Imperialism And Resistance

Click here to view video of interview and here to read transcript.

Press TV: What is your take on the double standards at the UN Security Council?

Correa: There is a question of double standards at the international level. I have seen things at the United States… Their foreign policy has always had a double standards issue. The question is whether you are a friend or enemy. If we are friends, everything is permitted. If they think a country is an enemy, then everything is different.

In Iran, there used to be a dictatorship that had the full support of the United States. Then there was a revolution. When they saw that Iran was not in conformity with US policy, they sparked a criminal war against Iran, which lasted for eight years. I consider Iranians a heroic nation. Their achievements are fabulous. Their advance in technology is fabulous.

Few countries have suffered the double standards that Iranians have. For some countries, the question is only whether Iran is an ally or not. These double standards are not good for humanity in general.

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution says Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has great potentials to defend the rights of his nation.

In a Sunday meeting with the visiting president, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the ‘energetic’ Correa could pave the way for the progress of Ecuador.

The development of Latin American nations requires their leaders to stand up for their rights and oppose the imperialistic policies of the United States in the region, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

via Iran Daily:

Of Latin American Alliance

By Mahmoud Mohammadzadeh

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s visit and the agreements signed during his trip show that the relations between Latin American leaders and Tehran have taken more profound dimensions.
Now the Ecuadorian economist turned president is Iran’s third Latin American ally after Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales. After the meeting of minds between Iranian and revolutionary Latin American leaders, it is now becoming all the more obvious that Tehran is picking some of its closest allies from among America’s neighbors.

The relationship has gone to the extent that Correa and his friends consider Tehran as the most important aim of their diplomatic endeavors and have billed Iranian officials “their brothers“.
Importance of the new-found cooperation, which was underscored with Correa’s tour this week, calls for some scrutiny.

The position of the young Ecuadorian head of state among Latin American leaders is important. Currently, in the political circles of Latin America and Spanish-speaking countries Correa more than being recognized as head of state is respected as “leader of a successful movement“. The elections in November 2006 which Correa won are viewed as symbolic of a historic confrontation between neo-liberalism and leftist front.

Correa subscribes to the school of creating a revolution in political and economic interaction. Interest of the people of Ecuador in Correa’s vision is indeed rooted in his progressive line of thought. Correa has laid the foundations of his economic plan of action on taking on neo-liberalism.

The practical manifestation of this thought in the Latin American market is reduction in trade with the West and the getting closer to the East and South. Sufficient proof of this claim is Quito pulling out from a free trade pact with the US and opposing the theory of expansion of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Correa has based his political views on confronting the neo-liberal enclaves. For example, he has closed down the US military bases in his country, nationalized energy and mine industries, gotten rid of monopolism of multinationals, and established the bloc of leftist Latin American countries.

Ultimately, a plan for regional security has been compiled according to which Ecuador has transformed into a center for challenging liberalism from its previous feature as a historic US outpost.

To the above one must add Ecuador’s economic potential and its strategic depth. In this perspective, Ecuador has similar characteristics to Iran. Because of its rich oil resources, it is a key member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Furthermore, it supplies the bulk of cocoa, coffee and bananas in the American continent.

From the political spectrum, this country due to its geographical proximity to a few crisis centers, such as FARC rebels has indeed acquired a strategic position.

It is clear that a series of historic parameters and mechanism have put the newly-emerging movements in the American continent alongside Iran. Currently, Latin America, after the Middle East, is the second spot for growing animosity toward US bullying while striving for justice is a distinct feature of these movements.

Among the primary manifestations of the ongoing developments is that for the first time the idea of a “world after America“ has acquired new currency in the capitals of that region. Correa and other leftist leaders now see Iran as a strong and effective ally in advancing their cause.

It is natural that in light of this view, the scale and scope of being an ally of Iran is such that it has provoked urgent reaction from Washington.

Wide sections of the American media have quoted a White House official as saying that Washington is concerned about reports that Correa and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are pushing for joint strategic investment ventures to further contain and curb US influence in the Caribbean.