EDITORIAL
DIVIDE, WEAKEN, AND DEPRAVE A friend asks what do we want to implement in this country? Confrontation does not lead us to anything, nor aggression, hatred not to mention. That story of divide and rule is totally harmful and intolerable. That is why I suggest that rather than further divide, let us change division by union; rather than weaken, strengthen, and rather than deprave, let us build the moralization of the country. Until when we distill hatred? Until there is a group who believe is the owner of the truth and that the others are junk; until a wild populism talks about rich versus poor, employers against workers. This country should build an actual Republic that is nothing but a "form of government in which there is a separation of powers and the people elect their leaders by vote." Please stop playing with the future of our children, this is an entrepreneurs country with 80% of family businesses, which for the most part, are SMEs. In this it is building the fortress of a middleclass which began and strengthened with dollarization. We do not want caciques, worse discretion; we Ecuadorians, want freedom, we do not want owners our life and family. Although there is a lack of education, today, youth who was born with dollarization, can create something solid, defending themselves in social networks and instinctively asking for accountability; they realize when they are humiliated; they are patient but not stupid. Remember that civil society is raising against corruption and outrage throughout Latin America; we see it in Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and now it begins in Ecuador. It is enough to dividing, weaken, and depraving. That the Pope's visit make us reflect and see that what most people wants is to unite, strengthen and moralize. Joyce Higgins de Ginatta, Eng. Guayaquil, June 2015
EVENT
Presiding officers at the opening of the event that took place at the Hilton Colon Hotel, Guayaquil. From left to right.: Eng. Giovanni Ginatta; Executive Director of FIE, Fernando del Rincon, BA; Presenter of Conclusiones in CNN in Spanish, Eng. David Lemor; former Production Minister of Peru, Ing. Joyce de Ginatta; President of FIE, Attorney. Domenica Tabacci; Vice Mayor of the City of Guayaquil, Mrs. Ruth del Salto; Presenter of the Colombian TV channel NTN24; Mr. Santiago Peralta; Pacari Chocolates.
From left to right.: Eng. Henry Kronfle, Eng. Fabricio Correa, Mr. Santiago Peralta and Mr. Gustavo Costa von Buchwald.
Groups of young leaders from various cities of the country who attended the event.
From left to right.: Fernando del Rinc贸n,BA, Eng. David Lemor, Eng. Giovanni Ginatta and Eco. Mauricio Pozo.
From left to right Eng. Ricardo Keonig, Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, Attorney Domenica Tabacci, Mrs.. Olga Eljuri de Doumet, Mrs.Sara de Benalcazar and Dr. Carlos Benalcazar.
Panoramic view of the Great Hall Isabela of the Hilton Colon Hotel
PRESIDING OFFICERS AT THE LUNCH CONFERENCE From let to right Fernando del Rincon, BA, Eng. Giovanni Ginatta, Dr. Vladimiro Alvarez, Eng. David Lemor, Eng. Joyce de Ginatta and Attorney Domenica Tabacci.
From left to right.: Eng. David Lemor, Eng. Giovanni Ginatta, Ec. Mauricio Pozo, Attorney Domenica Tabacci, Eng. Joyce de Ginatta, Fernando del Rinc贸n, BA, Councilman Manuel Samaniego y Eng. Fabricio Correa.
Fernando del Rincon, BA, with a participant to the event and Ec. Mauricio Pozo.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Luis Fernando del Rincon Journalist and presenter of CONCLUSIONS, Stellar CNN program in Spanish (US) TRANSCRIPT OF THE BRIEF PRESENTATION IN THE FIE EVENT CALLED "DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, AND OPPORTUNITIES" HELD AT THE HILTON COLON HOTEL, GUAYAQUIL ON JUNE 8 He is a defender of democracy, justice, and freedom. Since 2010, Luis Fernando del Rincon, is a member of the staff of CNN in Spanish, where he was co-host of World Panorama. Although his natural-born field is Latin America, he goes beyond through his Conclusions program addressing all the problems of the world today. He is a 45-year-old Mexican journalist, awarded multiple times. He recorded his footprints on the Walk of Fame (Mexico). In 2011, he was elected by popular vote in People magazine in Spanish as the best newscaster. He is a cancer survivor. In his interviews he has travelled the international, political and literary world meeting with: the Nobel Peace Prize, Rigoberta Menchu; the writer Carlos Fuentes; former President of Mexico Vicente Fox; and former Mexico first lady Marta Sahagun, among others. Similarly, he has done extensive coverage of news events such as the visit of Holiness John Paul II to Mexico, the death and funeral ceremonies of the Polish Pope from Rome, the death of Celia Cruz, brush fires in California, war in Iraq, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the Royal Weddings. The Mexican journalist Fernando del Rincon was one of the principal speakers at the XVI Congress 'Democracy, freedom, and opportunities', organized by the Inter-American Entrepreneurial Federation (FIE), last June 8 at the Hilton Colon Hotel, Guayaquil. Addressing to the assistants, he thanked the entrepreneur and owner of the guild, Joyce de Ginatta for inviting him to a "highly incriminating" forum. Regarding the symposium, he agreed that concerning the importance of the subject, there is something coherent at times that "Latin America is going through a severe censorship." The host of CNN's Conclusions stressed that censorship is not a right or left issue, "it is an issue of power, government, to challenge the status quo. It occurs in governments and businesses, in houses, unfortunately. It is a practice that has to do with it, rather than with right or left it has to do with power, the control over it. It has to do with not being questioned and avoiding the question. 'Censoring' is the only way to do it and here there are various arrangements that are used to do it: it can be either through legislation, impositions, economic mechanisms and trade commitments. The large areas are used to control, stop or censor the media. The ultimate: killing my fellow journalists in Mexico, Venezuela, Guatemala; killing those who want to take the word of everyone of those here. That they want to give space, that they wish to lift the carpet to find all that dust that many governments get under. They are the fallen and I like to honor them every time I talk about this subject because, unfortunately, I have had close friends. In Mexico (Nuevo Laredo), the editor of the daily El Ma単ana (Roberto Mora Garcia), a good friend of mine, was stabbed to death (on March 19, 2004) only because he made known the truth in print. I have been threatened with death several times by the Mexican government, by drug traffickers, by the Venezuelan government, and so on. The truth is that you take the decision to continue or not and this is up to our idiosyncrasies, our desire and the risks we want to run. Nevertheless, this is the most extreme mechanism: to murder
a journalist to censor him and that it will not come to know the truth. Sometimes we aim wrongly that only in Latin America these phenomena occur and we start seeing countries like the United States (where I live), as this great country where there are not such things, and all freedoms are guaranteed. And I have to say that is a lie and those are mistaken if they think so. A very particular case is that of Edward Snowden, an agent of the National Security Agency of the United States (NSA, for its acronym in English) who finally aired what is now a topic of conversation and that was voted in Congress changing the rules of the game, the espionage they have, the violation of privacy. It ends up in censorship. You are guarded, the 'Big Brother' is made otherwise, but it exists. Many of us see it sitting there, some are in the front. It is the consciousness that I want to generate in all this. It is not solely the responsibility of us, journalists, nor my colleague's of NTN24, this is a fundamental right, it is a right of all of you. The right to inform and be informed, here comes the big question: What are you doing as the civil society to defend that right? Since I saw the decline well, we know that of Cuba, but I saw a decline in Venezuela, from the beginning and I have seen the civil society complaining. But I have not seen a march protecting a journalist who has been threatened, intimidated or beaten as I