The candidates and the political organizations are mobilizing in front of the election in february 2013. Will there be a change or will Correa be reelected as president?
The actual president Rafael Correa will certainly present his candidature for proceeding his project revolucion ciudadania. The situation before him (2006) was caotic. In ten years Ecuador got a lot of presidents, among them several left the country after charges of corrruption and abuse of power. There was an economical crisis in 1999 and there were coups.
With Correa the politics turned left. He nacionalized parts of the oil industri and he iniciated social programs. One of his best cards in the election is his vice president Lenin Moreno who constructed an advanced program for helping families with handicapped children, the Manuela Espejo project. For this he is also nominated to the Nobel Peace Prize. Internationally the Correa goberment has dissossiated from the US. Correa has terminated the agreement of the military base in Manta and there are worries about trade relations between the two nations. But president Correa is very touchy of what they write about him in the press. He has iniciated law suits against media and their reporters and claiming indemnizations for millions of dollar. He has received a lot of criticism for this.
Alvaro Noboa is the richest man in Ecuador. He and his have famliy made their fortune in bananas. He is the banana king in the banana republic. Will he also be the president? His campaign is mostly financed by himself and his intent is to strengh the business sector. By that, somebody says, Noboa means himself. His company owes billions in tax and there have been serious conflicts with the workers on his plantages.
Lucio Gutièrrez, ex militar and ex president will also work for free trade, strenghening of private sector and reducing public sector. But he got very unpopular in his last presidental period and had to leave the palace in a helicopter. And did he play a role in the presumed coup attempt against president Correa 30th septembre 2010?
An other ex-president, Abdalà Bucaram. lives in Panama. His political party PRE hoped to free him for the charges of corrupion and nepotism (among others) during his presidency so he could return and make his candidature. Obviously they will not succeed. Otherwise, Bucaram was most famous for his wild parties in the president palace.
The banker Guillermo Lasso is posibly the most serious of the conservative-liberal candidates. He was the director of Banco de Guayaquil, one of the few banks with a relatively good reputation in Ecuador.The last years he has worked with his project banco de barrio, giving microcredits for stimulating small business life. Formerly he also was an adviser for the unpopular regimes of Jamil Mahaud and Lucio Gutièrrez. He is also noted as an informant for the US embassy by Wike-leaks. Anyway, by the published notes there is not very compromiting material.
New in 2013 is that there is an opposition to Correa from the left. Seven left wing parties have launched his former strateg and Minister of Energy Alberto Acosta against him. The mighty native organizations are supporting this. Their dissatisfaction with the Correa goberment is the lack of a promised law to secure the rights of the native populations to earth and water. The economist Correa has done important contracts with chinese mining companies that they feel is frightening the environment in their neigborhoods.
So far so good. Who is your prefered candidate?
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