By Editorial, Published: July 28THE POPULIST authoritarianism that a few years ago seemed to be sweeping Latin America is beginning to wane. Voters and politicians alike have watched the deepening economic and social disorder in Venezuela and its allies, and they sensibly concluded — most recently in Peru — that they want none of it. But in Venezuela itself, and in those countries where acolytes of Hugo Chavez took control, abuses of power and of human rights are only growing worse.

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The latest evidence of this came last week in Ecuador, a small Andean nation where an erratic populist, Rafael Correa, has been faithfully imitating Mr. Chavez’s methods for concentrating power and eliminating opposition. As happened in Venezuela, Mr. Correa’s government has taken over much of the media: According to a recent report for the National Endowment for Democracy, the government controlled one radio station when Mr. Correa became president in 2007, but it now owns five television channels, four radio stations, two newspapers and four magazines

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Mr. Correa is seeking to destroy or silence the remaining independent media, which to his distress have taken on topics such as the hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts awarded to his brother. The president has filed one lawsuit against the authors of a book about his brother and a second against the editorial page editor and three directors of one of Ecuador’s most influential newspapers, El Universo.

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Employing an archaic law that criminalizes expression “to discredit, dishonor or disparage” an “authority,” Mr. Correa demanded prison sentences and $80 million in compensation for a column in which the editor, Emilio Palacio, referred to the president as a dictator and faulted his behavior during a controversial episode in which soldiers clashed with striking police officers last year. Last week the president personally attended the trial while thuggish supporters threw eggs and bottles at the defendants outside the courthouse.

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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. The defendants are appealing to higher courts, but as the media rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights noted, the decision “constitutes a grave warning to any citizen or media outlet that has opinions or information about public officials that could be considered offensive, thus obstructing processes that are natural and necessary in any democracy.”

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Such criticism is unlikely to deter Mr. Correa, who recently won approval of a constitutional amendment setting up a media oversight panel he could use to censor and fine journalists without bothering to go to court. The conclusion offered by Inter-American Press Association President Gonzalo Marroquin was grim but appropriate: This is 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.”

AUTÓCRATA DE ECUADOR ARREMETE CONTRA LA LIBERTAD DE PRENSA

EL AUTORITARISMO POPULISTA QUE HACE UNOS AÑOS PARECÍA ESTAR BARRIENDO AMÉRICA LATINA ESTÁ COMENZANDO A DISMINUIR. LOS VOTANTES Y LOS POLÍTICOS HAN VISTO EL DESORDEN, PROFUNDIZACIÓN ECONÓMICA Y SOCIAL EN VENEZUELA Y SUS ALIADOS, Y LLEGARON A LA CONCLUSIÓN SENSATA - MÁS RECIENTEMENTE EN EL PERÚ -QUE NO QUIEREN NADA DE ESO. PERO EN LA PROPIA VENEZUELA, Y EN AQUELLOS PAÍSES DONDE LOS ACÓLITOS DE HUGO CHÁVEZ TOMARON EL CONTROL, LOS ABUSOS DE PODER Y DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS SÓLO SON CADA VEZ PEORES.

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LA ÚLTIMA EVIDENCIA DE ESTO SE PRODUJO LA SEMANA PASADA EN ECUADOR, UNA PEQUEÑA NACIÓN ANDINA, DONDE UN POPULISTA ERRÁTICO, RAFAEL CORREA, HA SIDO FIEL IMITACIÓN DE LOS MÉTODOS DE CHÁVEZ PARA CONCENTRAR EL PODER Y LA ELIMINACIÓN DE LA OPOSICIÓN. COMO OCURRIÓ EN VENEZUELA, EL GOBIERNO DE CORREA SE HA HECHO CARGO DE GRAN PARTE DE LOS MEDIOS DE

COMUNICACIÓN: SEGÚN UN INFORME RECIENTE DE LA

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY, EL GOBIERNO CONTROLÓ UNA ESTACIÓN DE RADIO CUANDO CORREA ASUMIÓ LA PRESIDENCIA EN 2007, PERO AHORA ES DUEÑO DE CINCO CANALES DE TELEVISIÓN, CUATRO ESTACIONES DE RADIO, DOS PERIÓDICOS Y CUATRO REVISTAS..