Cuenca´s Military Parade

I love the city of Cuenca. I really do. It´s got beautiful architecture, tons of history, amazing food and a lot to do. It´s just a great city all around. But I keep ragging on it, and I feel bad. But... I can´t help but notice these weird, troubling things like racism and governmental intimidation bubbling under the surface. For example, and again this happened a few weeks ago during the Fiestas de Cuenca, the Military Parade in Cuenca made me feel pretty uncomfortable. In the US, we usually don´t have big shows of military force (at least not WITHIN the US, but that´s another story). Our parades might include a military band or soldiers in ceremonial uniforms with a color guard. But rarely, if ever, would one see soldiers dressed in fatigues, carrying weapons, marching in formation, followed by armored vehicles and other tools of war. But this is exactly what the parade was like in Cuenca. Huge numbers of soldiers dressed in their battle uniforms, wearing camouflage face paint and carrying automatic rifles passed by the observing citizens. Heavy artillery pieces and armored personnel carriers followed them, their foreboding cannons visible to all. To me, this is an attempt by President Correa, and outspoken "hawk" in terms of foreign policy and domestic order, to demonstrate to the world the military capabilities that are at his disposal, and to ensure that his own people remember who controls the nation´s weapons and the potential consequences of revolt. By many accounts Correa has done lots of good things for Ecuador, but given Latin America´s tendency toward coups, his military intimidation is not without precedent.