rafael correa secures a third term as the president of ecuador. with a phd in economics, educated in belgium and the united states, the man is clearly no dummy and a welcomed soul in a line of externally backed generals who have ruled most of the third world. since 2007, his administration has succeeded in reducing the high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment in ecuador. he ordered an increase in the percentage of petroleum revenues spent on social programs for the ecuadorian poor and challenged the foreign oil interests in his country.  he said, “many of the existing oil contracts are a true entrapment for the country. of every 5 barrels of oil that the multinationals produce, they leave only 1 for the state and take 4… that is absolutely unacceptable. we’re going to revise and renegotiate the contracts” and he did. critics charged correa with running a campaign against the independence of the media, and if the media there is anything like the media here, sponsored by big business, there was never any independence to begin with, so not many tears shed there. in 2012 an independent survey found that he has 80% of approval rate among ecuadorians, significantly the highest rate in the americas, but a very low rating amongst key foreign governments. to enhance that, he has recently upset the UK and US by supporting wikileaks leader, julian assange, and offering him political asylum, granted inside the embassy in london. the irony of this all is that pinochet, a south american dictator supported by the US and UK, remained in london and died in london in 2006 despite his indictment in 1998, for human rights violations committed in chile, never to face trial. the U.S. provided material support to the military regime of pinochet after his coup and the assassination on september 11, 1973 of its democratically elected president, salvador allende, although criticizing it in public… i suppose, hypocrisy clearly has never had any shame? by xy