have seen political prisoners cases, which is also valid. What is the civil society doing to protect those spaces? You, young people, are you aware, about what they are doing to defend this space that in the future will be exposed or not, question and criticize? Awareness of what is free speech needs to be much more global and has to be much more accurate. Understanding it as ours, not the TV, not Bonil (Xavier Bonilla, Ecuador cartoonist) and not the newspaper El Universo, not CNN, not Fernando (del Rincon), but of Peter, John, Mary, Joseph, of anyone. By the time we understand that it is free speech, we are part of democracy, but we have to defend it from those ranks; the responsibility can not be only in the media. Since, unfortunately, there are other mechanisms that engage the media. There are media that are political, as some leaders say yes, it is true, unfortunately, it is. There are irresponsible journalists who publish things that are not true, unfortunately, it is also true, but for that you have consistent, no taxation laws. Laws that allow expression, which has a consequence if you act wrong. It must always be. But now it has been given to the Latin American presidents in some countries, concrete and particularly with more intensity and passion to President Rafael Correa. It seems that (Correa) studied communications; he is a specialist in journalism, he is an expert on how to make a TV show, how to write it and vice versa and all the "corrupt press" is in Latin America. I'm gasping because this is 'free speech'. I am in his country I am telling it, and if President (Correa) comes I will tell him, because I want to know if -at any moment he studied communications. Since I listened to him and I say: he is more experienced than me in the media! I have 30 years doing this, explain me where did he got knowledge? Because I do not understand it. In addition it gets to the point, impudence, cynicism to accuse the entire Latin American press of 'awful' at an international forum such as the Summit of the Americas in Panama. The insult is for me; the insult is for my fellows of NTN24, to El Universo, to the media that comes to their mind, but the insult is also for you too, as a society (for you who consume the information). Besides, it means that they are 'so blind and so stupid' that they are reading 'junk', and they do not realize from the perspective of a president. If the press is like this, as he (Correa) said it is. Is it true? If the press (what we do) is 'junk', and you eat 'junk', then are we all wrong? We should see what President Correa would write, or what President Maduro (Nicholas) will write, or what would write the president Enrique Pe単a Nieto, who also day by day- Mexico suffers a serious problem of censorship. For now, how far can you get with this? Many of my colleagues asked me: Fernando, how far we will get with this? I do not know where Ecuador will get with this, where Mexico will get with this, but a very clear example of how far one can reach is Venezuela. I do not know if anyone knew it and how it was before, because it was something different, on free speech, in the media, in newspapers, on television. Specifically, in February 2014, protests began at the Universidad de Los Andes (Tachira) and detected that something bad will happen. I started writing, and you know the rest of the story (for a whole year, there were protests where there were 40 dead). What was not seen in the Venezuelan national television? All this happened, nobody told me, I was there but those people within that territory (Venezuela) did not see it. What was not seen? (Showing a video on events in Tachira)." Fernando del Rincon continues the story: "These images were not seen on the Venezuelan national television. That happened in the streets, like a pitched battle, something of the Middle East. Tear
gas, fire, knocking, police abuse, police brutality, it was not seen in the Venezuelan national television. Maybe you saw it in social networks, some of these videos were watched all around. But how to be certain that it happened, if there was a government campaign saying that those videos were from other countries? Was that true? This is not happening here! What do they see on the Venezuelan national television, while on the streets everything I showed you happened? What do you imagine it happens in this parallel universe where it was censored an entire blunt and brutal reality? Well, in the parallel universe this was seen". (The Mexican journalist shows a second video of his personal file. In this case, the version of President Nicolas Maduro, who defended 'democracy' and an 'alleged coup billed in Washington'). From the podium the TV presenter argued: "That was what Venezuelans knew was happening during 24 hours. How is this called? It is called communication hegemony, and it is in the manual of these dictatorial regimes to control all media. Can you imagine living in a housing, where you do not take the streets of fear, instability, and that for 24 hours they repeated this information, which is also part of a propaganda and indoctrination. The Venezuelan, who had doubts, starts to believe that indeed they are victims of an international attack. The National Guard (which filled Caracas with tear gas) was a martyr; they were being attacked violent and brutally by boys who lifted the same gasses and were returned. What violence can have (for example) the table over there, with young people having bottles if I, with colleagues, have 47 and 45 millimeters (weapons) and teargas? But you start to create this 'parallel universe' and people start to believe the lie. Another mechanism is to repeat a lie often enough, and it will become true (sadly). They are communication strategies or smokescreens; take another news that allows the one is affecting me, die. It is all part of the censorship; all this affects democracy. Since democracy is allowed to see these images, you are allowed to inform people of the reality, and they are not imposing a 'parallel universe'. There is always an enemy to whom we should be always attacking him, and the divisiveness is critical in anti-democracies. It is the social resentment that, unfortunately, has generated the right (in many countries) and past governments. Why is there a social resentment? Because we are classist, exclusive, because we offend the middle and lower classes;because we offend our indigenous origins (as the president of the National Electoral Institute in Mexico, Lorenzo Córdova Vianello did, before the elections, by an intercepted phone call in which he makes fun of the Indians). This 'social resentment' is taken up by these governments, therefore, that 'parallel universe' reach deeper and create the 'rescuer of the people'. As civil society, we affect democracy to be exclusive, discriminate, humiliate and give room for spaces as the ones we watch. The freedom of speech does not mean to offend, attack; basically, it seeks to have the ability to disagree with you and that you have the ability to accept that I do not agree with you. It is something that these agents and many governments can not tolerate because their skin is very thin, because of their "tail of straw� (as they say in Venezuela) or they have high tail they step on them. When societies understand that there is not a social group, a social faction, and a social sub-group, but that all are part of the same society and the same mechanisms, there is greater integration (it is part of a democracy, an integrated society is much more democratic and clearly defends their ideals, fundamental rights and freedoms). Governments are challenged, also the media. If I behave like any of these leaders, by a many times that he criticizes me on social networks, insult me or tell me things, I would also be a "dictator". It will not have twitter, I will block everyone. It is not easy either, but I have to understand that they disagree with me. I am not a 'gold coin' to be liked by everyone. I wish it were, and I would not be working on television, I would have a lot of money. But the idea of understanding all these divisions, these 'mechanisms of hegemony', 'parallel universes', this discrediting is that we also (we as a society) are permitting it. These spaces were closed, as Radio Caracas Television, because the society allowed it, because they gave them the spaces to do it, because they opened the doors and windows to loot the house, to plunder their fundamental rights.
