Takeovers Captivate Ecuador

[Judi Lynn]

Takeovers Captivate Ecuador
Government Links Its Seizure of TV Stations to Corruption Case

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 19, 2008; A08

QUITO, Ecuador, July 18 -- The tip came to the old journalist at midnight about the decision at the presidential palace: The police were on their way.

Lolo Echeverría in turn called his colleagues at Gamavision, one of Ecuador's prominent television stations, who drove to the studio through the deserted streets of Quito under the looming mass of an Andean volcano. They were in time to see police scale the white metal fence, break locks and force their way into the offices, the beginning of a swift government takeover of more than 190 businesses this month that has captivated this small and volatile nation.

Gamavision went blank briefly on the morning of the takeover, Echeverría said. In one of his last acts as vice president of news, he ordered that the word "censored" appear on the screen. Within a few seconds, he said, the warning disappeared.

"We've had dictatorships, governments of ultra-right and ultra-left," said Echeverría, who spent 32 years at two television stations before resigning July 8. "But there has never been a problem between the government and the media like with this administration."

On edit, adding more from the article:
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Attempts to prosecute the brothers on embezzlement charges have dragged on for years, amid charges of judicial corruption and malfeasance. For many in Ecuador, the Isaías brothers have become a symbol of why this country remains mired in poverty.

The government, which wants the United States to extradite the brothers, intends not to nationalize the companies but instead to sell them off to recoup losses, said Fernando Bustamante, Ecuador's minister of government.

"We believe that justice requires that all those people who have defrauded their clients and the state answer with their assets," Bustamante said. "We are defending those who have been robbed.

"For nine years, the Isaías family has had an enormous control over the politics, the authorities, over the judges," Bustamante added. "And this has prevented us from acting until very recently."


More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/18/AR2008071802952.html