Top Dem threatens to block trade deal with Ecuador over Snowden

[Catherina]

29. "Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act" with the emphasis on Drug Eradication

Latin America made it clear that they're not interested in our drug war.

The US tried this exact same gambit when the Julian Assange asylum case came up and this was Ecuador's response

As we’ve said before, the United States that Mr. Correa so despises allows Ecuador to export many goods duty-free, supports roughly 400,000 jobs in a country of 14 million people and accounts for one-third of Ecuador’s foreign sales. Congress could easily decide to diminish that privileged commercial access early next year. Is Mr. Assange really worth the risk?”

‘Definitely not’ was the resounding response from Ecuador’s private sector. In a meeting with President Correa and his cabinet ministers and some 150 businessmen shortly after the publication of this editorial, Pablo Dávila, the president of the umbrella business association Comité Empresarial Ecuatoriano (CEE), expressed his concern that “recent events that we have been through, particularly the asylum granted to Julian Assange, show without doubt that there is going to be an impact on trade ties.” He called for the adoption of a “strategy reaching out to that (the US) market”.

Correa shot back that “if national sovereignty is at stake, we will leave the negotiation table”. He added: “In February [17th] we will have new elections; if I stand for re-election let me make it clear, I will never accept any form of blackmail... Let them keep their ATPDEA, we will give them a few million for a course in ethics and human rights.”

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In the past, Correa has repeatedly stressed that he “will not beg” the US for an extension of Atpdea. He argues that Atpdea is not a gift from the US, but the corollary of a contract under which the Andean countries stepped up their fight against the drug trade in their territories.

...

http://www.latinnews.com/component/k2/item/53191-ecuador-assange-asylum-and-atpdea-what%E2%80%99s-at-stake?.html

He won the last elections with a resounding mandate and has a 90% public approval rating. I don't think he really cares about US trade threats, especially after we've been demonizing him for so long and tried a little coup down there. I could be so wrong, that's just how I see it.