title: Rafael Correa

text: The President affirmed that his was a "green" Government for its defense of the environment." In line with this, he had decided to return to the International Whaling Commission to impede the restart of the hunt of whales; established a prohibition on the extraction of prized types of wood; and announced that for an annual compensation of 350 million dollars from the international community it would give up the exploitation of an oil field with around 1,000 million barrels, one of their biggest reserves of petroleum located in a reservation of the Yasuní National Park biosphere in the Amazon Basin. The proposal hoped to collect contributions starting from 2010.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In 2013 Ecuador announced that it would auction more than three million hectares of Amazonian rainforest in the Yasuni Nature Reserve to Chinese oil companies. The indigenous people inhabiting the land protested the deal. They claim that the oil projects would threaten their traditional way of life and devastate the area's environment. Ecuador's Shuar people's women's leader, Narcisa Mashienta, said that the government lied when claiming that the people would have given their consent.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The NGO Amazon Watch claims that the reason for the projects is the government's 7 billion dollar debt to China and the desire to get Chinese funding to build a 12.5 billion dollar oil refinery.


title: Rafael Correa

text: An 11,000-barrel oil spill in the Amazon was considered problematic to Correa's desire to win a third term, because he had tried to assure his critics of him being environment-friendly.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Yasuní-ITT Initiative, The aim of the initiative is to provide a creative solution for the threat posed by the extraction of crude oil in the Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha (ITT) oil fields, which are located in the highly vulnerable area of Yasuní National Park. The proposal would contribute to preserving biodiversity, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and their way of life.


title: Rafael Correa

text: President Correa has stated that Ecuador's first option is to maintain the crude oil in the subsoil. The national and international communities would be called on to help the government implement this costly decision for the country. The government hopes to recover 50% of the revenues it would obtain by extracting the oil. The procedure involves the issuing of government bonds for the crude oil that will remain "in situ", with the double commitment of never extracting this oil and of protecting Yasuní National Park. The hoped for-amount is estimated at 350 million dollars annually.


title: Rafael Correa

text: A more promising alternative would be a strategy to provide the government with the 50% of resources in such a way as to provide a consistent income for an indefinite period of time. This resource would be channeled towards activities that help to free the country from its dependency on exports and imports and to consolidate food sovereignty.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In August 2013, Correa abandoned the initiative and approved oil drilling, blaming lack of support from the international community for the decision.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa overturned a ban on the sale of shark fins, which are popular in Asia, but stipulated that the fins can only be sold if the sharks are caught accidentally and by artisan fishermen. He did not say how authorities would determine whether the shark had been caught accidentally or deliberately.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 3 August 2007, Correa ordered the deportation of Sean O'Hearn-Gimenez, director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, saying that he would not allow "gringuitos" (literally, "little gringos") to tell Ecuadorians what to do or to pursue local fishermen. However, a local newspaper noted that O'Hearn-Gimenez had signed a 5-year agreement with Ecuador's own Environmental Police rather than acting unilaterally (as a foreigner with no authority of his own), and was married to an Ecuadorian. The deportation was ordered because Sea Shepherd, in partnership with the Ecuadorian National Environmental Police, exposed and stopped the biggest shark-fin shipment in the port city of Manta. Correa later rescinded the extradition order because O'Hearn-Gimenez was married to an Ecuadorian woman. All the arrested fishermen were released, too, and the confiscated shark fins returned to them.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In June and July 2007 in several communities of the Amazonía and domestic South, protests were carried out against oil and mining concessions to transnational companies (PetroChina, PetroBras and mining Canadian). According to some media, the Government repressed abusing from the force to these mobilizations.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Rafael Correa was re-elected for a second term in the April 2009 general election, where he gained 52% of the vote. He was the first Ecuadorian President to serve a second consecutive term since the 19th century. It was the first time in thirty years that the country had re-elected a president and the first elected president from Guayaquil (The coast) who had finished his term after Leon Febres Cordero (1984–1986). He won by a large margin over the other seven candidates, taking 52 per cent of the vote to the 28 per cent of Lucio Gutiérrez, his nearest rival. His party also won the largest legislative block in the National Assembly, although not a majority.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa was sworn into the Presidency on 10 August 2009, the same day as Ecuador's bicentennial. His speech took place in front of several South American dignitaries, such as the president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Raúl Castro, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Correa used the opportunity to promise a continuation of his "socialist revolution", his plans to end poverty and to go on "stamping out the structural causes of poverty". He also said the actions of the media were opposing his government. He claims that the continuation of his "The Citizens' Revolution" policy is intended to ensure all citizens are equal.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The health budget was $561 million in 2006 and was increased to $1,774 million in 2012, which is 6.8% of the national budget.] The Ecuadorian government signed an agreement with the Cuban government to allow public company Enfarma to massively produce medicine at low cost. Working hours for doctors were increased to 40 hours/week and their salaries were also increased. Mobile hospitals have been implemented. Another program has been implemented in order to increase the rate of return of medics amongst Ecuadorian emigrants.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Infant mortality, from 24.4 per 1000 in 2005, declined to 18.3 in 2015. Between 2008 and 2016, new public hospitals have been built, the number of civil servants has increased significantly and salaries have been increased. In 2008, the government introduced universal and compulsory social security coverage. In 2015, corruption remains a problem. Overbilling is recorded in 20% of public establishments and in 80% of private establishments.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In June 2009, CONARTEL (a radio and television regulating body) imposed fines on a television station, Teleamazonas. A third fine could lead to a temporary or permanent ban on this private television channel. In December 2009, the station was taken off the air by the Superintendent of Telecommunications [es], under a provisional suspension of 72 hours for purportedly "spreading false information."


title: Rafael Correa

text: Beginning 5 November, rolling blackouts took place across Ecuador for two to six hours per day. Government officials also urged citizens to conserve energy. Economic losses from the blackouts are estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars; factory output slowed, and storage of perishables was disrupted.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 6 November, the government declared an emergency in the power sector, which was expected to "allow the Finance Ministry to seek to guarantee fuel imports for thermoelectric plants". The government also agreed to purchase an additional "5,200 MW per hour of electricity from Peru and Colombia". Government officials aimed to end power rationing before Christmas.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The power crisis led to criticism of the Correa administration's management of the power sector as water levels of the reservoirs became depleted.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In January, Ecuador was shaken by mass protests against large-scale mining. Indigenous people were demanding that they not be exploited at all and were blockading highways to make their point. Correa cited a constitutional article that prohibited the blocking of roads. Police officers were also injured in attempting to clear blockades. Eye Witnesses leader claimed "The response from the government was gunfire from the ground and the air,"


title: Rafael Correa

text: In an interview with the state-run media on Thursday, Correa said that the police were not armed and had only riot gear to protect them from demonstrators who were wielding shotguns.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The Shuar man that died was killed by protesters' own weapons, and police were also injured by the same shotgun pellets that killed the brother Shuar, Correa said.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa announced that on Monday 26 July 2010 Ecuador would enact reforms to a hydrocarbons law that aims to expropriate foreign-company operations unless they sign service contracts increasing state control of the industry. Correa reminded oil companies that if they did not abide by the state's policies, they would have their fields nationalized and would be forced from the country.


title: Rafael Correa

text: A debate to modify this and other reforms, especially the one which granted control of the Higher Education System by the government, was practically passed with consensus by the multi-partisan National Assembly on 4 August 2010 but vetoed by the president Rafael Correa, who wanted to keep the law strictly as it was originally redacted by his political party and SENPLADES (National Secretary of Planning and Development). Due to this change, there are many highly educated professionals and academicians under the old structure but estimated that only 87% of the faculty in public universities have already obtained a master's degree and fewer than 5% have PhD (although many of them have already Ecuadorian granted Doctorate degrees). In order to raise the number of Masters and PhDs the Government started a scholarship program to send Ecuadorians to study in the top ranking Universities around the world (around 8.500 scholarships until 2013) and around 820 more have been approved for 2014.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 30 September 2010, the National Police went on strike over the passage of a bill that would end the practice of giving medals and bonuses with each promotion. In what was called an attempted coup d'état, protests included road blockades, storming the National Assembly and state-run television station, and the military seizure of the Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito. President Correa went to debate with the rebellious police, but he was unsuccessful and instead challenged them to kill him, saying, "I'm not taking one step back. Gentlemen, if you want to kill the president, here he is, kill him if you have the guts." At this point none of the policemen dared to shoot him, so instead they decided to attack him and take him hostage. While held in the hospital inside the police headquarters, Correa declared a national state of emergency. That night, an elite army unit rescued him from the hospital amid violent clashes between the police and the army. The Army then took him to Carondelet Palace, where he announced he would not pardon those responsible. Throughout Ecuador, eight people were killed and 274 wounded in the unrest.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On the same night, eight South American presidents attended an emergency summit of UNASUR convened that night in Buenos Aires to express their full support for Ecuadorean democratic institutions and Rafael Correa. The summit also announced a "democratic clause" to the UNASUR Constitutive Treaty and an agreement to take immediate and concrete steps if further similar attempts should occur.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The United States declared support for Correa through its ambassador to the Organization of American States. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed "full support for President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in that country." On 5 October, Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patiño said "I firmly believe that Mr. Obama had nothing to do with this. I hope, and trust that neither his (immediate subordinates) did.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa was a signatory to The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations on 15 July 2009. Ecuador has ratified the treaty. According to treaty, the UNASUR headquarters will be located in Ecuador.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 10 August 2009 Correa hosted the Heads of Government of South America in Quito, as he took over the one year Pro Tempore Presidency of UNASUR. Correa announced on 3 April 2010 that he would propose to UNASUR the creation of a united front against transnationals like the American Chevron, which he accused of attempting to destroy his country.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa also asked that UNASUR create a commission to investigate the events that led to the 30 Sep police revolt in Ecuador in which about a dozen people died and 270 were wounded. The uprising was led by police upset over a new law that would deny them promotion bonuses.