There are other more interesting things to analyze about it: when you decide to do the things you need to do, you must face the consequences. Which are they? Here they know them very well. Bonil (Xavier Bonilla, Ecuador cartoonist) is the most recent example. Tania Tinoco (Director of Informativo Telemundo, Ecuavisa), Carlos Vera (former television presenter) and the newspaper El Universo have suffered it". (Del Rincon shows a third video with statements of Maduro (referring to the Colombian news channel NTN24 that was transmitted in Venezuela on cable television. On February 13, 2014, it was taken off the air at a time when they reported on the riots unleashed in Caracas. In addition, the Venezuelan President expressed that Rincon, in February, was making 'war journalism', covering protests and violent events in San Cristobal). Immediately, Fernando del Rincon referred: "You are very intelligent, Maduro. Someone should tell him that SOS is the international distress signal, but you are too rough, Maduro. That happens when you decide to challenge the status quo, break the barrier of censorship and show what you have to show. There is 'war journalism', but it is not what was being done. That is one of the mechanisms I told you at the beginning of the conversation: destroy the media, the journalist NTN24. Off air! CNN was threatened for a long time; clearly the responsibility fell much on me because I was in Tachira. The company was aware of what was happening, President Maduro also, but I believe and have always believed fervently that when things are done well (without an agenda, but with the truth), no matter how much you are threatened or if there is a media siege, you have to find a way to do it. Today we are kept on the air, my coverage was challenged by the editorial group of CNN and was revised from day one until the last day I was in that coverage. It is true, if I did something wrong they have to tell me, but it was not like that. Distort and discredit is one of the things done when it is a particular objective, when it is about a person. This discrediting of President Maduro to NTN24 and to get out of the air, is it a decision of the State? Have you ever seen a State to take out of the air an international chain just like that, with a slap on the desktop, without making it a case first? What did NTN24 do? The same I did! it showed the truth that was happening in the streets, and with a slap (Maduro) took it out of the air. In what legal process, in which right defense process, in which fair process this decision was taken? In none. He openly says: "It is a decision of the state." It is a decision of Maduro (and they like to use the word state). Now notice how this 'parallel universe' is: Coordination is so wonderful that while the president was on national television he received a picture of me on his phone, at that time. "Oh, look, look" (Maduro said). It is a theater! and theaters are mounted, times are mounted and that was one of many attacks. These parallel universes are mounted, and you become the enemy. What happened when President Maduro did that? I arrived at the airport of Tachira, and when I got off, a Chavista boy, that had a stick in his hand, came over me because he just saw what Maduro said. In this way, they canceled the journalist, so he becomes the enemy of a people. The State relieves the journalist throwing him to the 'resentful mass' (which have exploited for hatred towards anything that does not smell like a system), it is another form of censorship. Citizens are also canceled, their realities are distorted, they are discredited, and they are morally finished, so they stop them from expressing themselves. If it happens to a journalist, it will happen to any of you who are sitting here. Because the state power against any citizen is huge (and it can destroy, isolate). These mechanisms that have been seen in Cuba (for example), where people who wanted to form a union, suddenly becomes isolated, without work (anywhere), and not even their neighbors talk to them assuming they are lepers. This is how it happens: how far can you go? So far, if there is no freedom of speech, if it is not defended in front of a camera, behind a desk, the demand has to come from everyone. But we go further." Rincon states, (showing the fourth video of protests in Venezuela): "A step further, after the threat of the president; one step was enough for the international community turn around to see the reality of Venezuela. It was my decision, but it was the 'small step' that was needed so that parallel lock world, censorship, of distorting reality do not stay in the international community. This is to confirm that it was not true what a government said; it was not the only one who did that work, others did it too; journalists who risked their skins on digital platforms, social networks. My NTNT24 companions followed it although they were not on the air in Venezuela. We made a 'common front'
pull the lie. But there is one small detail: do your best and give the extra (which can make the difference). Every day that you get up (prospective parents, youth) and want to ask: How far can we go? Remember these videos, so there you can get. Here tweeters are persecuted. Here the maturity of an agent puts one on one with a teenager because he did it like this (he shows the thumb and then turns it down). Sorry, I am not the president, but I have no time for that. I have been reminded on Mothers' Day 20 times in the street, and I have not returned to discuss. They are the great weaknesses of these regimes and leaders. They are the viscera. How many times the president has not been bad for being visceral? The clearest example is the one of that young. How many times Maduro has not been bad for the viscera? There is a little formula that today was not included in the manual of the communication hegemony of censorship and the lack of freedom of speech written by The Castro (Fidel and Raul) and are the social networks. The large movements that have broken barriers and that have taken dictators out of the position (as Muammar Gaddafi or Hosni Mubarak) were generated in social networks. Today things gets out of hand to these presidents, by social networks. We learned things that we will not see on the Venezuelan national television, or anywhere, by social networks. With this, I end this intervention not to bore you: The last front of your free speech, here in Venezuela and Mexico, are social networks. If it is already too late to defend the press; if it is already too late to defend their right to inform and be informed; if it is too late to defend the television, do not rob them that last space; use it responsibly, do not believe everything you read, but when you have to explain something, they are millions! Do not leave your neighbor alone. I do not think they will start opening trials of a million people who tweeted the same. The problem is when we are such cowards that we leave the one in front to open his mouth (as Professor Jirafales, when the classroom was silent then he began to speak). It is up to you to massively defend what we have to express ourselves freely, in a democracy. It is democratic to do it, it is democratic to criticize, it is democratic to disagree; it is undemocratic to see what is happening in our Latin America and not defend it. Hopefully today they choose to do so. Thank you very much". The journalist is known in the Hispanic community in the United States and Latin America for having worked on major news networks. He said goodbye after the pleasant, intense and lecture conference.
