PAIS director Cesar Alvarado (r) forming a cavalry. Image: El Universal
It looks like Ecuador is adopting Cuba’s CDR model to surveil rural areas of the country, reports El Universal.
A force of 15,000 members is being proposed first for Manabi province.
Cesar Alvarado, director of PAIS, said: “The CDR (Committee of Citizen Revolution — Comites de Revolucion Ciudadana) will be responsible for monitoring the Citizen Revolution Project promoted by president of the republic Rafael Correa.”
Alvarado rejects criticism of the CDR. He said one of the functions of its members will be a permanent vigilance of government works executed in rural communities.
He further added, “We don’t want to be demonized by saying we will be like Cuba. The CDRs are for strengthening democracy and not allow what happen to Honduran president Zelaya, a coup d’ etat to take place.”
Cuba implemented a neighborhood network of surveillance in the early 1960s, known as Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Comités de Defensa de la Revolución), to watch the populace’s counterrevolutionary activities.