title: Rafael Correa

text: During Friday's summit, leaders also approved a democratic charter that would serve as a guide for the 12-nation bloc if any of them faced an attempted coup. The charter would have been an effective tool during Ecuador's revolt, Correa said. On 29 November 2010, UNASUR's presidency passed from Ecuador to Guyana.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa announced another lawsuit this time against an editorial writer and the directors of El Universo newspaper. The legal action included the opinion editor of the paper, Emilio Palacio, who was sued for defamation by a high-ranking public official last year. Correa alleged that several of Palacio's editorials were "accusations" and "slander", where Palacio stated "...ordered fire at will and without warning against a hospital full of civilians and innocent people..." In an official Universo editorial it was said that Correa committed crimes against humanity reasons, which Palacio was sued for. El Universo says the president's suit was announced several hours after the newspaper published an article about an information access request denial. While Palacio claimed, he was sued for calling Correa a "dictator".


title: Rafael Correa

text: "We are not only suing the editorial writer, but also the newspaper El Universo's directors", said Correa, in a radio interview on Ecuadorinmediato, quoted by El Universo. "Ecuador's autocrat cracks down on media freedom," was the title of an editorial published by "The Washington Post" on 27 July 2011:


title: Rafael Correa

text: Last week the president personally attended the trial while thuggish supporters threw eggs and bottles at the defendants outside the courthouse. To no one's surprise, the provisional judge hearing the case quickly ruled in the president's favor, sentencing Mr. Palacio and the three El Universo directors to three years in prison and awarding $40 million in damages to Mr. Correa – an amount that exceeds the total value of the newspaper. As of 16 February 2012, the National Court of Justice (Ecuador's highest court) confirmed the lower court's award of $40 million in damages, as well as the three-year prison sentences against a journalist and three executives of the newspaper. The case related to unrest in September 2010, described by Mr Correa as an attempted coup, which saw him trapped inside a hospital for several hours by police officers. In an opinion article from February 2011 which appeared in El Universo, Emilio Palacio alleged that the president had ordered soldiers to fire on the hospital, which was full of civilians.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa also filed a lawsuit against Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, investigative journalists and authors of the book "Gran Hermano" (Big Brother). Rafael Correa insisted that if the authors of the book admitted wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness he would pardon them. The lawsuit is based on the book's accusation that Correa knew of his brother Fabricio Correa's multimillion-dollar contracts with the government, a journalistic "investigation" into contracts signed between the president's brother, Fabricio Correa, and the State. The authors claim was based on a testimony by Pablo Chambers, who based his accusation on a manipulated video of Correa during an interview with a radio station in Quito.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Following wide condemnation of the sentences in the El Universo case, Correa announced on 27 February 2012 that he would pardon the four individuals involved, also reminding that from the very beginning he asked for a rectification by the newspaper or an apology, both which the newspaper refused, instead claiming this was censorship, including asking Correa what he wanted them to publish. Despite the subsequent pardons, "the lawsuit had," according to Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, "a powerful chilling effect on the press."


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa has been accused, in the words of the President of the Inter-American Press Association, of mounting a "systematic and hostile campaign to do away with the independent press and establish, by law or through the courts, ownership of the truth that all the Ecuadoran people must swallow." These complaints relate both to a series of lawsuits against journalists and to government takeovers of many media outlets.


title: Rafael Correa

text: "The Washington Post" reported in July 2011 that, according to a report for the National Endowment for Democracy, the government had controlled one radio station when Mr. Correa became president in 2007, but that by the time of the report it owned five television channels, four radio stations, two newspapers and four magazines.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa announced a constitutional referendum, which took place on 7 May 2011. The Ecuadorian people were asked to vote on ten questions, including a reform of the judiciary, although opposition members denounceid what they called a "power grab" on behalf of Correa's government. Although an exit poll conducted by the Santiago Perez pollster showed that the 10 questions won with the 62% of the votes, as the count continued the "yes" lost presence even going as far as slightly losing to the "no" for a short period of time in questions 4 and 9. Correa pledged that the data had been manipulated by counting first the votes from the provinces where the "no" have won to create the "sensation of fraud" and he predicted that the "yes" will win with at least 250.000 votes on all 10 questions. At the end the "yes" won all 10 questions but only the first question got more than the 50% of the votes This was the eighth election to pass during Correa's term in office.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In 2010 and 2011, Ecuador received Chinese credits for around US$5 billion. One of this financing model's projects is the hydroelectric Coca Codo Sinclair that China builds and it finances with something more than US$2 billion.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa pointed out that China gives credits to Ecuador at 7.0 percent, but the credits are to finance projects with 23 or 25 percent of profitability, that is extremely good business, when referring to two thousand million dollars which will be dedicated to public investment initiatives. The Chinese credits are a "good business" with interests of 7 percent to finance projects with a profitability that goes from 23 to 25 percent. Correa discarded the idea that Ecuador is delivered to or have mortgaged its petroleum to China.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On this point he mentioned that in the year 2006 75% of the Ecuadorian petroleum went to United States, in exchange for nothing. "Now we have 50% of the committed petroleum with China, in exchange for thousands of millions of dollars to finance the development of this country.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In 2012, China loaned Ecuador 240 million dollars for the purpose of overhauling the Ecuadorian security system. This system comprises 4,300 new surveillance cameras, drones, automated evidence processing systems, and increased manpower to manage each of these new technologies, which have been collectively dubbed the ECU 911 Integrated Security Service. Much of this new hardware has been developed in Ecuador, but in laboratories designed and set up by China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC), which is a state-owned company and a subsidiary of national defence contractor China Electronics Corporation (CEC). The CEC has also undertaken similar surveillance overhauls in Venezuela and Bolivia, and has also introduced technology to monitor the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The Ecuadorian government has highlighted the benefits of this extensive security system, which has been installed across the nation's 24 provinces. They argue that it has been able to decrease the response time for everyday emergencies such as life-threatening illness, and have cited the system as a large factor in the dramatic drop in crime in Ecuador since its installation. Some individuals have expressed concern about the nature and the pervasiveness of these technologies, however, and how they may be used to create an Ecuadorian police state.


title: Rafael Correa

text: After the results of the popular consultation was created the Council of the Transitory Judicature integrated by three members Tania Aryans (delegate of the Legislative), Paulo Rodríguez (delegate of the Executive) and Fernando Yávar (delegate of the Function of Transparency). This advice has 18 months to restructure the Judicial Function Among its functions it was the one of creating the new National Court of Justice whose possession was given January 2012, 21 whose members will be in the positions for nine years. The court of justice was created through a competition of merits and opposition. Correa who participated of the act of possession of the new domestic magistrates, said that the administration of justice is an imperium of the state and at the same time, it is a public service, also it expressed his total back to the new judges of the National Court of Justice (CNJ)


title: Rafael Correa

text: Ecuador's largest advocacy group for Indians, the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, planned a two-week march to Quito beginning on Thursday to protest Correa's land and water policies that they say were hurting their way of life. Correa condemned the action and accused them of being hypocrites for having allied with the extreme right, of seeking to exploit mining for themselves and of trying to destabilize his government, urging his followers to mobilize against them. The Indians were supported by the Popular Democratic Movement, a leftist party, the National Union of Educators and CONAIE, which supported Correa at the start of his administration in 2007 but soon moved to the opposition.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The support march on the Government concentrated on thousands of demonstrators coming from different zones that met in a park where they enjoyed artistic shows put on to celebrate the Woman's International Day. The march began in an Amazon region to the southeast and it arrived in Quito on 22 March. It had the support of the teachers' organizations and students.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa declared that the protests were intended to destabilize his government and he encouraged his followers "to keep mobilized until March 22"... "to resist peacefully. Those in favor of the Government also announced countermarches in various localities, such as in Cuenca where they had a concentration that gathered around fifteen thousand people.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa established the National Interagency Strategy for Family Planning and the Prevention of Teen Pregnancies (ENIPLA) in 2011. It had an annual budget of $2 million and focused on preventive doctor visits and family planning, including access to the morning-after pill. In the four years since ENIPLA was established pregnancies amongst women between the ages of 11 and 14 decreased by 18 percent. At the end of 2014 Correa replaced ENIPLA with Plan Familia (a family-based abstinence only program). One study found that this shift led to an increase in teenage pregnancy in Ecuador.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa alleged that the United States attempted to meddle in the country's affairs during his presidency, saying that a representative from the American Central Intelligence Agency requested a meeting with him at the start of his administration and that the accounts of senior state officials had been hacked. Former British diplomat Craig Murray claimed that the CIA had tripled its budget to destabilise Rafael Correa's government during 2012.


title: Rafael Correa

text: General elections were held in Ecuador on 17 February 2013 to elect the President, the National Assembly, Provincial Assemblies and members of the Andean Parliament. Correa was reelected president, winning by a large margin in the first round of the presidential election. According to the quick count released by Participación Ciudadana, the Alianza PAIS movement (AP) reached two-thirds of the new National Assembly. The results gave the movement 100 of the 137 seats contested in the polls. Correa's closest electoral rival, Guillermo Lasso (with 11 of the 137 seats in the new National Assembly), conceded shortly after the election concluded.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Society won the WSIS 2013 prize in category C5: Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs with the project Digital Training through Mobile Classrooms


title: Rafael Correa

text: Between 2007 and 2014, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5%. At the same time, inequalities, as measured by the Gini index, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47. Between 2006 and 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5 percent (as compared to 0.6 percent over the prior two decades).


title: Rafael Correa

text: According to "The Guardian", Ecuador has become one of the most progressive nations in Latin America when it comes to providing financial, technical and professional assistance to people with disabilities. State spending on related fields has increased from $2m a year to $150m. Tests are carried out on newborns to ensure care is provided early, and all leading employers in Ecuador must earmark at least 4% of their jobs for disabled people. There are also programmes to provide braille texts and computers for visually impaired people.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In November 2013, Correa's government said that the United States Agency for International Development was supporting the opposition and asked it to end its activities in Ecuador.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In April 2014, Correa's government ordered all US Defence Department employees working in the US embassy out of the country. Correa had previously stated that the US had too many military officers in Ecuador and that they had "infiltrated ... all sectors" of the country.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants fell from 18 in 2011 to 5.8 in 2017, making Ecuador one of the safest countries in the Americas. This was achieved in part after a thorough reform of the police force, which was known for its corruption and inefficiency. The length of police training and their salaries have been significantly increased, and investments have been made to modernize equipment. In addition, since 2007, a new approach has been adopted that is less repressive and gives greater attention to prevention and reintegration. Access to social programs has been facilitated for ex-offenders. Above all, the reduction of poverty seems to be the main reason for the improvement of the security situation.


title: Rafael Correa

text: After finishing his term, Correa maintained an active position in national politics expressing his opinion on the situation of the country and the performance of Lenín Moreno's government through articles and editorials in the newspaper "El Telégrafo", as well as in its social networks in which he issued several pronouncements on several similar topics.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Within months of winning the elections, President Moreno began to move away from his election platform, igniting a feud with Correa.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Since 2018, Correa has hosted the weekly political talk show, "Conversation with Correa", on RT Spanish.


