Takeovers Captivate Ecuador

Still, polls suggest that a majority of Ecuadorans approve of the seizures.

"I think that this is something that Ecuador was demanding for about 10 years, and basically no one had the guts to do it," said Ana María Correa, a political analyst and newspaper columnist in Quito. "The Isaías family had the justice system taken over basically through mafia-type actions."

The Isaías brothers, who could not be reached for comment, have previously denied wrongdoing and claimed they have become political scapegoats for the dire economic conditions in Ecuador in the late 1990s, during which many banks failed.

Another relative, Estefano Isaías, has sought asylum in the United States following the seizures of the companies.

"We are living in a dictatorship," he told the Associated Press.

For many Ecuadorans, the takeovers are difficult to separate from what is happening 160 miles west and nearly 9,000 feet below Quito, in the low hills along the humid Pacific coast. In Montecristi, a town best known for making Panama hats, the 130-member national assembly is in the final days of writing a new constitution for Ecuador, a major initiative for Correa. Several political observers have said the president seized the companies to further his political agenda and ensure the passage of the new constitution in a September referendum.

"The timing is very clear, because the government was going down in the polls. There's no doubt this was used politically," said Pablo Lucio Paredes, a former government minister who is a member of the assembly. "For the government, to have the yes [vote] in the referendum is basic, basic, basic. They will do anything to have the yes."

If approved, the new constitution could allow Correa to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms -- in addition to the 18 months he has completed -- for a potential 10-year run in a country that has had eight presidents in a decade and currently gives them no more than four consecutive years. Correa's opponents believe a new constitution would lead to more state control of the economy, redistribution of land and greater presidential control, while scaring away investment. His supporters say that it will lead to stronger regulation to control corruption and greater attention to the environment and the poor.

"The fact is that there are two [television] channels of national reach that are in the hands of the state, and that are administered by managers designated by the state, and they are probably going to be very open to the public propaganda in these months before the referendum," said Adrián Bonilla, a political analyst and the director of FLACSO, a Latin American graduate school and think tank based in Quito. "I don't think they'll sell them before the referendum."

Many Ecuadorans noted that El Telegrafo, one of the country's oldest newspapers, was taken over by the government last year and still has not been sold. Today, it tends to deliver a pro-government message.

Government officials said they have no intention of influencing the content of the seized television stations.

"There is a lot of uncertainty and tension," said Jorge Rendón, a news anchor in the coastal city of Guayaquil with TC Television, another channel seized by the government this month. "Even though the state is guaranteeing stability, we know that the state doesn't manage anything well."

The Constitutional Assembly, which has served as the national legislature since last year, took the controversial step of passing a mandate that effectively prevents the Isaías brothers from having a legal defense in Ecuador. One Ecuadoran government official said the takeover and the subsequent law limiting the family's appeal was justified in the context of a weak judicial system that hasn't been able to prosecute the Isaías brothers for years.

"There is never an ideal moment to take such a huge step as we did," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It is a situation of not trying to only change one family but the whole structure of how the elites have all the power and how justice is handled in the country."

Staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.