Become a Patron!

Written by: Liam Clarke-Cooper

The National Electoral Council of Ecuador (CNE) announced last week that Rafael Correa, arguably the country’s most popular former president (Correa maintains historically high approval ratings), is banned from running in the upcoming election (Rafael Correa denounces refusal to endorse his electoral candidacy). This is after numerous attempts to ban him and his party (PI to the United Nations). That is, his new party; Fuerza Compromiso Social. Correa left office in 2017, but the country continues to be ruled by Allianza PAIS, the party he founded in 2006 as a left-populist opposition to the neoliberal policies of the preceding 25 years. Correa’s movement is the Citizens’ Revolution, which was inspired by the country’s 19th-century liberal reformers, and aligned with 21st-century socialism (La 'revolución ciudadana). The former Vice President, Lenín Moreno, was nominated by Allianza PAIS when Correa stepped down. Moreno, after being elected due to his proximity to Correa, quickly introduced reforms that were anathema to what made the previous Allianza PAIS administration so popular and successful.

Correa’s Citizen Revolution challenged prevailing neo-liberal orthodoxy⁠—and foreign powers, and the gambit paid dividends. By reforming the financial system and funneling much of the captured revenue into housing, education, healthcare, and other social spending, Ecuador managed to spur economic growth, bring millions out of poverty, reduce unemployment to some of its lowest rates in decades and fight inequality. All this while facing the collapse of Ecuador’s main export, oil, twice in ten years.(Decade of Reform)

Despite this, one point of contention between Correa and the left was over mining. While progressive tax reform for the industry and a mandate to consult communities before granting concessions were both enshrined in his 2008 constitution, the legislation pushed for by peasant and Indigenous groups was watered down. This was particularly helpful for Canadian firms, many of whom were able to hold onto illegal concessions in protected areas thanks to a well-funded public relations campaign and the Canadian embassy’s tireless lobbying on their behalf.(Ecuador's Fickle Friend) Correa wanted mining to become an integral part of the state’s revenue, and he was able to capture some of it to help pay for social spending, which was a net positive for the people of Ecuador, (Decade of Reform) but he also alienated the social movements that helped bring him to power by including extractive industries in the plan for Ecuador’s prosperity. Though the constitutional assembly was meant to include the voices of the Indigenous, environmental, and peasant activists in decision-making, Correa wielded a great deal of power over the process, and differences of policy between him and these groups were swiftly decided in his favour. Though he had campaigned as a democrat and populist when it came to decision-making he governed more as a technocrat and corporatist.

Correa did challenge the Canadian government in other respects, preferring integration in Latin America to bilateral agreements and supporting Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution, altogether making for a cool relationship with Ottawa. For example, when Correa attempted to “defund the police” in Ecuador a decade ago, by removing their bonuses, they organized a coup. Canada’s response to this development was equivocal. In contrast to other nations, which tended to denounce the violent actions of the police, Canada instead asked “all parties to refrain from violence” and even this tepid condemnation of the coup only came once Correa was solidly back in power.

Correa, with typical bravado, did not respond equivocally to the police coup.

After Moreno came to power his pivot to the right benefited Ecuador’s oligarchs. The Canadian government, foreign minister Chrystia Freeland and Canada’s mining companies were all too happy to see Correa’s reforms done away with and the industry deregulated. Moreno’s return to neoliberal policy is significant for Canadian firms as our country has become Ecuador’s main investor in the mining industry. (Ecuador’s future is in mining) Incentives offered by Moreno’s government have been warmly received by Canadian mining companies as an “opening” of the country,(Ecuador re-emerges as a mining destination) while protests against the new projects are used as just cause for greater state repression.

While making it immediately clear he would not govern as a “Correaista” due to his conservative rhetoric, it took Moreno some time before he could dismantle the bureaucracy left over from Correa. Once that was done, he was able to push through IMF loans, whose conditions meant cutting fuel subsidies, laying off public sector workers, and cutting import duties. There were massive protests against these changes, and in response, deadly state repression. Moreno has restructured the judiciary, the electoral council, his own party, all in an effort to persecute supporters of Rafael Correa and prevent the ex-president’s return to power. While Correa can no longer run for the presidency due to term limits imposed by Moreno after he was elected, Correa’s candidate of choice would beat the current regime, according to polls.

Moreno’s repeal of progressive policies and persecution of Correaistas is not just bad for the left and the working class, his comprehensive rollback of the public sector has hit healthcare particularly hard, endangering the entire country during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has resulted in Ecuador becoming one of the worst hotspots for coronavirus. (Coronavirus tracked) Support for Moreno during the pandemic has cratered, even as it was particularly low before, which is why it was so important to the current government that Correa was convicted in absentia on trumped-up charges to prevent him from ever returning to Ecuador.

While Moreno persecutes leftists and threatens the democracy of Ecuador, as he stays in power on a mandate that was given to him for policies he has not implemented, and actively worked against, the Canadian government chooses to sanction Venezuela instead, claiming that their democratically elected president is illegitimate, and supports an unelected pretender as the “true” president of Venezuela.

But Moreno makes clear who he gives allegiance to, cozying up to Trump and Pompeo, allowing the US military to use an airport on the Galapagos islands after Correa had removed the last US military base in South America. Kicking Julian Assange to the curb after Correa had let him stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for years. Now the journalist and whistleblower is sure to face punishment in the UK, where he is threatened with extradition to the United States and could face the death penalty.

Correa was the only known entity in the upcoming election, with both Allianza PAIS and the Citizens’ Revolution running tickets with candidates who are little known outside party circles. This can partly be blamed on Correa, whose style of leadership was part of why he was so popular, but also left little room for other personalities. On the right, perennial candidate Guillermo Lasso is set to run again, though a Lasso government would look little different from what Ecuador has now. Despite the Moreno government’s machinations and a confusing, turbulent political sphere, Correa’s backing is still enough to put any contender within reach of the presidency. If this happens, it will ensure that the years of prosperity under Correa were not just a blip in the otherwise uninterrupted reign of profiteers who’ve left little to show of value in Ecuador.

More Articles

Featured