Ecuadorian Politics

So, I've decided to try and keep up with the politics of Ecuador and South America while I'm here. Ecuador is in an interesting place right now as far as being a leader in South America which is unusual for this country. The president, Raphael Correa, seems to me to be much like Obama. He's making a lot of changes in this country and people either love him or hate him. He's done some good stuff like offering free college tuition to people, and he also became the President of Unisur yesterday, the South American organization made up of all the presidents here to try and work together for the good of all of South America. He's also trying to change the money back to sucres and stop using the US dollar. But, he also makes me nervous. He's buddies with Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president. If you don't know much about him, look him up--it'll be interesting for sure! At yesterday's Unisur meeting, as he was voicing his discontent with US military bases in Colombia, he announced to everyone that if even one Colombian soldier crosses his border, he will go to war with Colombia, no questions asked. He told everyone that he knows the US is in Colombia because they're all trying to kill him. And he compared himself to Castro and Saddam. Oh my! So, pray that Correa stays out of all of Chavez's drama and keeps his focus on helping Ecuador to grow.