THE CONDITIONS OF A REPUBLIC
Dr. Fabián Corral Burbano De Lara
BRIEF EXCERPT OF THE PRESENTATION AT THEFIE EVENT CALLED "DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITIES" HELD AT THE HILTON COLON HOTEL IN GUAYAQUIL ON JUNE 8
Particular mention to the REPUBLIC • REPUBLIC is a form of government characterized by the division of state powers in an elected political regime (i); (ii) representative; (iii) alternative; and (iv) responsible • REPUBLIC is a form of government characterized by the rule of law and under the principles of the rule of law THE PRESIDENTIAL REPUBLIC • Is the presidential figure a concentrator institution of power? • The concentration of (i) representative powers that correspond to the head of state; and (ii) political and administrative powers of the premiership • The Administrator President: the power of the bureaucracy, government-dependent economy • The co-chairman: (i) legislative initiative; (ii) sanction and veto; (iii) enactment of the law. • Sui generis regulatory power. Delegation rules and their proliferation. • The regulator power substitute the rule of law • The planning and public policies as instruments of power REPUBLIC AND RULE OF LAW • Rule of law and the rule of "rights" and justice • The Constitution, including the guarantees, presidentialism and planning as power • The necessary counterweight to presidentialism: the rule of law or rule of law empire THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW: • 1. THE PRINCIPLE OF RESTRAINT OR RULE OF LAW: "The government of laws and not people" • Authorities under the rule without exception; • The power is expressed only through legal acts challenged in administrative, legal or constitutional means THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW:
• 2. THE PRINCIPLE OF LIMITATION: Limited power, circumscribed by the laws.- Absolute or invasive power is contrary to the system.- Clamping results in limitation.- The state monopoly compartments.- Regulated powers, relative and exceptionally discretionary.- The limitation affects all functions: executive, legislative and judicial. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW • 3. PRINCIPLE OF LEGALITY: - The "principle of conferral of powers" .- The state has no "rights", it has transitional, revocable and conditioned powers derived from the rule.- Authorities serve the people and are subordinated to the "rights" of persons.- The power as the executor of the rules. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW • 4. PRINCIPLE OF MOTIVATION. The "prohibition of arbitrary" as doctrinal inspiratory precept.- All the "acts" of power (Law, normative act, administrative act, regulation, decision) must be motivated, that is supported in rules.- The lack of motivation is a substantial and irreparable defect that undermines the legitimacy and effectiveness of the actions. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW • 5. PRINCIPLE OF LIABILITY: - The above principles are specified in the political, economic, legal and social responsibility.- A feature of the republican system is the responsibility to exercise the power.- Objective responsibility of the power and subjective, derivative and qualified responsibility.Right of recourse. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW • 6. LEGAL SECURITY: "Inspiring element of the rule of law" .- (i) The knowledge of the law and awareness of Rights.- (ii) Predictability in the law and acts of administration.- (iii) Stability regulations • The right to property and the property and non-property personal rights. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE RULE OF LAW • 7. CONTESTABILITY OF THE ACTS OF POWER: General Principle of contestability.- The state does not have shielding.- Means: administrative, contentious and constitutional litigation. NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR OPERATING PRINCIPLES 1. ACTIVE DIVISION OF FUNCTIONS OF THE STATE • Monopoly and regulations and actual concentration • Rule of law means "split” controlled, responsible and limited power • Check and control systems • Without division of duties, the rule of law is not possible 2. JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE • The rule of law is not possible without an independent, professional, social credibility and sufficient judicial system and effective guarantees to operate.
PART II THAT OF RIGHTS Until recently, the "rights" were confined to the private sphere, and somehow it was strange to the political world. They were concerned with the contracts, the legal relationships of the family and private property. For some, these "rights" were strange topics to the Public Law. This perception has changed and is perhaps, one of the features of the constitutional developments of recent times. Now, the individual rights are at the forefront. They are, in a sense, the plot of the constitutions and they have become the subject to cyclical debates. 1. Fundamental rights and law.- It is an old discussion whether the rights of the persons are born of the law issued by the states, or if they are attributes prior to the political organization, who by the standards should only express them legally without affecting their essence, and establish the procedural guarantees to provide them with efficiency. Pure positivists believe that the rights, birth and protection, come and deplete exclusively on acts of power, so that if a law is not written in the standard, it does not exist. Other schools, aligned with the thesis called ius naturalism and children, argue the opposite: the individual rights are born with the people. The role of the legislator is limited to integrate them into the legal system and to promote their protection. The task of governments should go in the same line; further, his first duty would be to ensure the efficient enjoyment of the rights with the necessary measures; these already expressing the Constitution in force. In that perspective, the law loses its connotation of absolute act, discretionary, unlimited act, because it should respect and express the cultural and moral values, that in short, are essentially on individual rights as property of individuals. Furthermore, it should create the necessary procedural tools to ensure their effectiveness; what is known as the "guarantees of due process" now contained in Art. 76 of the Constitution and before in Art. 24 of 1998. 2. Some notes on fundamental individual rights.- Much literature has been written on the subject. The doctrinaire liberals like John Locke deal with it. It is a strong thesis of the ius naturalists – allusive to the school of Natural Law, coming from the divinity in the Catholic argument, or because of reason in the rationalists-. Many doctrinaires as Luigi Ferrajoli have developed the argument lately. Some important notes about the rights, to my mind, and in conjunction with these writers: (i) They are part of the moral heritage of the people, even without active legal expression. (ii) They are born with the individual and they do not come from any law or act of authority; moreover, they predate the state and they are even above constitutions to which they determine and condition; (iii) They are individual powers, that is, they belong to the person, and they do not depend on whether or not the holder belongs to a community, ethnic group, nationality. (iv) The so-called collective rights have as a prerequisite the individual subjective rights. The irreducible reality is people, not the authorities. (v) They are inalienable and "unavailable", that is, nor the proper holder can abdicate or can have them for the benefit of third parties or to the detriment of their dignity. No one can give up their freedoms, or be subjected to bondage. No one can renounce his physical, intellectual or moral integrity. No one can compromise on those rights. Any waiver or transaction involving assignment, even imposed by law, is illegitimate; (vi) The "legitimacy" of the legal system, including constitutional, basically, has to do with the necessary and accurate match between what is provided in the positive norms issued by the territorial power, with the principles that should inspire them. Norberto Bobbio says that laws must be "fair" and justice of the law refers undoubtedly to the "legitimacy by coincidence" with values and principles. (vii) The values and guiding principles of legality are the human heritage of moral order, which prevail over doctrines, ideologies and concepts relating to the structure of the states, who are in subjection relationship regarding such rights. (viii) An important source of fundamental individual rights are international instruments that
oblige the states. (ix) The local law, territorial order, can not work against the international order in the field of fundamental rights. 3. The individual rights are not the State's attribute.- As such, the fundamental rights of people are not the State's attribute, nor correspond to the characteristic features of it, nor can record as a distinctive feature of the political organization. In that sense, it is arguably the contents of Art. 1 of the current Constitution as saying that "Ecuador is a constitutional state of rights and justice ..." The rights do not correspond to the State to define it as an organization of power, according to the wording of the constitutional text. Instead, they are the indispensable attribute of people, and before them, the task of the state is to protect them, as the Constitution states in Art. 3. In any case, the raid of subjective rights as part of the public law is one of the most complex issues in the public debate, and indeed risky for individuals.