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 3 July 2018, a judge in Ecuador ordered the arrest of Correa after he failed to appear in court during a trial surrounding the kidnapping of his political opponent Fernando Balda. Correa, who lived in Belgium at the time, denied the allegations regarding the kidnapping.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa's trial in absentia, on charges of bribery, began on 10 February 2020. On 7 April 2020, The Criminal Court of the National Court of Justice found the former president guilty of aggravated passive bribery in the . He was sentenced to 8 years in prison for leading the corruption network that, between 2012 and 2016, received "undue contributions" at the Carondelet Palace to finance his political movement in exchange for awarding state contracts to businessmen, along with former Judiciary Secretary of the Presidency Alexis Mera, former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development María de los Angeles Duarte, former congresswoman Viviana Bonilla, and former Constitutional Judge—and his secretary—Pamela Martínez.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Moreno's government made three separate requests to Interpol to arrest Correa. Interpol rejected each request on human rights grounds.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa maintained his support for Australian activist Julian Assange throughout his post-presidential life. On 11 April 2019, Rafael Correa's successor withdrew Assange's asylum and invited Scotland Yard into its embassy to arrest Assange. In response Correa called Moreno a traitor and said "Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget". Correa's Facebook account, which had more than 1.5 million followers, was blocked on 11 April 2019 for disclosing personal data. Correa had been using his Facebook account since March to publish details of the "INA Papers" case involving a company linked to Lenin Moreno's family.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa was highly critical of the Ecuadorian press, stating that it "does not inform, it defends the pockets of its owners". Accusing the press of lying and slandering him, he proposed a law that would ban those working in the financial sector from financing media outlets. Paraphrasing Tony Blair, he stated that the Ecuadorian press acted as "a group of wild beasts". He has also regularly criticized it as "...mediocre, incompetent, inaccurate, lying and is a part of the structure of corruption and accomplice of the national disaster." Following the 2002 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt, Correa stated that he would close down any Ecuadorean media outlet that called for a coup against his government. The US State Department has noted "There is more than a grain of truth in Correa's observation that the Ecuadorian media play a political role, in this case the role of the opposition", further adding that the news outlets are owned by wealthy elites who see his economic reforms as a threat to their own position.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa has criticized several newspapers as "El Universo", "El Comercio", "Diario Hoy", "Diario Expreso", "La Hora", calling them "news mafias" for criticising the ruling of the Electoral Tribunal depriving 57 opposition legislators of their seats in Congress. Correa argued that the press had remained silent about the holdups that had occurred in state-owned enterprises like Pacifictel and the Ecuadorian Customs Administration (CAE).


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 10 May 2007, Correa filed a lawsuit against Francisco Vivanco Riofrío of the board of directors of the Quito-based "La Hora" newspaper, over an editorial published in the paper on 9 March. The editorial, titled "Official Vandalism", said that Correa intended to rule Ecuador "with turmoil, rocks and sticks". It described the president's behavior as "shameful." Correa's suit is based on Article 230 of the country's penal code that sets prison penalties of up to two years for contempt, expressed in "threats or libel that would offend the president."


title: Rafael Correa

text: The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has declared that it is "a clumsy step on the part of the Ecuadorean president to file a criminal charge against a news outlet, accusing it of contempt, an archaic concept in a modern democracy and outmoded in Latin America and which should be eliminated from penal codes, as the IAPA has been insisting." The Committee to Protect Journalists has also protested against the lawsuit: "Fear of criminal penalties will inhibit the Ecuadoran press in reporting and commenting on issues of public interest. We call on President Correa to drop the libel suit against Vivanco and repeal defamation laws that contradict international standards on freedom of expression".


title: Rafael Correa

text: Upon his election, Correa began a weekly Saturday radio show, "The President Talks to his People", in which he discussed the week's events and answered questions from journalists. In August 2007 he signed Ecuador to TeleSUR, the pan-Latin American media service. Correa decided to create Ecuador TV, the first state-owned channel in the country, with the announced intention of producing television with better quality standards than the private channels. Also, newspaper "El Telegrafo" was purchased and became state-owned. Radio Pública, El Ciudadano, ANDES and PP were also created under Correa's presidency and are administered by state agencies.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa has also revealed the real identities of a number of his social media-based critics which has led to the individuals concerned being harassed. On 1 May 2015, Correa stopped his motorcade in downtown Quito to berate 17-year-old teenager Luis Carrera, after he spotted Carrera gave the middle finger gesture at Correa. Carrera was later sentenced to 20 hours of community service.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In June 2013, US Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the foreign relations panel, warned Ecuador that accepting PRISM leaker Edward Snowden "would severely jeopardize" preferential trade access the United States provides to Ecuador. "Our government will not reward countries for bad behavior."


title: Rafael Correa

text: President Correa responded by offering a multimillion-dollar donation for human rights training in the United States. "Ecuador offers the United States economic aid of US$23 million annually, similar to what we received with the trade benefits, with the intention of providing education about human rights", said a government spokesman. "Ecuador does not accept pressure or threats from anyone, nor does it trade with principles or submit them to mercantile interests, however important those may be."


title: Rafael Correa

text: Ecuador, which had originally issued Snowden a temporary travel document through its embassy in London, withdrew it because it did not meet the requirements of being in an Ecuadorian Embassy at that time. Snowden said that having the document gave him "the confidence, the courage to get on that plane to begin the journey" and that "there are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world". President Correa said that, although he respected the decision of the London consul Fidel Narváez to issue it, the document was invalid.


title: Rafael Correa

text: The Ecuadorean government continues to investigate the allegations of corruption in the country by Brazil's largest construction company. Ecuadorean officials announced that the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht will not be able to sign any future contracts with public institutions in Ecuador, as authorities continue to investigate alleged corruption in its operations. According to Geovanny Vicente Romero, a political analyst, "Ecuador is in the midst of presidential elections and its lame-duck president Rafael Correa wants to leave the house in order for his successor by taking a position in favor of investigating the Odebrecht case. Correa recently complained that though there were $33.5 million in bribes paid in Ecuador, the individuals involved in the case remain unknown". Some Ecuadorians had grown disenchanted with corruption, as well as Correa's confrontational and polarizing behavior towards media organizations. However, according to Transparency International, corruption decreased under Correa's government.


title: Rafael Correa

text: In 2014, the price for crude oil, which was Ecuador's main export, began moving downward, from $111 dollars per barrel in June 2014, to $50 dollars per barrel in March 2015. To replace the lost revenue, Correa proposed raising taxes, including an increase of up to 75% in capital gain (Ley de Plusvalia), and a tax on inheritances from 2.5% up to 77.5% (the highest for inheritances of over $849,600 dollars).


title: Rafael Correa

text: On 18 June 2018, Ecuador's highest court ordered the former President be included in an investigation into a 2012 botched kidnapping of opposition lawmaker Fernando Balda. After Correa ignored judicial orders and did not assist with the investigation, an Ecuadorian judge ordered for his arrest on 3 July 2018. The judge alerted Interpol because Correa was living in Belgium at the time with his wife, who was a Belgian native. Correa denied the allegations surrounding the kidnapping. In July 2018 Interpol rejected an Ecuador-issued arrest warrant and called it "obviously a political matter."


title: Rafael Correa

text: An opinion poll carried out by Profiles of Opinion in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil, in March 2012 indicates that 80.5% of those interviewed categorize President Correa's administration as positive.


title: Rafael Correa

text: According to the Mitofsky of April 2012, as regards the "approval of leaders in America and the world", President Correa possesses an excellent evaluation. His popularity even increased from 75% to 81% from August 2011 to January 2012.


title: Rafael Correa

text: According to the Mitofsky of April 2013, as regards the "approval of leaders in America and the world", President Correa possessed a positive evaluation of 90%. However, his public image in Ecuador was heavily deteriorated after several controversial regulations during his later years as president. Approval ratings for Rafael Correa slipped from 60% in January 2015 to 45% in July 2015. Correa leaves office with a rate of 46%, according to a latest survey by the firm Cedatos.


