John Perkins - The New York Times -
Ecuador for many many years had been ruled by pro-US dictators. Often relatively brutal. Then it was decided that they were going to have a truly democratic election. Jaime Roldos ran for office and his main goal, he said, as President would be to make sure that Ecuador’s resources were used to help the people. And he won. Overwhelming. By more votes than anyone had won anything else in Ecuador. And he began to implement these policies to make sure that the profits from oil went to help the people. Well, we didn’t like that in the United States. I was sent down as one of several economic hit-men to change Roldos. To corrupt him. To bring him around. To let him know, you know, OK, you can get very rich, you and your family, if you play our game. But if you continue to try to keep these policies you’ve promised, you’re going to go. He wouldn’t listen. He was assassinated. As soon as the place crashed, the whole area was condoned off, the only people allowed in were the United States military from a nearby base and some Ecuadorean military. When the investigation was launched, two of the key witnesses died in car accidents before they got the chance to testify. A lot of very very strange things went on around the assassination of Jaime Roldos. I like most people who have really looked at this case have absolutely no doubt that it was an assassination. Of course, in my position as an Economic Hit-man, I was always expecting something to Jaime, whether it be a coup or an assassination, I wasn’t sure, but that he would be taken down because he was not being corrupted. He would not allow himself to be corrupted the way we wanted to corrupt him. John Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman, economist for Chas T Main Inc
Ecuadorian Leader Dies in Place Crash: President Jaime Roldos Aguilera was killed today when an Air Force plane carrying him crashed in the Andes near Ecuador’s southern border with Peru, the Presidential Palace announced. He was 40 years old. The New York Times article 25th May 1941