Osvaldo Hurtado: “The president exposed himself and provoked the military”

Former President Osvaldo Hurtado says, with slow tone, he would rather spend more time on issues such as the preparation of his book, but believes that this is not the time to remain silent.

-Have you thought of leaving the active political life?

-If a democratic President comes to restore constitutional order I will not have to intervene in politics anymore. A president can not be in the fight every day, but can not remain silent when the democratic model is replaced by a dictatorship that wants to control everything.

-People from the government say that, if there was a dictatorship, people like you could not give their opinions.

-The attempt to control everything is so obvious that, when they wanted to do it with the Armed Forces, as happens with all state institutions, and found that they could not do it, they devoted themselves to pursue the military. That is dictatorial.

-President Rafael Correa claims that a marine rudely answered a letter, is that not a fault?

-Why is a President sending little notes to the military? If (Correa) wanted to say something to the soldiers, he should have done it through the Commander of the Armed Forces. He exposed himself, he provoked and what these brave officers did was answer and discuss the supposed benefits they have received from the Government, which is a lie.

-Is there the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in our laws?

-Neither in the Constitution nor the law. The president certainly is the highest political authority of the Armed Forces, but is not a member of them.

-There will be elections in five months, will you be involved in the election campaign?

-I can comment on the Government, the political, moral and economic crisis in the country, but I am not and will not be in election campaign. It corresponds to the candidates to offer Ecuadorians outputs to regain freedom and replace the dictatorial constitution that was drafted in Montecristi.