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa describes himself as an advocate of "socialism of the 21st century", a term referring to a form of democratic socialism previously used by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez. "The Economist" described Correa as "a left-wing populist", while "The Washington Post" has characterized Correa's ideological approach as being "economically populist, socially conservative, [and] quasi-authoritarian". The scholars of political science George Philip and Francisco Panizza claimed that like his allies Morales and Chávez, Correa should be categorized as a populist, because he appealed "directly to the people against their countries' political and economic order, divided the social field into antagonistic camps and promised redistribution and recognition in a newly founded political order."


title: Rafael Correa

text: Correa's actions vis-a-vis indigenous communities, however, were described as not populist. To protect Chinese mining interests, "Shuar lands are now under occupation by 8,000 military personnel - marine, air and land troops - equipped with four war-tanks, surveillance drones, aerostatic balloons, mobile satellites and helicopter gunships."


title: Rafael Correa

text: Also, in April 2010 he received the Prize for Exceptional Academic Achievement 2009 of the University of Illinois. On 3 December 2010, the UBA Cultural Center of Buenos Aires gave him the Faces and Masks Democracy Prize.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The coat of arms of Spain represents Spain and the Spanish nation, including its national sovereignty and the country's form of government, a constitutional monarchy. It appears on the flag of Spain and it is used by the Government of Spain, the Cortes Generales, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and other state institutions. Its design consists of the arms of the medieval kingdoms that would unite to form Spain in the 15th century, the Royal Crown, the arms of the House of Bourbon, the Pillars of Hercules and the Spanish national motto: "Plus Ultra". The Monarch, the heir to the throne and some institutions like the Senate, the Council of State and the General Council of the Judiciary have their own variants of the coat of arms.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The contemporary Spanish coat of arms, featured in the national flag of Spain, was approved by law in 1981, in replacement of the interim coat of arms that replaced the official arms of Spain under Franco (1939–75).


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The official design of the coat of arms of Spain is like a logotype set in linear style: drawing, proportions of elements and colours (CIELAB). This approach has been criticised by Spanish heraldists Faustino Menéndez Pidal y Navascués, Hugo O'Donnell y Duque de Estrada, and Begoña Lolo for three reasons.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: First, the coat of arms pattern is simplified, compared to the usual heraldic usages, which relevantly considers the way of representing the charges and tinctures, because they must be easily identifiable, without error; however, the colours determined by the decree are difficult to distinguish. In particular, the Or and the Gules have been respectively represented so intensely and so darkly that they do not allow for clear distinction of the charges. The colour chosen to represent Purpure has been criticised for being a pinkish hue, unlike the traditional hues of the Kingdom of León and heraldic custom.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Second, the style of the official design does not fit into traditional Iberian heraldic norms. The Escutcheon shape is midway between the modern French style, rectangular with a slightly convex bottom edge, and the Spanish style, with an almost semicircular bottom edge. The "Enté en point" of the arms of Granada also is represented in the French tradition, with slightly convex top edges, instead of the sharp curved-top edges of Iberian heraldry.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Third, the inescutcheon, superimposed on the main shield, is elliptical rather than the usual escutcheon shape, which is considered imprecise.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Arms of the Kingdom of Spain was the official coat of arms of the Monarch of Spain from the time of the Catholic Monarchs, and was used as the official arms of the Kingdom until the First Spanish Republic in 1873. Afterwards, the arms became an integral part of the Coat of Arms of Spain. The different governments since (whether republican or monarchist) have led to the arms being changed on various occasions, but always respecting the main heraldic design involving the former kingdoms and, in many cases, the pillars of Hercules.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: As a reward for his successful voyage of discovery, the Spanish sovereigns granted Columbus the right to bear arms. According to the blazon specified in letters patent dated May 20, 1493, Columbus was to bear in the first and the second quarters the royal charges of Castile and León, the Castle and the Lion, but with different tinctures or colours. In the third quarter would be islands in a wavy sea, and in the fourth, the customary arms of his family.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The arms of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, whose marriage unified Spain, were:


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: After Isabella I's death in 1504, Ferdinand used different arms, namely tierced per pale Castile-León, Aragon-Naples-Sicily, and Aragon. The annexation of Navarre (1513) brought about the final change in the arms of the "Rey Católico" (Catholic King): the second quarter was changed to per pale, 1. per fess Aragon and Navarra, 2. per fess Jerusalem and Hungary.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The arms used in Aragon were either Aragon, or per pale, Castile-León and Aragon, or tierced per pale, Aragon-Sicily, Aragon and tierced per pale Hungary, Anjou-Naples and Jerusalem. In Naples, the arms were Quarterly, 1 and 4. Castile-León, 2. per pale Aragon and per pale Jerusalem-Hungary; 3. per pale Aragon and Aragon-Sicily.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: At the death of Isabella I of Castile in 1504, her son-in-law Archduke Philip the Handsome immediately staked his claim to her inheritance by quartering his own arms with those of the Catholic Monarchs. He had previously borne quarterly: Austria, Burgundy modern, Burgundy ancient and Brabant, with an escutcheon overall per pale Flanders and Tyrol. Since his highest title was archduke and the Spanish titles were all royal, the Spanish quarters were given precedence over his. Hence the arrangement became, quarterly: 1. and 4. grand quarters, quarterly: A. and D. quarterly Castile-León, B. and C. per pale Aragon-Sicily, the grand quarter enté en point for Granada; 2. and 3. grand quarters, quarterly Austria, Burgundy ancient, Burgundy modern, Brabant, with an escutcheon per pale Flanders and Tyrol.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Charles I marshalled his arms in a number of ways. In the first years of his reign, he most frequently used the same arrangement as his father. After his election as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 he placed it on the breast of an imperial eagle. Later in his reign a simplified version appears. The arms are per fess with the Spanish quarters in chief and the Austrian quarters in base. This version became very popular in the Netherlands. There it is often seen with the imperial eagle placed on a golden shield, ensigned with the imperial crown and supported by a lion and a griffin. The Order of the Golden Fleece then hangs suspended round the main shield.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: In other parts of his extensive monarchy, a number of variations are to be found. Many concern the way in which the Aragonese realms are represented and therefore probably relate to the Crown of Aragon or to one of its constituent parts. In 1516 for instance, he is found using arms quarterly of Spain (quarterly Castile-León and Aragon-Aragon-Sicily, with Granada enté en point) and Austria (quarterly Austria, Burgundy modern, Burgundy ancient and Brabant) with an escutcheon overall per pale Flanders and Tyrol. In 1520, the quarter of Aragon and Aragon-Sicily are replaced per pale Aragon and Naples (per pale Jerusalem and Hungary).


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: After 1530 some versions display quarterly: 1. and 4. grand quarters Spain, which is quarterly A. and D. Castile-León, B. and C. per pale a. per fess Aragon and Navarra, b. per pale Naples (Jerusalem and Hungary); 2. and 3. grand quarters Austria, (as above); enté en point Granada. These arms are borne by an imperial double-headed eagle sable, surmounted by an imperial crown, surrounded with the collar of the Golden Fleece and accompanied by the pillars of Hercules and the motto PLUS ULTRA.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: In Sicily on the other hand, Emperor Charles V used quarterly 1. and 4. Castile-León, 2. tierced per pale Aragon, Jerusalem and Hungary, 3. per pale Aragon and Aragon-Sicily, enté en point Granada. Overall in chief, a double-headed eagle sable crowned or bearing an escutcheon of Austria. Later, his arms in that realm were quarterly, 1. Castile-León, 2. quarterly Aragon, Aragon-Sicily, Navarra and Aragon, 3. quarterly Austria, Burgundy modern, Burgundy ancient and Brabant, overall an escutcheon per pale Flanders and Tyrol; 4. per pale Naples (Jerusalem and Hungary); enté en point Granada, these arms borne by an imperial eagle.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: During the reign of King Phillip II the arms of the Spanish Monarchy become fixed for the remainder of the House of Austria. Originally Philip II used the simplified arms as devised for his father, namely per fess with the Spanish quarters in chief and the Austrian quarters in base.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: After the unification with Portugal in 1580 (due to the death of the Portuguese king), the arms of the Monarchy became per fess, in chief per pale, A. quarterly Castile and León, B. per pale Aragon and Aragon-Sicily, the whole enté en point Granada and with an escutcheon of Portugal on the honour point; in base quarterly Austria, Burgundy ancient, Burgundy modern and Brabant, with an escutcheon (in the nombril point) per pale Flanders and Tyrol. The arms were crowned with a royal crown with three visible arches and the Order of the Golden Fleece was suspended around them. In the Netherlands, the arms were regularly supported by two golden lions guardant.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Even though Portugal and its possessions were lost in 1640, the Spanish kings retained the use of the Portuguese arms as arms of pretence until 1668.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Philip was born in Versailles. He was made the Duc d'Anjou upon his birth. He was the second son of Louis, "le Grand Dauphin". In the year 1700, the King of Spain, Charles II, died. Charles' will named the 17-year-old Philip, the grandson of Charles' sister Maria Theresa, as his successor. Upon any possible refusal the Crown of Spain would be offered next to Philip's younger brother Charles, Duke of Berry, or to Archduke Charles of Austria.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Both claimants had a legal right due to the fact that Philip's grandfather, Louis XIV of France and Charles's father, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, were both the husbands of Charles' older half sisters and sons of Charles' aunts.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Philip had the better claim because his grandmother and great-grandmother were older than Leopold's. However, the Austrian branch claimed that Philip's grandmother had renounced the Spanish throne for her descendants as part of her marriage contract. This was countered by the French branch's claim that it was on the basis of a dowry that had never been paid.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: After a long council meeting where the Dauphin spoke up in favour of his son's rights, it was agreed that Philip would ascend the throne but would forever renounce his claim to the throne of France for himself and his descendants. It was not difficult to see whether Louis would have refused anyway as a Habsburg ruler in Spain would've put a possible enemy on three frontiers.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The arms of Bourbon-Anjou were added in 1700 when Phillip V became king of Spain. He introduced changes in the royal arms of Spain. The king's new arms were designed by the French heraldist Clairambault in November 1700, and were as follows:


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: per fess: 1. per pale, quarterly Castile and León, enté en point Granada, and per pale, Aragon and Aragon-Sicily; 2. Quarterly, Austria, Burgundy modern, Burgundy ancient and Brabant; enté en point, per pale Flanders and Tyrol. Overall an escutcheon Anjou. The abbreviated arms were quarterly Castile and León, enté en point Granada, overall Anjou.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Charles III was the first son of the second marriage of Philip V with Elizabeth Farnese of Parma, he was one of the so-called "enlightened monarchs".


