Well, that is one heck of an impressive posting for a new comer to this BB. 

You seem to have a good grasp of what goes on down there in Ecuador, about Correa as a person, the political situation down there, and the issues with the latest reforms, etc.  Whereas most of us are only familiar with the mining law aspect only.  Thank you for filling us in on all the other interesting tidbits. 

What interested me most is your reference to the windfall tax to be negotiated on a case by case basis.  In fact the very first thought that crossed my mind was that it is such a wide open opportunity for corruption.  Image that if a Canadian Prime Minister can be had (allegedly anyway) for a meagre $300K, we can safely assume an Ecuadorian official is very affordable. 

Ecuador does have a history of changing governments, I believe until Correa, the record was seven governments in 10 or 11 years?  You obviously are more in tune than I do, but I am in the ball park.  The point then is, under the worst case scenario, we can always wait out this government and see what the next government would do.  I know, this does not guarantee improvements but the only other option is sell out and forget about Ecuador.

Most of us here have invested too much financially and emotionally into ARU at this juncture to just pull out.  I, and perhaps a lot of us here as well, would at least wait to see how this windall tax issue plays out before any decision is made.

Thanks for keeping us informed.