Quito, April 25 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa denounced efforts by the opposition in his country to copy the strategy of the opposition in Venezuela and try to destabilize his government and the country.

“Let's not fool ourselves, what has happened in Venezuela, in Argentina, what they tried to do to Evo (Morales)... is the permanent mobilization, (the strategy of) attrition, trying to create incidents,” said Correa, referring to violent street protests in Venezuela in 2014 and the recent attempt to link Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez to the murder of a prosecutor. “But we are going to show, like in Venezuela, we are more, many more,” the president told local media on Friday.

In an effort to provoke problems in the country, supporters of the Ecuadorean opposition have recently tried to promote rumors that the government was planning to freeze bank accounts in the country. Correa responded to those rumors, saying: “The only problem banks have (right now) is that they're making too much money.”

In a deeply unpopular move, the government of Ecuador froze bank accounts in 1999 in an effort to save private banks, causing chaos in Ecuador's financial system.

The president added that propagating this rumor — which was started by the head of the Quito Chamber of Commerce — constitutes a crime as it could generate panic in the financial sector. “What these people are doing is a crime, they are waiting for us to open a case (against them) so they can later play the victim,” said Correa.

Article 322 of the Ecuadorean penal code prohibits the dissemination of false rumors that can cause panic and lead to the massive withdrawal of money from bank accounts.