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Quarterly of six (in three rows of two each): 1. per pale Aragon and Aragon-Sicily; 2. per pale Austria and Burgundy modern; 3. Farnese 4. Medici; 5. Burgundy ancient; 6. Brabant; enté en point per pale Flanders and Tyrol. Overall an escutcheon quarterly of Castile and León enté en point of Granada, overall Anjou. Around the shield are the collars of the Golden Fleece and of the French Holy Spirit (After the Order of Carlos III).


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The abbreviated arms remained the same (they form the escutcheon en surtout of the state arms). They are accompanied by the Pillars of Hercules and the motto PLUS ULTRA and crowned with the royal crown, but do not show the collars. Already at this time the Anjou escutcheon was sometimes represented without its bordure gules.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Joseph Napoleon I (born Corte 1768, died Firenze 1844), king of Spain (1808–1813), was the elder brother of the Emperor Napoleon I. Following his conquests, the Emperor placed members of his family on the throne of various European states, some of them being created accordingly. Joseph was the first king of Naples (1806).


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: When Napoleon expelled the Bourbons from Spain, he placed Joseph on the throne and gave the throne of Naples to Marshal Murat, former Commander-in-Chief of the French troops in Spain and husband of Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister. The long and difficult Spanish War of Independence or Peninsular War, famously illustrated by the painter Francisco Goya, ended with the overthrow of Joseph in 1814.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Quarterly of 6, in three rows of two each, 1. Castile; 2. Leon; 3. Aragon; 4. Navarra; 5. Granada; 6. Indies (Gules often Azure, the old and the new world or between the pillars of Hercules argent). Overall an escutcheon with Imperial France's eagle.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: In 1813 the Allies returned Ferdinand VII of Spain to Madrid. The Spanish people, blaming the liberal, enlightened policies of the Francophiles (afrancesados) for incurring the Napoleonic occupation and the Peninsular War, at first welcomed Fernando. Ferdinand soon found that while Spain was fighting for independence in his name and while in his name juntas had governed in Spanish America, a new world had been born of foreign invasion and domestic revolution. Spain was no longer an absolute monarchy under the liberal Constitution of 1812. Ferdinand, in being restored to the throne, guaranteed the liberals that he would govern on the basis of the existing constitution, but, encouraged by conservatives backed by the Church hierarchy, he rejected the constitution within weeks (May 4) and arrested the liberal leaders (May 10), justifying his actions as rejecting a constitution made by the Cortes Generales in his absence and without his consent. Thus he had come back to assert the Bourbon doctrine that the sovereign authority resided in his person only. Ferdinand VII of Spain reestablished the arms of Charles III, both the state arms and the abbreviated arms. The Anjou escutcheon became increasingly frequently an escutcheon of France.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The First Spanish Republic started with the abdication as King of Spain on 10 February 1873, of Amadeo I of Spain, following the Hidalgo Affair, when he had been required by the radical government to sign a decree against the artillery officers. The next day, 11 February, the republic was declared by a parliamentary majority made up of radicals, republicans, and democrats. It lasted twenty-three months, between 11 February 1873, and 29 December 1874 and had five presidents: Estanislao Figueras, Pi i Margall, Nicolás Salmerón y Alonso, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll and Francisco Serrano.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Provisional Government of 1868 adopted the present territorial arms: quarterly of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarre enté en point of Granada. The crown was a mural crown.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: During the brief reign of Amadeo, the royal crown was reinstated and an escutcheon of Savoy ("Gules, a cross argent") was placed "en surtout". There were not many Spanish arms including the escutcheon of Aosta ("Argent, a cross gules within a bordure compony azure and or"), the arms used by Amadeo before his accession to the throne of Spain.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: When the Bourbons were restored with Alfonso XII of Spain, a decree (8 January 1875) restored the use of the coat of arms as it stood until September 29, 1868. In practice, the Anjou escutcheon (actually called Borbón in Spanish) was displayed without the bordure, because the bordure was considered inessential, and the escutcheon an indication of lineage from the French Bourbon dynasty. With the death of Henri, comte de Chambord in 1883, Alfonso XII became the senior male representative of the French royal dynasty and thus bore its arms without difference. A striking example is given by the royal arms as they appear on the reverse of a 5 pesetas coin of Alfonso XII (1885). The king also used the grand as well as the abbreviated arms of Charles III as personal arms. In 1924 Alfonso XIII did away with the distinction between state and personal arms by combining the two. He took the arms of Charles III, substituted the Aragon quarter with Jerusalem, and replaced the escutcheon with the former national arms:


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Quarterly of 6, in three rows of two each: 1. per pale Aragon-Sicily and Jerusalem; 2. 2. per pale Austria and Burgundy modern; 3. Farnese 4. Medici; 5. Burgundy ancient; 6. Brabant; enté en point per pale Flanders and Tyrol. Overall an escutcheon quarterly of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarra enté en point of Granada, overall France.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Second Spanish Republic is the name of the regime that existed in Spain between 14 April 1931, when King Alfonso XIII left the country, and 1 April 1939, when the last of the Republican (Loyalist) forces surrendered to Francoist (Nationalist) forces in the Spanish Civil War.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Republic of 1931 used again the territorial arms as in the First Spanish Republic but depicting in the second quarter an uncrowned lion.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Spanish Civil War officially ended on 1 April 1939, the day Francisco Franco announced the end of hostilities. The Republican forces had been defeated and Franco became the undisputed caudillo of Spain. He ruled Spain until he died on November 20, 1975.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: The Nationalist senior generals had held an informal meeting in September 1936, where they elected Francisco Franco as leader of the Nationalists, with the rank of "Generalísimo". He was originally supposed to be only commander-in-chief, but after some discussion became head of state as well with nearly unlimited and absolute powers.


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Franco adopted in 1938 a variant of the Coat of Arms reinstating some elements originally used by the House of Trastámara such as Saint John's Eagle and the yoke and bundle, as follows:


title: Coat of arms of Spain

text: Quarterly, 1 and 4. quarterly Castile and León, 2 and 3. per pale Aragon and Navarra, "enté en point" of Granada. The arms are crowned with an open royal crown, placed on an eagle displayed sable, surrounded with the pillars of Hercules, the yoke and the bundle of arrows of the Catholic Monarchs.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Paulo Henrique Chagas de Lima (born 12 October 1989), known as Paulo Henrique Ganso or just Ganso (lit. "goose" in Portuguese), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for Fluminense as an attacking midfielder.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: A Santos youth graduate, Ganso was a part of the club's 2010 squad which earned many plaudits due to its playing style, and lifted a number of trophies with the club which included the 2011 Copa Libertadores. In 2012, he moved to São Paulo, being named the best midfielder in the 2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A before joining Sevilla in 2016. He could not establish himself as a starter at the Spanish side, and in 2019, after a brief period on loan at Amiens, he returned to his home country with Fluminense.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: In 2009, Ganso received a nomination for the Brazilian Football Confederation award for "Breakthrough Player" of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, given to the best rookie of the competition.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Ganso was brought to Tuna Luso after being discovered by former Brazil international Giovanni, and at 15 years of age he joined Paysandu, but he was snapped up by Santos in 2005.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: In 2007, after an injury that sidelined him for six months, Ganso played in and won the final of the U-20 Campeonato Paulista. He wore the number 10 jersey in Santos' campaign in the Copa São Paulo of 2008, where his team was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Sport Club Internacional. He won the 2010 Campeonato Paulista with Santos on 2 May 2010, defeating Santo André in the final.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: In August 2010, it was reported that Ganso would have surgery on his injured left knee and would be out for six months.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: In October 2010, Santos offered "agent company" DIS Group (subsidiary of Sonda Group, a Brazil supermarket chain; the D stands for Sonda president Delcir Sonda) to buy 70% image rights of the player, but the group did not accept the offer. He had a contract which would last until 28 February 2015 with a termination fee of €50 million. Group DIS reportedly owned 45% of the sporting rights of Ganso (which made the group eligible to receive a 45% transfer fee from Santos) after the court ruled in their favour.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: On 20 September 2012, after a hard period of negotiation, it was confirmed by São Paulo that Ganso had signed a five-year contract, for a R$23.940 million transfer fee. Ganso would wear the number 8, previously used by Fabrício.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: After getting back in great shape, Ganso was praised by his coach in São Paulo, Muricy Ramalho. According to Ramalho, who worked with Ganso in Santos, when both of them won 2011 Copa Libertadores, and in October 2013, when his number 8 shirt passed Jádson as the main assistant of Tricolor in the 2013 season: "Now, we have a number 10 shirt." In Brazil, this number is associated with playmaking.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Ganso started 2014 in a bad phase, but after Jádson left in a negotiation that brought Alexandre Pato to São Paulo FC he was awarded the number 10 shirt, and was hopeful that the number would give him confidence, and that his performances would improve. Ganso stated: "I am very happy to wear the shirt of São Paulo and, now, to be given the number 10 shirt. This number was already worn by so many good players and I feel an immense happiness to be among them. My playing style is more traditional and I am told that a number 10 must know how to play in this manner. I think I will be able to combine the efficient with the aesthetic: classic football with the number 10 shirt."