DOLLARIZATION IS NOT IRREVERSIBLE
Alberto Acosta-Burneo, Ec. Analisis Semanal Editor As a university professor, Rafael Correa spoke out against dollarization because it was wrong to deprive of monetary policy. He said that dollarization is not irreversible because "it is only an exchange rate, that due to the reforms, is changed." (El Universo, December 17, 2003). He also spent time studying the mechanisms to exit dollarization. He concluded that an orderly exit of dollarization was possible and would involve at least three steps: obtaining large foreign exchange reserves, imposition of controls on capital mobility, and the introduction of a new national currency for a long time and credible. The key to initiate this process was to reach a dedollarization social consensus. But one thing is as a professor, and another as president when Correa announced his commitment to dollarization. However, his economic policies have not always been consistent with this postulate. Dollarization is a rigid monetary system that requires coherent economic policies with an economy without a monetary policy. Dollarization in Ecuador presents some challenges that we must not lose sight. The first is to maintain fiscal balance as it is not possible to finance the deficits as in the past with inorganic emission of money. However, public spending in Ecuador has expanded beyond what was prudent. In 2014, it was in America the country with the highest public expenditure in relation to the size of the economy with 42.8% of GDP. The other side of the coin of an expansive spending is the beginning of a phase of aggressive borrowing to sustain the massive government investment. It is necessary that public finances return to a sustainable path. A second challenge for dollarization is the “bimonetarismo� (when two coins are used legally in one country) that could cause the electronic money if it becomes a means of payment. Mateo Villalba, the manager of the Central Bank, recognized that electronic money is more than a means of payment; "there is also the issue of a digital dollar denominated monetary species" (Vistazo magazine, October 23, 2014). Dollarization health is in the hands of prudence that monetary authorities have to manage electronic money. The Monetary Code grants broad powers and sets few restrictions. Another challenge is related to the development of productivity and competitiveness. One of the virtues of this monetary scheme is that it is no longer possible to hide the productive inefficiencies through devaluations. The basis for competitiveness is that companies improve their production processes and increase their productivity; producing more with the same costs. The state has a significant role in this area and who has to reach trade agreements that allow Ecuadorian products to enter the primary global markets on preferential terms. Ultimately, to boost a dollarized or not economy, what is required is to create an atmosphere of confidence for investment which has been one of the major difficulties of Ecuador. The economic policy is the primary source of uncertainty for investment. Currently, the third year tax reform that would put the tax on inheritances among the largest in the world is discussed. The exit
tax discourages foreign capital inflows. Additional records for withdrawals of cash from banks generate suspicions. To achieve further growth and continue reducing poverty levels, we must create an environment of trust that encourages entrepreneurship and investment. Let us not spend more time!
THE PRETEXT OF "FISCAL CONSCIOUSNESS�
Alberto Medina Mendez Journalist. Private consultant in communications (Argentina)
Hypocrisy is common currency, and it is no longer a first. This inadequate civic stance also appears in the field of the so-called "fiscal consciousness". Some have had the audacity to define it with some academic bias, saying it is the "internalization in individuals of tax obligations set by law, to meet them on a voluntary basis, knowing that its compliance will lead to a universal benefit for society in which they are inserted." It is a real nonsense to match two terms that clearly contradict. To pay taxes is not voluntary because the word taxes refers to the forced, to the required. If it is a genuine, spontaneous gesture, linked to a natural desire, in any case, it would be a donation. As often happens in different orders of daily life, this kind of twisted justification does not cease to be a mere ruse, almost a comfort, trying to become acceptable something that is inherently wrong. There are at least four distinct groups using this plot device and intend to transform it into an indisputable axiom, in a biblical mandate. On one side there are the collectors, those working in this, preserve the management bodies of compulsive collecting taxes. The measure of their efficiency is directly related to the amount received. Therefore, in the mass media campaigns they appeal to this slogan for being the least unpleasant. "People should pay their taxes because it is the only way for the state to function, and the more people do it will be much better for society", they say. Sometimes they even resort to a vile contraption of "drawing" as a device so that some citizens be informers of the rest, denouncing those who do not comply with it. Another sector that operates in the same way, is the parasitic state structure. Everyone living from the State know that the blood flowing through those veins are fed by taxes, printing money and indebtedness. In times in which the last two are not a relevant possibility, the taxes, i.e. the money deducted coercively from society, allow the existence of state employment and its amount depends to a large extent, that their salaries be improved. A third space is occupied by those paying almost no tax, or at least they do not perceive doing it. They are subsidized or unemployed workers. Their incomes are low, and they are not reached by some of the voracious taxes specifically designed to teach a lesson to the higher segments. They claim fiscal awareness as a way to alleviate their grudge against the biggest producers. They seek equality and believe that a tax system that takes away too much to the wealthy, level them quickly. They do not know how to raise their revenues and think they are victims of this cruel world. This perverse scheme is positive because it takes from others, to whom they blame for having more than them. The last group consists of those who pay much in taxes. They do not contribute as a matter of conviction, but because their activity does not allow them to escape. The administration has already found an efficient way to keep them as a hostage. Since they can not evade, they do not allow to be the only fools and want company at such abuse. They are rendered against the impotence of being trapped by the regime, they desperately appeal to this as poor as immoral dialectical resource. In this, they resemble to the previous group. Their motivations arise from resentment, and this does not speak well of them. The system claws have co-opted them, and they do not want to feel stupid, this is why they accuse the rest, so they receive the same punishment.
