ecuador govermenti have lived in ecuador, columbia,peru and afew other south american countrys.ecuador seemed the least left leaning of all of them.they are very americanized in many ways.i thougt abaut living there more than any other country douwn there.chile is maybe better,but as far political risk,i am not worried.they do have a lot of regime changes in the past but things seem to allways work out,no revolutions.i met many americans and europaens that lived there and nobody complained abaut the goverment .the people pay very little taxes mostly none,even busenesses.chaves is very unpopular with most folks that i talked to.people are not stupid here.ecuador is very poor.you can see it every where but they are very proud and you dont see beggars on the street,the indians live mostly in the mountains and along rivers.they know there rights,because of foreigen enveiromantalists that help them to get their rights.but those are enveiromental concerns and it is true that any mine today better keep things clean.i also been working in several mines in canada and if there one thing i learned is that running a mine is very tricky job.in order to get the mettal out of the ground you need alot of skills.the southamericans just dont have them at the present time.the have to be nice to the foreign miners or the gold stays in the ground where it has been since the beginning of time and the people will stay poor and hungry.i am sure they will do the right thing,learning from chile and peru.it will be a great help for the country when a few mines are running.the next news will drive the share price up and we visit the40 plus again,no fear.long and strong aru