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: On 16 July 2016, Ganso signed to La Liga Spanish side Sevilla FC for a fee of €10 million. He scored his first league goals for the club on 21 April 2017, netting a brace in a 2–0 win over Granada.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: On 31 August 2018, the last day of the 2018 summer transfer window, Ganso joined Ligue 1 club Amiens SC on a season-long loan. Amiens secured an option to sign him permanently.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: In 2009, he was called up to play for Brazil in the World Under-20 Championships. In early 2010, the Brazilian media began calling for Brazilian national team coach Dunga to choose Ganso for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, primarily as a substitute for Kaká, because of their similar styles of play. On 11 May 2010, he was named as one of seven backup players for the 23-man 2010 FIFA World Cup Brazil squad. On 26 July 2010, he was called up by the new coach Mano Menezes to the "Seleção" for a friendly match against USA. On 10 August 2010, in a friendly against the USA he made his senior debut, where one of his shots rattled the post, almost giving him his first senior international goal.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: He was named in Mano Menezes 23-man 2011 Copa América squad and was given the number 10 shirt. During their second group game against Paraguay, on 9 July, Ganso assisted Jádson's goal as well as a last minute equalising goal from Fred to tie the game at 2–2. Brazil were later eliminated by Paraguay in the quarter-finals of the tournament, following a penalty shoot-out.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Following injuries to Douglas Costa and Kaká, Ganso was called up to Brazil's Copa América Centenario squad as a replacement by Dunga, and was named in the 23-man final list, being given the number 7 shirt.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Ganso is capable of playing anywhere in midfield, and is regarded as a talented and elegant offensive left-footed playmaker, with excellent dribbling skills, ball control, balance, vision, and passing ability, who excels at providing assists for teammates. In addition to his creative and technical abilities, Ganso also possesses a powerful and accurate shot from distance; he is also capable of aiding his team defensively, due to his stamina, height, and physical qualities, and can also play as a central midfielder or as a deep-lying playmaker. Regarded as highly promising prospect in his youth, his efficient rather than flamboyant playing style initially drew comparisons with compatriot Kaká; despite his talent, however, he has been criticised by some in the media in recent years for his lack of pace, mobility, and dynamism, as well as his poor work-rate and lack of consistency, which has led him to be accused of not living up to his potential. He is also known to be injury–prone.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: Ganso has been a fundamental presence in midfield for both Santos and São Paulo, due to the enormous quality of his passes. After being a potential favorite name to wear the number 10 shirt for Brazil in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Ganso was not called up for the tournament by Dunga, the nation's national football coach at the time, as the number 10 shirt went to Kaká. After suffering recurring injuries and a decrease in form and match fitness, he subsequently lost his place in the Brazilian team, in favour of Oscar, due to his performances with his club at the time, Chelsea. In 2012, Ganso refound his form and put on a notable performance in the derby against Corinthians, helping his team to a 3–1 victory, and, in 2013, he shone in a 2–0 win against Atlético Mineiro, as São Paulo advanced to the third stage of the 2013 Copa Libertadores.


title: Paulo Henrique Ganso

text: After Muricy Ramalho's arrival, Ganso had put on good performances. On 16 October 2013, he scored a notable goal in São Paulo's 3–0 victory over Náutico in the Brazilian League, dribbling past four opponents before shooting on goal past the keeper.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakma people (; ) are a tribal group from the eastern-most regions of the Indian subcontinent. They are the largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of southeastern Bangladesh, and the second-largest in Mizoram, India (Chakma Autonomous District). Other places in Northeast India also have significant Chakma populations. Around 60,000 Chakma people live in Arunachal Pradesh, India; a first generation migrated there in 1964 after the construction of the Kaptai Dam forced them off their lands. Another 79,000 Chakmas live in Tripura, India, and 20,000-30,000 in Assam, India.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakma possess strong ethnic affinities to Tibeto-Burman groups in Northeast India. Because of a language shift in the past to consolidate power among the tribes, they adopted an Indo-Aryan language, Chakma, which is closely related to the Chittagonian dialect of Bengali, predominant near the areas in which they live. Most modern Chakma people practice Theravada Buddhism, due to 19th-century reforms and institutionalization by Queen regnant Rani Kalindi. In Myanmar, Chakma people are known as Daingnet and are one of the 135 officially recongised ethnic groups there.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakmas are divided into 31 clans or "gozas". The community is headed by the Chakma Raja, whose status as a tribal head has been historically recognized by the Government of British India and the Government of Bangladesh.


title: Chakma people

text: The relationships between Chakmas and their neighbors are complex. On one hand, many Chakmas are well-integrated in mainstream middle-class Bangladeshi and Indian society and are particularly notable for their service as officers and ambassadors in Bangladesh's military and diplomatic corps. Chakma politicians have served as ministers in the national ministry of Bangladesh and the state ministry of Tripura. However, the persecution of the indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, of which the Chakma are the predominant ethnicity, has been described as genocidal, but since the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, violence in the area has been greatly reduced.


title: Chakma people

text: The name "Chakma" derives from the Sanskrit word "sakthimaha," which means powerful and great. The name was given to the Chakmas by one of the Burmese kings during the Bagan Era. Burmese kings hired Chakmas as ministers, advisers, and translators of Buddhist Pali texts. As employees of the king, the Chakmas wielded power in the Burmese court that was disproportionate to their number. The Burmese people still refer to Chakmas as "Sak" (သက်) or "Thet," which are shortened and corrupted forms of "Sakthimaha". At one point, the most commonly accepted name of the tribe was "Sakma". Later, when they came into contact with outsiders, the name was further changed to "Chakma".


title: Chakma people

text: Chakma oral history says they migrated to Arakan from the ancient kingdom of Magadha in the present Bihar state of India. The Chakma believe they are part of Buddha's Sakya clan of the Himalayan tribes. They gradually migrated to Arakan and extended their territory to the nearby hills of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.


title: Chakma people

text: The Arakanese people referred to the Chakmas as "Saks," "Theks," "or Thaikhs". In 1546 CE, while the Arakanese king Min Bin was fighting a battle with the Burmese, the "Sak" king attacked Northern Arakan Roma and occupied the Arakanese-controlled Chacomas of the Northern Arakan Mountains.


title: Chakma people

text: Diego de Astor created a map of Bengal, which was published as "Descripção do Reino de Bengalla" in the book "Quarta decada da Asia" (Fourth decade of Asia) by João de Barros in 1615. The map shows an area named "Chacomas" on the Eastern bank of the Karnaphuli River in what is now Chittagong Bangladesh, suggesting that the Chakmas inhabited this area during the time.


title: Chakma people

text: The Arakan king Min Razagyi (1593–1612) conquered the areas and styled himself as the highest and most powerful king of Arakan, Chacomas, and Bengal in a 1607 letter to Portuguese mercenary Filipe de Brito e Nicote. After their defeat by the Arakanese, the Chakmas migrated to the present Chittagong Hill Tracts and founded their capital city Alekyangdong (present-day Alikadam). From Alekyangdong, they continued north and settled in present-day Rangunia, Raozan, and Fatikchari Upazilas of Chittagong District.


title: Chakma people

text: In 1666, the Mughal Governor of Bengal, Shaista Khan, defeated the Arakanese, conquered the northern bank of Kaladan river, and renamed it Islamabad. Mughal rule, however, was confined to the plain areas of Chittagong early on, leaving the Chakmas largely unaffected. The Mughals eventually demanded tribute from the Chakmas after a trade dispute developed between the two groups.


title: Chakma people

text: In 1713, the conflict was resolved and a stable relationship developed between the Chakmas and the Mughals; the latter never demanded complete subjugation of the former. The Mughals also rewarded the Chakma king Shukdev Roy; he established a new capital in his name in an area still known as Shukbilash. Ruins of the royal palace and other historic buildings still exist. Subsequently, the capital was shifted to Rajanagar, Ranirhat, Rangunia Upazila, Chittagong District.


title: Chakma people

text: The Mughals signed a treaty with Jallal Khan, Raja of the Chakma, in 1715. While the Mughals controlled significant amounts of yam and cotton crops in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), the Chakma's independence from the Mughals was recognized.


title: Chakma people

text: Three years after the Battle of Plassey, Mir Qasim, the new Nawab of Murshidabad, rewarded the East India Company with Chittagong, Burdwan and Midnapur. On 5 January 1761, company representative Harry Verelst took charge of Chittagong from Subedar Mohammad Reza Khan, but the Chakma king Sher Doulat Khan, who was practically independent though nominally paid tribute to the Mughals, did not accept the hegemony of the company and its demand for increased taxes.


title: Chakma people

text: Encroachments on the Chittagong Hill Tracts by the British led to a protracted war between the East India Company and the Chakmas from 1777 to 1787. The East India Company launched four offensives against the Chakmas in 1770, 1780, 1782 and 1785. In 1785, the Company started peace negotiations with the Chakma king Jan Baksh Khan, son of Sher Doulat Khan. In 1787 a peace treaty was signed in Calcutta. Raja Jan Baksh Khan pledged loyalty to the British in exchange for autonomy in administering Chakma territory.


title: Chakma people

text: The main provisions of the treaty between Governor-General Lord Cornwallis and the Chakma king were as follows:


title: Chakma people

text: Jan Baksh Khan shifted his capital to a new place near present-day Rangunia, naming it Rajanagar. After Jan Baksh's death in 1800, his son Tabbar Khan became king but died shortly after. In 1802, Tabbar Khan's younger brother Jabbar Khan became king and ruled for ten years. After his death, his son Dharam Baksh Khan became king in 1812 and ruled until his death in 1832. Without any male heir, the government appointed Suklal Dewan as manager. Rani Kalindi, the widow of Dharam Baksh Khan, applied to the government to allow her to run state affairs. The government accepted her application and in 1844 issued an order to that effect. In 1846, the annual revenue payable to the company was reset to 11,803.00Rs.