Paying taxes is not voluntary. The tax implies that the State levies by force, a too important part of the personal effort. Nobody pays with satisfaction and joy. In any case they do it because they can not avoid it, because the scheme is designed so that they cannot take the desired product without the "toll" or because if they do not pay it, it involves a vital legal risk that results in costly fines or even prison. This general statement can be verified empirically daily. Whoever attempts to refute it can give personal testimony of it and do the exercise today asking to increase them the price of goods and charge them uncollected taxes or even leaving an extra, not as a tip for the individual who gives them the product, but directly to the state. Moreover, if an individual believes so adamantly in the goodness of taxes he could ask governments, in all its jurisdictions, to give him a bank account number to deposit own money as a donation to the "laudable" purposes for which the state spends money. After all this individual who defends the idea of "fiscal consciousness" believes that the proceeds as a tribute do not end in the hands of the political apparatus, corruption or traditional waste. He recites loudly that all this is for health, education and security. Well, then, that he massively deposits his own resources there, instead of using it for entertainment or luxury consumption of unnecessary goods. The ideological inconsistency is so obvious that it does not support almost any serious argument to be considered in a certain sense. If ultimately it chooses to pay taxes, assuming it as the "lesser evil" it is done because it has not been found a better way to finance the "alleged" needs to live in a community. At least it is healthy to avoid the twisted intellectual approaches seeking to justify it. It is unreasonable to try to convert the evil in kind. In any case, some citizen resignation can serve as a transition, but only to try to be more creative and continue to seek mechanisms to replace this daily outrage for something that exceeds. Meanwhile, it would be convenient to assume that when we talk about taxes it does not have enough reasons to support it. The challenge is to think how to abandon the pretext of fiscal awareness.
FROM QUALITY IN EDUCATION TO EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Dr. Bolivar Jaramillo Azanza, SDB In the recent times, one of the most talked educational issues and the subject of constant reflection is the quality of education. It has multidirectional references, it is so broad that the conceptual range that this means in this first part, will be related to three dimensions: quality education equal to effectiveness, quality education equal to relevance or educational quality considered in direct relation to teachers and school life. The quality of education equal to efficacy, referring to an educational program that is considered of quality if it achieves the intended goals and objectives set, and whether the student learns what it is supposed to learn. When we talk about quality of education in relation to the concept of relevance, it is argued that quality educational programs should be those including valuable and useful content that meet the requirements needed to adequately train students, to prepare excellent professionals in line with the social needs, or that provide valuable tools for the world of work. When you think about the quality of education by establishing teacher-coexistence of all actors in the educational system, essential questions arise such as: What teacher should be trained? What kind of coexistence is promoted? How to act to seek the path of educational quality? What should be their attitude towards the issue of coexistence? Undoubtedly, the answers are much more complex than the questions, so, to know what it is and when there is quality education, and what is an education with excellence, you must first start making a reference -at least a brief one- about what we mean by education, quality, and excellence. Thus, articulating concepts, trying to outline a notion that brings us closer to the idea of quality and educational excellence. The point is to consider that quality is never associated with quantity, and it is not a rigid concept, but we are talking about a feature of things indicating perfection, improvement, achievement. The purpose of this article is to present a critical analysis of the concepts of quality and excellence, questioning the relevance of the use of the academic and university level of quality from the science in business administration in a quantum field whose operating parameters and exacting standards have much broader, complex and diverse characters. The issue of quality as a component of production problems, seems to come from antiquity, but historically it is a concept that comes associated with the second industrial revolution and the installation of increasingly objective and measurable criteria for streamlining processes production. Then its origins found in the western and Anglo-Saxon world, although, as we shall see later, the concept of quality found a strong momentum within the Japanese business culture in the postWorld War II period. We feel that this historical perspective is critical to understanding the origin, the ideological foundations and cultural background in which the notion of quality arose. Quality appears and has its origin as a concept coming from the disciplinary field of business administration. Cultural appropriation of the concept of quality has been a gradual, progressive and expansive process, from the United States and Japan initially on the management of companies and corporations, to other fields of productive performance. Subsequently during the second half of the XX century it spread to almost the entire world.
Instead, the concept of academic excellence reflects an academic effective conception of the educational process in a House of Higher Learning, involving the establishment of rising standards of learning requirements and the whole process of education. We must emphasize this notion: education is not a single act, is not an event that happens in a fixed, unique and particular social or cultural time: education, from a sociological perspective, is a process, it is a complex sequence of actions which set in motion a set of structures and systems, so that what happens, for example, in the classroom, is both the result and the starting point of the complex workings of an academic, administrative, financial, logistical structure and technology that supports the pedagogical action that happens in the classroom. Academic excellence is translated and expressed in the university requirement; defined as the application of the most demanding, comprehensive and rigorous standards in the educational, research and extension process. From this point of view it means that academic excellence works as a category that allows qualifying work, functions, and processes, so that they can make a distinction clearly identifiable between value or scientific results and pre-scientific value results or unscientific. It allows in turn, contribute to the construction, nesting and reproduction of significant qualitative values for each of the disciplines that take place in the university area. It is undeniable that excellence is the result of some institutional arrangements that help to ensure the functioning of a scientific discipline within the university. Needless to say, the two leading centers of academic excellence are based on the faculty and students. Academic excellence goes through a rigorous process of school teacher training, perfection, and development, evaluation and control of teacher performance in the Houses of Higher Study. The university is also and above all an area of academic excellence to the extent that their teachers meet higher standards of training and educational and research capacity. Nevertheless, academic excellence also occurs and is manifested by students coming from a high school quality education, meet sufficient standards and increasingly maximum requirement, scientific rigor, commitment and responsibility to their academic duties. The university educational excellence has been defined by the concept that "... in relation to the individual learner, excellence means a performance made to the most of the ability of a person, in ways that test the maximum personal limit in schools and workplaces. Regarding educational institutions, excellence characterizes college that sets high expectations and ambitious goals for all students and then tries in every possible way to help students achieve them." It seems important to emphasize the concept of "testing the maximum personal limits" of the student, who proposes this definition: it means that the student must feel, understand and assume that the effort will require him to learn, that the intellectual resources that the teacher will use in the classroom and throughout the learning process, and that the standards of demand and evaluation that the college will build and implement, are aimed “to test the maximum personal limits" of the student, and mediocrity, copying or the least possible effort should not be accepted.
