acosta. Correa has made constitutional reform a priority since coming to power in January. Shortly after his inauguration he called for a March 18 referendum to let the general public decide whether they want to rewrite the country’s constitution. Meanwhile, economy minister Ricardo Patiño has reportedly signaled that Ecuador will honor the second interest payment of $30.6 million on its global bonds due on May 15. Despite much talk of debt restructuring and even hints at a default by Correa during the election campaign and immediately after taking power, the government has so far met its foreign debt obligations.