title: Chakma people

text: After the great Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the British government assumed direct control of the administration of India, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which were not yet formally separated from Chittagong, from the East India Company. The territorial jurisdiction of the Chakma Raja, however, was fixed by a proclamation dated 6th Shraavana 1170M.S (1763 CE) by the company as "All the hills from the Feni River to the Sangoo and from Nizampur Road in Chittagong to the hills of Kooki Raja".


title: Chakma people

text: After Rani Kalindi's death in 1873, her grandson Harish Chandra became the Chakma Raja and was vested with the title Roy Bahadur.


title: Chakma people

text: After the war with the British, the Chakmas became very weak militarily. The Lushai used to make frequent raids on British subjects because their hunting ground was converted to tea gardens by the British in Cachar, Noakhali, Comilla, and other neighbouring tracts under Rani Kalindi. They raided the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the neighbouring tracts in 1847, 1848, 1859 and 1860. As a consequence, with a view to paying attention to the areas experiencing repeated raids and to protecting the people from the aggression of the independent tribes living further east but primarily to occupy the Chakma land, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal recommended the removal of the hill tracts from the regulation district and the appointment of a superintendent over the tribes. Both of these recommendations were adopted by Act XXII in 1860, which came into effect on 18 August of that year. The Hill Tracts were separated from Chittagong district, a superintendent was appointed for the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and its headquarters were established at Chandraghona. The hills in his charge were henceforth known as the Hill Tracts of the Chittagong. For the next few years, attention focused on preserving peace on the frontier. In 1869, the headquarters were shifted to Rangamati. The official designation of the post of superintendent was changed to Deputy Commissioner and full control of matters about revenue and justice throughout the Hill Tracts was vested in his office.


title: Chakma people

text: The frontier situation put pressure on the Chakma chief to shift his capital, and in 1874, he did so, from Rajanagar to Rangamati. At that time, cotton was grown in Chittagong Hill Tracts and was important to the British for their mills, so effective control of the Chittagong Hill Tracts was also important for them.


title: Chakma people

text: In 1881, the government divided the Chittagong Hill Tracts into Chakma Circle, Bohmong Circle, and Mong Circle. Each circle was headed by a chief. Chakma circle was headed by a Chakma, Bohmong circle by a Bohmong and the Burmese circle by a Mong. The Chakma circle was centrally located and inhabited mainly by the Chakmas, the Bohmong circle was under the rule of a Bohmong chief of Arakanese extraction, and the Mong circle was also inhabited by Arakanese speaking clans with some Tripura immigrants and headed by another ruler of Arakanese extraction. The division occurred because the British government was not in favour of the power of the Chakma chief, who controlled the hill tribes. Further, the government was increasingly concerned about the political and administrative affairs of the tracts. Hence, they wished to lay the foundation of administration in a restricted manner with the following objectives:


title: Chakma people

text: After the creation of a separate district and the three circles, the Kuki (Lushai) threat to the Chittagong Hill Tracts and other adjoining areas did not stop. The Shendus made occasional raids in the Hill Tracts between 1865 and 1888 and killed many people, including Lt. Steward and his survey party. In 1872, 1,890 military offensives were launched simultaneously into Lushai Hills (Mizoram) from Chittagong district and Burma in collaboration with the governments of Bengal, Assam and Burma, and the whole of the CHT was brought under British control.


title: Chakma people

text: Autonomous police forces were created from the Hill Tract tribes in 1881. Tribals complained to Britain after the Hill Tracts experienced attempts at penetration by lowlander Bengali Muslims.


title: Chakma people

text: On 1 April 1900, the South and the North Lushai Hills (then a part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) were merged to form the district of Assam Province with headquarters at Aizawl. The Lushai hills were now the Mizoram state of India.


title: Chakma people

text: Later, the British through the Deputy Commissioner took over absolute control in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (including the Chakma circle) after implementation of the Chittagong Hill Tracts manual. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (Lushai Hills) were again designated an "Excluded Area" under the Government of India Act 1935.


title: Chakma people

text: Local tribes demanded an independent state for the Chittagong Hill Tract because Bengalis and the tribals did not share a religion, language, or ethnicity, and they asked for their own independent area in the 1930s when the Indian national movement was launched. During World War II, to retain Chakma loyalty in the face of Japanese advances, local British officials guaranteed the tribals that the Chittagong Hill Tracts would be split of separately in the event of Indian independence.


title: Chakma people

text: In British India, there was a measure of security and protection afforded for the non-Muslim and non-Bengali Chittagong Hill Tract Chakmas and other tribal people. Bengal and Assam did not govern the CHT during this period. Rather the CHT was a distinct administrative unit that enjoyed a large degree of self-rule.


title: Chakma people

text: Despite the CHT being 97.2–98.5% non-Muslim, it was given to Pakistan by the Boundary Commission Chairman Sir Cyril Radcliffe in 1947 upon independence. Native Chakmas made up most of the officials except for some British during British India rule. Pakistan received the CHT from Radcliffe after the issue of Punjab districts and the CHT revised boundaries were pushed onto him by Lord Mountbatten on 17 August 1947. The decision by Radcliffe to draw this boundary paved the way for future war, violence and conflict. The 1956 Pakistani Constitution, which designated the CHT as a "excluded area," kept things as they were. It was the fact that the CHT was governed under a different set of rules since 1900 in order to prevent mainlanders from acquiring ownership of the tribal land. The CHT underwent a significant change when the Pakistani armed forces overthrew the government in 1958 and renamed the protected area "Tribal Area." Finally, the 1962 Constitution was amended in 1963 to repeal the earlier designation, making the CHT accessible to all non-tribals. As a result, Chakmas' jhum cultivation was hampered, and numerous unauthorised settlers invaded this territory. The Bangladeshi Constitution does not refer to any group (inclusive of Bengalis) as indigenous.


title: Chakma people

text: As in India's Tripura State, the Chakmas lived in Bangladesh before it gained its independence. Recent migrations of ethnic Bengalis into traditionally Chakma regions of Bangladesh have raised tensions in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Successive governments have dealt forcefully with Chakma uprisings and finally ended the conflict with the 1997 peace treaty. This force and the construction of Kaptai Dam by the then-Pakistan government in Chakma areas which submerged cultivable lands and displaced thousands, resulted in the migration during 1964–1969 of a large population of Chakmas into Diyun, Arunachal Pradesh.


title: Chakma people

text: Many Buddhist Chakmas migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to India. Projects for infrastructure development negatively impacted CHT tribals starting in the 1950s. These included the Kaptai Dam hydro-electric project, built in 1959-1963 by the Pakistan government, with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development, to provide electricity for much of East Pakistan. The project flooded forty percent of the farmland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and displaced nearly 100,000 Chakmas. About sixty percent were resettled, and forty percent fled to India. Chakmas made up 90% of the 10,000 people whose 54,000 acres of farmland were flooded in 1962 by the Karnafuli power plant and Kaptai Dam. Inept relocation and insufficient compensation were offered to the Chakmas. India used NEFA as a resettlement area for Chakma refugees.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chittagong Hill Tracts Chakma population was estimated at 250,000 in 1964. The CHT was described as being hilly, forested, a verdant green landscape filled with fountains of water A deputy commissioner administered the Chittagong Hill Tracts Division under Pakistani rule.


title: Chakma people

text: Manabendra Narayan Larma requested autonomy in 1970. Tripura state had to deal with the issue of Chakma families. Agriculture, employment and education are dominated by Chakmas compared to Arunachal natives because they are more skilled and have a higher literacy rate. The issue of returning Chakma refugees from India to Bangladesh was raised in 1995. The hill tribes conflict with Bangladesh caused the exodus of 50,000 Chakmas to India from the Chittagong Hill Tracts. A 1992 deal between India and Bangladesh arranged that Bangladesh would take them back. A March 1997 agreement between Chakma leaders and Bangladesh provided for the repatriation to Bangladesh of Chakma refugees in Tripura. Both East Pakistan's partition and Bangladesh's independence caused an influx into India of Chakma refugees. In the 1960s, hundreds of Muslim families from other parts of East Pakistan were resettled in the Matamuhuri Valley region of Alikadam, Feni Valley regions of Belchari and Tulanchari, and the regions of Lama, Bandarban, and Ramgarh.


title: Chakma people

text: Tridev Roy continued to collaborate with Pakistani forces and declined to join the freedom movement of Bangladesh. Pakistani president Yahya Khan assigned a south-east Asian diplomatic post to Tridiv Roy during the war as a reward for his collaboration. Roy chose the Pakistani side, fearing that an independent Bangladesh would likely have democratic rule and he might lose his feudal interests. Pakistan retained his support and allegiance, Roy agreed on 25 March, and in exchange British artillery would refrain from shelling the CHT capital, Rangamati. Roy believed Bangladesh would not award autonomy to CHT and the Chakmas, and earned the enmity of the Awami League by rejecting Sheikh Mujib's offer to stand as the Awami League candidate. Autonomy was refused to the CHT tribals. CHT hills people were enrolled as Mujahids and Razakars by the Pakistan army during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971.


title: Chakma people

text: The Bangladesh government provided financial support for thousands of Bengalis to settle in the tracts. By 1981, a third of the population of the tracts were Bengali migrants. Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS; Chittagong Hill Tracts Peoples Solidarity Association), which was founded by Chakmas, demanded a halt to Bengali settlement, settlers returning lands to CHT natives, and autonomy. On 7 January 1973, Shanti Bahini (Peace Force) was founded as the military army of PCJSS. In an effort to win independence for the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Shanti Bahini launched guerrilla attacks against the government. Jumma guerillas made up Shanti Bahini forces. The party heads of PCJSS are mostly Chakma because of their 59% literacy rate, which is more than other CHT tribes, so they control the PCJSS.


