Assembly censures former communications superintendent Carlos Ochoa
Ecuadornews:
With 119 votes in favor, none against and one abstention (among 120 present legislators ), the National Assembly has censored, shortly before midnight, the former communications superintendent Carlos Ochoa, who was already dismissed by the Commission of Citizen Participation and Control Social, accepting an order from the Comptroller General of the State
The trial was driven by the CREO legislators, Fabricio Villamar, Lourdes Cuesta and Homero Castanier. The censorship took place after the debate that followed the official’s reply.
Ochoa replied during thirteen minutes in an intervention in which he attacked the interpellant and said that the censorship will be for him “a decoration, because it is the most evident proof that I complied with the law.”
“They see the straw in someone else’s eye without noticing the beam they have in their own,” Ochoa said. “I have been called to comply with the law passed by this Assembly,” he continued.
He described the media as “the toys of a few rich men.” And he said that “the capitalists and the editor are the new tyrants of the world.” “I conclude this intervention with the broad forehead. Looking at them in the face. Can you do the same? I return to my village, to which I owe, as the simple and proud journalist that I am. I leave as I arrived, “he said shouting,” with the same heritage.” “That’s what hurts most,” he said later. “They’re so poor they only have money!” He continued shouting. Then he left the session without waiting for the reply of the accusing legislators.
The interpellant Fabricio Villamar, from CREO, said that this trial is a defense of principles and values that must have full defense in a democracy. “I just had to develop, protect and regulate the communication of the Ecuadorians, but he did not do it.” (I)