Ecuadorian Politics and Elections | end of the indigenous protests (for now)

[Expat in Ecuador]

You have a lot of interesting and important information in this blog Sir John Johns.  I thank you for it.

I do differ with you in a number of important areas.  Your strong bias against former President Rafael Correa and your ignoring of the impressive repression of the Ecuadorian left in order to prevent it’s candidate Andres Arauz from winning the Presidential election are first and foremost among them.

The national elections held this year were not fair.  They could not be.  I’m not alleging fraud, but there was extensive suppression of the left which you, Sir John Johns, have almost completely failed to report on.

It began with Lenin Moreno’s defection from the movement he had previously been in his entire life shortly after his election to the Presidency.  It wasn’t just his disaffection with Correa, Moreno became a traitor to everything he had previously believed in.  Suddenly Moreno became an adherent of neoliberal capitalist economics and a lapdog of U.S. foreign policy, the IMF, and multi-national corporate interests.  No adequate explanation of Moreno’s betrayal has been offered by him.  The idea that he was unaware of corruption going on under Correa is simply not plausible, nor does it explain Moreno’s 180 degree turn on virtually all policy matters. It may eventually come out that he was very well compensated for this betrayal, or it may never be known why he did it.  There were revelations and serious allegations in The Panama Papers about Moreno and his family maintaining offshore accounts, but the National Assembly declined to investigate him in their zeal to see Correa and his associates prosecuted.

After Moreno’s defection, propaganda against Correa and the Correistas became a daily thing which continued for almost four years up to the election.  This campaign was carried out by all major news outlets in Ecuador 24/7 (TV, newspapers and radio).  After Moreno won a shady court decision that stole Alianza PAIS from under the left of the party, the founders and leaders of the party, the Correistas were repeatedly prevented by the CNE from forming their own political party.

Then, after the Correistas managed an agreement to field candidates in the regional elections in 2019, and did well in those elections, that party, Fuerza Compromiso Social, was attacked by the press and the right-wing and was subsequently temporarily suspended by the CNE on shaky grounds.

The Correista Presidential ticket had to fight hard just to get on the ballot this year.  The ticket of Andres Arauz and Carlos Rabascal was the last to be certified and there were continuous efforts by serious political actors to get the CNE to eliminate the ticket up to shortly before the first round, and again before the second round.

Under the conditions of 24/7 press propaganda against the left, constant roadblocks against their candidates, and prosecutions of their leaders, the elections this year can hardly be called fair.  And the election results proved that this repression occurred against Ecuador’s largest political grouping as the Correista-led progressive alliance UNES won by far the most seats in the National Assembly despite all the repression.

The repression of the left was just enough, with the help of the anti-Correista forces in Pachakutik and Independent Left political parties, to eek out a victory for Guillermo Lasso in the Presidential runoff.

Do not get me wrong, I am not a Correista.   I am a democratic socialist from the U.S.  I share some sharp criticisms of Correa’s Presidency and the way the movement around him continues to be organized, but I do not share your one sided view of Correa. 

Correa’s term was a watershed in Ecuadorian history.  Tremendous economic and social progress was made and many barriers which previously effectively excluded workers and the poor were overcome.  Mistakes were made too, such as in dealing with opposition.  Much of this had to do with Correa’s popularity and impressive electoral power, including a period in which Correa had a supermajority in the National Assembly.  Correa could steam roll opposition and sadly he did it too much.  Some of it had to do with Correa’s combative personality, which is the same thing that got him elected and won him so much support - voters wanted a fighter who would be tough on the rich and the capitalists.

As you have probably already noticed, I also strongly disagree with you,Sir John Johns, in your characterization of Correa as repressing the press.  Have you ever been to Ecuador and read the press, watched TV, or listened to radio?  I think if you had you would know that the press here is astonishingly and uniformly right-wing and lacks credibility.  They are shameless and out of control.  Their content and wild accusations would make the British tabloids and Fox News blush.  And they are all vociferously anti-Correista and anti-left. This was balanced to some degree when Correa was President by state owned media, but since Moreno became President the state owned news media runs the same crap as the private media.  I won’t defend all of what Correa did to bring some accountability to this out of control and anti-democratic press, and I don’t know all the details, but something needs to be done to bring responsibility and accountability to Ecuador’s news media.

[Expat in Ecuador]

I will continue to read your reports Sir John Johns, as you report many things of interest.  However, your failure to report on the extensive repression of Ecuador’s largest left group, the largest single political group in Ecuador, renders your overall analysis unreliable and raises serious questions about your commitment to real and fair democracy in Ecuador.