Post #1: ¡Ten Cuidado! Ecuador’s Got a Questionable Government
To some people, Ecuador may present itself as an alluring country with a rich history worth exploring.
To other people, the thought of Ecuador might evoke a response about as ponderous as , “didn’t she mean to say ~equator~?”
The playfully ignorant response I chose to use isn’t so far off, as Ecuador is named after the equator it straddles. Nestled on the northwest coast of South America, Ecuador is home to roughly 16 million people. Its capital — Quito — is garnished with 16th and 17th century lavish palaces from the Spanish colonization, and juxtaposed by Mt. Chimborazo — a peak technically 1.5 miles higher than Mt. Everest. They even have a shape shifting frog!
Though it may have fun quirks, Ecuador is ranked the 82nd most fragile state (out of 178 countries); and like every country, Ecuador still falls victim to seemingly countless news stories.
Currently, opinions about Ecuador’s political state are clashing. A little background on Ecuador’s Citizen’s Revolution — what has been happening in politics for the past decade:
“Putting people before profit,” sounds nice right? Correa provided free education, minimized the poverty gap, helped his country to approach political and social stability, etc. His presidency cannot and will not be swept under the rug.
However, times are a changing. Ecuador’s 2017 election brought into power a new leader, Lenin Moreno, under a guise of continuity. Moreno displayed intentions of continuing Correa’s impactful and effective changes; but he has not followed through. In an interview with Guillaume Long, the president of the International Relations Commission of Ecuador’s governing Alianza PAIS party, Pablo Vivanco describes Moreno’s empty promises as “Ecuador’s Great Betrayal.”
Correa and Moreno actually worked as allies in their party Alianza PAIS, yet since the party’s split, the two have become sworn enemies. Correa and allies have not been able to register a new party, while Moreno’s government is actually attempting to jail former President Correa as they did with his former vice president. Ironically, had Correa run for the presidency again, he likely would have won. The last two years of his presidency were the toughest — with the commodities crash severely, for example, when economic growth obviously was temporarily halted, Correa handled the crisis with efficacy. Ecuador was actually the only country of its kind to not endure a serious recession. However, though it was circumstantial, people saw the economic growth slow and Correa lost support, which is one reason Guillaume Long believes Moreno gained support.
So what exactly did Lenin Moreno change in office?
A democratic country that was making strides in development and was at its most stable state is now shifting to a government basically without left activity. Many of Moreno’s voters gave their support under the presumption that he was more secular (unlike Correa’s strong ties to Catholicism), and he would advocate harder for equality. However, Moreno’s government has shifted to the Right, leaving a severely marginalized Left government, which shocked the nation. This is due to several factors, but the umbrella reason, so to speak, is that the Left has no party. Moreno did not have support from the Alizanza PAIS, which contained all the Leftists, and when that was dissolved, he prevented Correa and allies from creating a new Left party.
How exactly is this a betrayal?
In his interview, Long concedes that any successor should not be a clone of the leader before. Yet his rebuttal is noteworthy:
“It’s one thing to say ‘I’m going to be my own man, I’m not going to be a puppet,’ it’s different to implement policies that are exactly contrary to what he offered people in his political campaign.”
To which I reply, damn right. How much of a leader is one whose word is worth nothing?