title: Chakma people

text: During the war, most of the Pahadis remained passive, although the Mukti Bahini enrolled some. In 1971, the Pakistan army enrolled CHT hill men. After the war, Tridev Roy maintained his allegiance to Pakistan, which he supported in the war. In 1970, he served as independent in the Parliament of Pakistan while serving as Raja of the Chakma. The Awami League candidate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman lost the election to Roy. Roy was in Southeast Asia when Bangladesh came under Indian army control in December 1971. Bhutto assigned the position of Minorities Affairs Minister to Roy and he helped lobby in the United Nations (UN) for Pakistan after the war. The post of ambassador and tourism were also awarded to Roy. Roy represented Pakistan when it protested at the UN over Bangladesh. Pakistan retained the allegiance of only Nurul Amin and Tridiv Roy among their East Pakistan MPs. Roy refused to join Bangladesh because the hill tracts were not granted autonomy and stayed on Pakistan's side despite Mujib trying to urge Tridiv to quit Pakistan.


title: Chakma people

text: Meghalaya and Tripura were destinations of Buddhist Chakma refugees fleeing from the war started by plains-dwelling Muslim Bangladeshis settling the CHT, as well as the government of Bangladesh implementing a military police force to expel Chittagong Hill Tracts natives. "The Muslim World" complained about alleged immigration from Bangladesh to Arakan by Buddhists of Magh and Chakma background.


title: Chakma people

text: In 1974, the Garo people were stripped of their property by the XLVI Vested and Non-President Property Act by Bangladesh and affected by the 1964 Enemy Property Ordinance. Lands in CHT were taken by Bengali colonists; the hill peoples of the CHT were not afforded any cultural or ethnic recognition, and sympathy from successive Bangladesh governments, despite culture and ethnicity being used as an argument against Pakistan by Bengalis during the war. A 1997 peace agreement ended the over twenty-year-long war on autonomy between Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Jumma inhabitants. The Chittagong Hill Tracts showed that only Bengalis were to be beneficiaries of Bengali nationalism and its "liberalism", which was aimed against the hegemony of Pakistan. Even the "pro-minority" and participant of the CHT peace agreement, the Awami League, refused to grant the status of Adibashi, declaring that according to the constitution, Bengali is the nationality and Bangladeshi is the citizenship and refused to acknowledge that Bangladesh had indigenous peoples. Bengali nationalism is part of the BNP's ideology. Jumma nationalism was spawned from Bengali nationalism due to the hegemony exerted by the Bengalis.


title: Chakma people

text: Because the Bangladesh independence movement received apathy from the CHT Jummas, they were deemed unfaithful by the Bengalis. The natives of CHT were ignored when the Rangmati Kaptai Dam was financed by the World Bank. No autonomy was awarded to the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the Bangladesh Constitution of 1972. The Chakma conflict is both a religious and ethnic problem in Bangladesh. The Chittagong Hill Tracts saw tribal Chakma leave the area due to religious and ethnic strife caused by Bangladesh's Islamisation policy. The Chittagong Hill Tracts was colonized by Northern Burmese and Bangladeshi Muslims. The label "genocidal" has been used to describe actions by the Bangladeshi government upon the non-Islamic Chittagong Hill Tracts Jumma natives.


title: Chakma people

text: In February 1972, Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh issued a joint statement by virtue of which the Government of India decided to confer citizenship on the Chakmas under Section 5(1)(a) of the Citizenship Act, 1955 but the state of Arunachal Pradesh had reservations. Chakmas were thus allowed to be rehabilitated. The Election Commission of India framed guidelines to enable Chakmas to have the right to vote by having their names enrolled in the electoral rolls of the constituency where they have been settled.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakmas now have representation in the Mizoram Legislative Assembly, Tripura Legislative Assembly and Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council. The only seat of political power and identity is the Chakma Autonomous District Council in India, the legitimacy of which is questioned by the Mizo people. There are another 80,000 Chakmas in Rakhine state, Myanmar, who are known as Daingnet people.


title: Chakma people

text: In September 2015, the Supreme Court of India passed a judgment directing the Government of India and of Arunachal Pradesh to grant Indian citizenship rights to all of the Chakmas, holding that they cannot be discriminated against any other Indian.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakmas are followers of Theravada Buddhism, a religion that they have practiced for centuries.Almost every Chakma village has a Buddhist vihar (Ki-yawng or Kaang). Buddhist monks are called bhikkhu or "mawichang" and "chaa-myinì". They preside at religious festivals and ceremonies. The villagers support their monks with food, gifts, and offerings as representatives of the historical Buddha, Gautama or Gotama or Sakyamuni Buddha.


title: Chakma people

text: Some Chakma who has migrated into other religion can be found easily nowadays. Christianity and Islam are the two main dominating migrating religions in the Chakma community.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakmas originally spoke a language belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family, which belong to the jingpo luish tree. The language was very similar to present day Kachin and Burmese language. But at present days, their language shares many common words or loan words from the Hindi, Pali, Sanskrit, English, Assamese and Bengali languages, due to long years of influence of bengal sultanate. Many linguists now consider the modern Chakma language (known as "Changma Bhaz" or "Changma Hawdha") part of the Eastern Indo-Aryan language group. Changma Bhaz is written in its own script, the Chakma script, also known as "Awzhapath/Awjhapat". Chakma is written in an alphabet which allowing for its cursive form, is almost identical with the Khmer and the Lanna (Chiangmai) characters, which was formerly in use in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and southern parts of Burma.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakmas are people with their own culture, folklore, literature, and traditions. Chakma women wear an ankle length cloth around the waist called a Pinon ("pee-nown)" and also a Hadi ("haa-dee)" wrapped above the waist as well as silver ornaments. The pinon ("pee-nown)" and the Hadi ("haa-dee)" are colourfuly handwoven with various designs. The design is first embroidered on a piece of cloth known as "aalaam".


title: Chakma people

text: In the past, most Chakmas practiced slash-and-burn cultivation as their main occupation. However, many Chakmas today have adopted plow cultivation and some have taken up poultry farming.


title: Chakma people

text: Traditional temporary homes of the Chakma are called "mawnógawr". A "mawnógawr" is constructed with bamboo and thatch, and supported on wooden logs.


title: Chakma people

text: The Chakma tend to mainly cook over an open fire. They eat many types of food (including meats) with rice being a staple, but they usually avoid beef.


title: Chakma people

text: Chakmas celebrate various Buddhist festivals. The most important is Buddha Purnima or internationally known as Vesak. It's also known as Buddha Birthday worldwide. This is the anniversary of three important events in Buddha's life—his birth, his attainment of enlightenment, and his death. It is observed on the full moon day of the month of Vaisakha (usually in May).


title: Chakma people

text: On this and other festival days, Chakmas put on their best clothes and visit the temple. There, they offer flowers to the image of Buddha, light candles, and listen to sermons from the priests. Alms (offerings) are given to the poor, and feasts are held for the priests.


title: Chakma people

text: The three-day festival known as Biju/Bizu or Chakma New Year, celebrated with much enthusiasm. This Chakma New Year followed same Indian calendar that shares the same date of the New Year. This Biju also celebrated on same date by various Buddhist countries such as Myanmar Sangrai, Thailand Songkran, Cambodia, Laos, India, Bangladesh, Sinhalese New Year and few other Asian countries. Houses are decorated with flowers, young children pay special attention to the elderly to win their blessings, visiting Buddhist monasteries, and preparing festive and traditional Chakma dishes for guests are some of important things.


title: Chakma people

text: Bizhu is the most important socio-religious festival of the Chakma. Bizu is a Buddhist festival and public holiday in Tripura. This festival gave birth to the Bizu dance. The festival lasts for three days and begins one day before the last day of the month of Chaitra, falling in the month of April. The first day is known as "Phool Bizu". On this day, household items, clothes are cleaned and washed, food items are collected to give the house a new look with the veil of different flowers.


title: Chakma people

text: The second day is known as "Mhul Bizu". This day starts with the bath in the river. People wear new clothes and make rounds of the village. Women wear Pinon ("pee-nown)" and Hadi ("Haa-dee)" while men wear Silum ("see-lhum)" and Dudi ("du-dee)". They also enjoy specially made vegetable curry known as "Paa Zawn Tawn", different homemade sweets like Bawraa-pyi-de, Tsaan-yei pyi-de, Khaw Ga Pyi-de, Beng Pyi-de etc and take part in different traditional sports. The day ends with the Bizu dance.


title: Chakma people

text: The last day, which is known as "Gawz che Pawz che dyin" involves the performances of different socio-religious activities. In the context of its nature, some say that Bizu is a festival, which revolves around agricultural activities because it is celebrated in mid-April when the earth is just drenched with the first rain and the zhum sowing is taken up. And it is believed that with the objective of getting a rich harvest, worship of the earth was arranged, which later on took the form of a festival. However, of late it has lost its agricultural character.


title: Chakma people

text: It is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Vaisakha. It encompasses the birth, enlightenment (nirvāna), and passing away (Parinirvāna) of Buddha. On the day of the worship, devotees go to the monastery with "Siyong" (offerings of rice, vegetable and other fruits and confectioneries). The Buddhist monks known as "Bhikkhu" lead the devotees for the chanting of verses composed in Pali in praise of the holy triple gem: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Sangha (his disciples). Apart from this, other practices such as lighting thousands of lamps and releasing "Phanuch Batti" (an auspicious lamp made of paper in the form of a balloon) are also done as and when possible.


title: Chakma people

text: Bamboo shoots are a traditional dish for the Chakma people, and they call it "Bhaz-chuu-ryì". Shrimp paste and fish paste are their traditional ingredients for cooking. They call them Sidol ("see-dawl)".


title: Chakma people

text: The staple food of the Chakmas is rice, supplemented by millet, corn (maize), vegetables, and mustard. The vegetables include yams, pumpkins, melons, and cucumbers. Vegetables and fruit gathered from the forest may be added to the diet. Fish, poultry, and meat are eaten, despite the fact that many Buddhists are vegetarians.