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: THE MARKET IS THE WORLD
David Lemor, Eng. Former Minister of Production of Peru STATEMENT OF THE PRESENTATION FIE EVENT CALLED "DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, AND TH OPPORTUNITIES" HOTEL HILTON COLON GUAYAQUIL, JUNE 8 TRADE POLICY OF PERU BACKGROUND • The process of trade liberalization began in the nineties when we had tariff levels around 66% on average. • Stabilization policies and structural adjustment that aimed to lay the groundwork for the country's reintegration into the international financial system and restore macroeconomic sustainably order to deal with the crisis in the balance of payments were issued. • The results of the external sector are evident in the tariff liberalization and trade reform undertaken and consolidated in recent years. • Today, Peru has just three tariff levels, with a simple average of 1.2%. • This political decision has allowed many Peruvian companies to be competitive today. TRADE AGREEMENTS AS A TOOL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • Development strategy based on an open and competitive world in its export economy. • International trade negotiations in a stable macroeconomic environment has allowed to confront and reduce the vulnerability of the Peruvian economy to the international crisis. • Today 96% of Peruvian exports are covered by existing trade agreements that give us preferential access to 53 countries, among which are the United States, EU, China, Korea, Japan, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, CAN, Mercosur, among others.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS • Comprehensive agreements negotiated under Article XXIV of the GATT / WTO. • Its objective is the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, to achieve the free movement of goods and services; as well as investment protection. • At a more advanced stage, it seeks to achieve the free movement of persons and integration of capital markets. • Fourth generation FTAs include disciplines beyond trade, seeking the approval of environmental, labor regulations and improving regulatory practices, cooperation and development of competitiveness.
EXISTING TRADE AGREEMENTS IN PERU UNITED STATES
COSTA RICA
KOREA
OMC
CHILE
JAPAN
PANAMA
CAN (4)
MEXICO
CHINA
EFTA (4)
MERCOSUR (4)
UE (28)
SINGAPUR
VENEZUELA
CUBA
THAILAND
CANADA
TRADE AGREEMENTS IN PORTFOLIO They are going to enter into force HONDURAS
ALIANZA DEL PACIFICO
THAILANDI (FTA)
They are under negociation TPP
GUATEMALA
TURKEY
INDIA
EL SALVADOR
DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA (OMC) Future Agenda INDIA
INDONESIA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
RUSSIA (Subject to associated countries enter OMC)
TRADE RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED BY ECUADOR Trade restrictions on Peru - Ecuador • Establishment of previous import controls - "Certificate of Recognition". COMEX Resolution 116 (11/19/2013) • Between 2013 and 2015, Ecuador has published and amended approximately 200 regulations. • In practice, it became almost impossible to access the certificate as there were no certifying companies that rendered the types of documents required, either in Ecuador or Peru. Import ban concealed.
A Register of Trade Operations was created to import these products (ROP), which among other requirements, requires the Ecuadorian import companies a commitment to reduce imports by up to 30% annually affecting Ecuadorians consumers. • The SG scored CAN trade restriction measures applied by Resolution 116 of the COMEX. • Ecuador has not complied with resolutions or SG CAN or refusal of suspension of the Andean Court.
SAFEGUARD CURRENCY DEVALUATION (January-March 2015) • Ecuador applied a rate of 7% of Peruvian exports and 21% to the Colombian exports to its market, based on an article about devaluation of the Cartagena Agreement • The SG CAN is declaring ruled as inadmissible the application of the safeguard and ordered the lifting of the measure immediately as well as the return of the same as charged. • Ecuador has not complied with the return. SAFEGUARD FOR BALANCE OF PAYMENTS This measure was valid as from March 11, 2015. Ecuador supports adopting the measure due to the need to maintain the equilibrium in its balance of payments with the following arguments: • Reduction of international oil prices • Reduced remittance income • Appreciation of the US dollar • Contains surcharges of 45%, 25%, 15% or 5%. • It does NOT apply to countries regarded as least developed in the framework of the ALADI: Bolivia and Paraguay. Violating the principle of most favored nation and non-discriminatory treatment. How does this measure affects Peru? • Peru is one of the top three suppliers of products affected by the Ecuadorian extent (75% of affected products). • This becomes evident that the measure is aimed at a group of products of Ecuador interest, where it seeks to eliminate competition for its producers, violating the principles governing trade integration that regulates CAN and eliminates the competition that benefits the consumer.
