It has not been a good week for Hugo Chavez.
On Tuesday, Venezuela failed to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council. (Be sure to check out The Real Cuba to see who Venezuela is getting its marching orders from.)
And on Wednesday, Spain said it would not sell a dozen military airplanes to Venezuela because of restrictions on the planes including American technology.
But the the bad week for Chavez started Sunday, when his man in Quito, Rafael Correa, failed to win enough votes to avoid a runoff in the presidential election.
In fact, Correa, an economist with an infatuation with the clown of Caracas, finished second to pro-U.S. banana billionaire Alvaro Noboa.
The choice on Nov. 26 is clear for Ecuador, which doesn't make a habit of seeing its presidents finish their terms.
The Associated Press reports:
2 Set for Presidential Runoff in Ecuador
By MONTE HAYES
Associated Press Writer
QUITO, Ecuador — A pro-U.S. billionaire and a leftist economist who admires Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez headed to a runoff campaign Monday that threatens to aggravate political instability in Ecuador, where the last three presidents have been driven from power by street protests.
Alvaro Noboa, 55, a banana magnate who is Ecuador's wealthiest man, and Rafael Correa, an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in Latin America, will face each other in a Nov. 26 runoff after neither won an outright victory in Sunday's election.
Noboa won 26.7 percent of the vote to 22.5 percent for Correa, based on 70 percent of the ballots counted so far. Eleven other candidates split the rest.
The totals were based on a computerized "quick count" of paper ballots that stalled before dawn Monday due to technical failures by E-Vote, the Brazilian company contracted by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. E-Vote apologized for the delay Monday and said it was working to resolve the problem. The tribunal has 10 days to complete the official count.
Correa had been favored to lead Sunday's voting and didn't take well to being edged out by Noboa, who had been rising fast in pre-election polls. Correa complained he had been robbed of votes that would have given him a first-round victory, but presented no proof.
Noboa, who is making his third bid for president, said Correa was a sore loser.
"The people have given this kid such a whipping that he is acting like a spoiled brat. They've told him to take a hike," Noboa said, calling Correa a communist and "a friend of Chavez, a friend of Cuba." (emphasis added)
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