Looking for political leaders…look south

I have become convinced that if we want to find courageous leadership these days, we might want to look south. There are some very interesting developments going on in various countries in South America. We hear alot about Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and maybe a bit less about Evo Morales in Bolivia. And after the news that Chile had elected the first woman as President, Michelle Bachelet, we haven’t heard much about her.

But I had heard nothing about President Rafael Correa of Ecuador until I found a wonderful story over at The Latin Americanist. He has let the world know that he is willing to continue allowing a US military base in his country if we allow him to establish one in Miami. Here’s some bits on the story from Reuters:

Ecuador’s leftist President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador’s Pacific coast.

Correa has refused to renew Washington’s lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes.

“We’ll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami — an Ecuadorean base,” Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy.

“If there’s no problem having foreign soldiers on a country’s soil, surely they’ll let us have an Ecuadorean base in the United States.”

Correa, a popular leftist economist, had promised to cut off his arm before extending the lease that ends in 2009 and has called U.S. President George W. Bush a “dimwit”.

Now that’s what I’m talkin about!

Maybe some of these REAL leaders could start a consulting business to help US politicians learn how to grow a spine.