DOLLARIZATION AND FREEDOM: THE ECUADORIAN CASE
Maria Gabriela Calderon Economic analyst. CATO.ORG Editor
TRANSCRIPT OF A BRIEF PRESENTATION FIE EVENT CALLED "DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM, AND OPPORTUNITIES" HELD AT THE HILTON COLON HOTEL, GUAYAQUIL ON JUNE 8
FREEDOM AND RULE OF LAW • Separation of powers • No one is above the law • Laws of general application, equal and accurate • Justice → Saving →Investment • State that protects rather than threaten individual freedoms LAW AND LEGISLATION • Legality, not rule of law • Constitution and legislation reflect rather than limit power • The brightest exception → dollarization "Somewhat it can be say that Ecuadorian in mass rebelled against the money handled by our politicians (legislation), escaping into another currency away from them and, therefore, it fulfill better the functions of a solid coin (Law). This conflict between the money that they wanted to impose to Ecuadorians through legislation and the currency Ecuadorians freely chose to protect them from inflation tax, came to an end in January 2000, when a politician - probably as a lifeguard- lined the law with what was already happening in the street." "So it was that our politicians lost 15 years ago the power to manipulate the value of money that Ecuadorians charge, save and carry out transactions. It lost because an overwhelmingly Ecuadorians rejected the sucre, opting to conduct transactions in dollars long before the government formalized this reality in January 2000. All Ecuadorians, without exception got individual sovereignty over their money and ended an apartheid between those who could get a favorable exchange rate and the rest of the population." "This year marks 15 years of dollarization in Ecuador and it is a happy coincidence that this young anniversary is shared with that of the 800th anniversary of the Constitution; all these discussions are about dollarization: the right of every individual to take ownership of the fruits of their labor without this being subject to the arbitrary wishes of those who hold political power." THE TEMPTATION OF THE NATIONAL CURRENCY • Historically it has served kings and governments to finance themselves almost unlimited; • The Central Bank (with state monopoly on the issuance of money) is a relatively recent phenomenon; • Why does it matters the forced course? • Fragile marriage
"Why it is important for politicians the imposition by force of a national currency? Because there is no powerful superstition as to fool people when they realize that you are blending their real wages and/or its savings by nasty devaluation/inflation." "The marriage of populism with dollarization make Ecuador a singular case of study. While populism denies the rule of law, dollarization is the adoption of same in the monetary area. In other words, it removes politicians the ability to manipulate the value of money that Ecuadorians use". MYTHOLOGY DOLLARIZATION • It is the specter of trade deficit • Does it damage exports? • Does it make us more vulnerable to external shocks? - "It is frankly very difficult to understand why there is so much fuss in our country. According to the World Bank, El Salvador, and Panama have recorded deficits in their current account each year between 2005 and 2013. Those of Panama have been the greatest, between -0.6% and -15.3 of GDP. The deficit in the current account of El Salvador has been between -1.5% and -6.5% of GDP. Ecuador, where many have bad nights thinking about the deficit, we have not had deficits every year, and these were lower, with the highest of -2.3%. If we compare the average current account deficit as a percentage of GDP from 2005 to 2013, it highlights Panama with the highest average of -8.1%, followed by El Salvador with 4.6% and it turns out that Ecuador as an average, obtained a positive balance in the current account of 0.8%." - "Also, if the myth that dollarization depends on a positive balance in the trade balance is true, these countries should have experienced a crisis or be about to experience it. It turns out that not only Panamanians do not have a crisis, but they have grown at an average rate between 2005 and 2013 of 8.4%. Meanwhile, El Salvador registered an average growth rate during the same period of 1.8% and Ecuador 4.4%." - "If we look at the figures for exports, only those of goods, that presents the Central Bank of Ecuador, we see that there was a significant increase in exports after dollarization, being this more pronounced in the 2000-2006 period. While exports of goods grew on average by 5% between 1993 and 1999, between 2000 and 2006 they grew at an average of 14%, average that unfortunately fell 8% during the best of the last oil boom (2007-2013).”- "When a country heavily dependent on raw materials, as in our case, the falling of the price of its main export significantly damages the economy no matter what the currency is. The big difference is that, as in Russia, the devaluation and inflation add monetary problems to an external shock and fiscal problems -so typical of a populist government." - "The own currency has not served to promote exports or to lower the interest rate to Russia. It has been good to generate the unpleasant pair of devaluation and inflation. Besides, the central bank has been forced to raise interest rates, which will depress investment and economic growth. What do they expect in 2015 is a stagnant economy with inflation. It is something similar to what Argentineans and Venezuelans have been suffering since last year. The national currency in countries with populist governments equals to adding fuel to the fire". DOLLARIZATION PROVIDES A STRONG CURRENCY • Means of universal change • Store of value • Units of measurement
REFORM PROPOSALS • Remove the Central Bank of Ecuador • Freedom to choose the best currency • Financial Integration Throughout its 72-year history as a central bank, the ECB never achieved objectives such as price stability or financial deepening. Romero states that the ECB was a tool for politicians in power erode the private property of Ecuadorians (devaluing the currency) to finance frequent excesses in public spending or favors to their friends. The experience of Panama, a dollarized country like ours, shows that a central bank is not necessary. While the ECB was a central bank and lender of last resort, it caused much damage. The ECB does not have the primary functions of a central bank – it does not issue money nor a lender of last resort-, and should not do so if it is to continue dollarized. That said, one wonders why then in 2015 the ECB not only exists but employs 855 people (data updated as of March 2015). Pedro Romero, "Central Bank of Ecuador: The story that still we do not learn". Ecuadorian Institute of Political Economy. 2002. - The economist at the Johns Hopkins University, Steve Hanke, believes that "without a central bank, the chances of making monetary mischief - including putting into reverse the dollarization project in Ecuador - would be reduced dramatically. As a result, the risk premiums and interest rates are reduced." It is not to “bind us” to the dollar. Not even to give up one or more national currencies. Actually, what it is about is to enshrine the freedom of citizens to choose the best currency. With this principle in mind the Constitution could emulate this article of the Panamanian Constitution of 1904: "There cannot be in the Republic legal tender paper money. Accordingly, any individual can reject any ticket or another certificate that does not inspire confidence, either of official or private origin." The wording may vary, but the important thing is to prohibit politicians to force us to accept coins or bills in which citizens' distrust. Constitution of Panama, 1904. Available at: http://binal.ac.pa/binal/component/content/article/78-servicios/147-constituciones-art The financial integration, together with the tax territoriality, will mainly generate four benefits for Ecuadorians: (1) interest rates close to international levels, which are usually lower than those that have prevailed in our market; (2) a greater access to credit and loans of higher volume; (3) a stable financial system, thanks to the presence of international banks, which act as lenders of last resort in cases of shortage of liquidity; and (4) increase the country's banking, understanding this index as the total volume of the credit granted as a percentage of GDP. - Before the financial reform of 1970, the Panamanian economic system look a lot like the Ecuadorian: it had only 23 banks (including two state's). Twelve years after that reform the financial system grew to 118 banks. The international banking center of Panama now has over $100 billion in assets. Edith Castillo Duarte. "The banking center get healthy at '40'. La Prensa (Panama). August 9, 2010. Superintendence of Banks of Panama: http://www.superbancos.gob.pa