Leftist headed to narrow victory in Ecuador, defying Latin America's shift to right

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Brisbane Times

APRIL 3 2017 - 1:50PM

Nick Miroff


Quito: Ecuador plunged into crisis on Sunday night after a disputed presidential vote, with leftist candidate Lenin Moreno headed to a narrow victory and his conservative opponent denouncing the results as fraudulent.

With nearly 95 per cent of the ballots counted in the second-round presidential run-off, Moreno led by 51 per cent to 49 per cent over right-wing challenger Guillermo Lasso, who insisted he was the real winner.




Leftist candidate Lenin Moreno, left, and his running mate Jorge Glas. Photo: AP



Moreno was the candidate of the ruling PAIS alliance and the hand-picked successor to outgoing President Rafael Correa.

Clashes broke out in several cities, with many fearing an escalating stand-off and Ecuadoran voters screaming at one another in the streets.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/leftist-headed-to-narrow-victory-in-ecuador-defying-latin-americas-shift-to-right-20170403-gvcd99.html

[hrmjustin]

1. Good! the only bad thing is Assange will not be handed over to the UK.

[Warpy]

2. Great!

President Correa's work will be continued. He's done very well for the country, devaluing the currency and sending the IMF packing. Had they not been hit with a devastating earthquake last year, they'd be doing very well.

I wish the shift to the left would happen here.

Fucking conservatives!

[ronnie624]

3. +1. n/t

[tenorly]

4. It's good to see the good people of Ecuador still remembered Lasso's bank heist in 2000.

Lasso was probably the most hyped - and most opprobious - opponent they could have possibly had. His role in the financial crisis 15 years ago alone disqualifies him for anything other than a nice, long jail term.

When Ecuadorean depositors' funds were seized by banks in a 1999 bail-in, the banks compensated depositors bonds.

Lasso, through the Bank of Guayaquil, bought as many as he could (at 40-50% of face value), helped push down the value as far as possible to force even more depositors to sell, and then used his influence to prevail on the Central Bank to recall them at full face value.

Suffice it to say, he and his bank made off like bandits. The proceeds were, of course, then laundered out of Ecuador through offshore accounts.

That said, the vote was also a recognition of Rafael Correa's successful tenure.

Far from the calamity that Maduro's government in Venezuela has become (with plenty out outside help as well), Correa's market-socialist administration has been very good to Ecuador over the last 11 years.

The economic train-wrecks being created currently by the new right-wing administrations in Brazil and Argentina no doubt also helped seal the deal for Moreno, as both countries have tens of thousands of Ecuadorean immigrants.

All the best to Lenin Moreno. Given the bankster running against him, the better man definitely won.

Thank you for posting, Judi, and for always keeping us informed on the goings-on in Latin America.

[Warpy]

5. It has and it's put Ecuador at the top of my list of places to bug out to

He was especially impressive when he kicked the IMF out of the country, taking a much different route than the simple austerity against the poor that the IMF always wants. Now the country is relatively healthy.

Some of his recent ideas haven't been great, like going to 100% electronic currency in a country with a large peasantry that would have no access to it, but by and large, he's been a good leader.

I also wish Lenin Moreno the best.

[tenorly]

6. Indeed. The Kirchners in Argentina accomplished something similar, and they too made their mistakes.

Néstor Kirchner, you might recall, inherited a bankrupt Argentina in 2003 with 20% unemployment and 50% poverty. The foreign debt - most of which had been taken on to cover capital flight, or to pay interest on old debt - was close to 150% of GDP.

He instituted a wage council with real teeth, supported unions, worked with domestic banks to restore credit, raised pensions, and renegotiated defaulted bonds.

His wife, Cristina (who ran in his stead in 2007 due to his severe heart problems), enacted family assistance and low-cost mortgages, ended the pension fund scam inherited from the '90s, and re-nationalized state firms driven to near-bankruptcy by private owners.

The economy doubled in size by 2015, unemployment fell to 6%, poverty fell by half, real pay rose by 72% (even according to private data), and the debt burden to just 40% of GDP (most of which became domestic, rather than very costly foreign debt).

She made two big mistakes though: she sought to raise grain export taxes in 2008 in order to improve domestic supply (the agriculture lobby tends to keep local prices artificially high in order to export more), which turned the powerful landowning clique against her; and she sought to lessen local dependence on the dollar in 2012, which turned the banks and even many homeowners against her as they were the most dependent (above all in Buenos Aires).

That, coupled with her being tawny and of modest background, made her the target of a relentless, Breitbart-style smear campaign - mostly centered around rumored (but never proven) kickback schemes, and a lot of racist dog-whistling.

Ultimately, all this narrowly cost her party's candidate (nominated by primaries, not hand-picked) the presidency.

But the way her right-wing successor, Macri, has wrecking the economy with his tax cuts for the rich (with big tax hikes for everyone else), plus corruption scandals from the Panama Papers to public contract self-dealing to the Postal Service heist, voters really miss the eccentric Mrs. Kirchner - which is why Macri's been eavesdropping, leaking, and trying to lock her up like there's no tomorrow.

And yes, Macri and Trump have been friends for a long time.

[Warpy]

7. yes, I know

It will be interesting to see if it gets too hot for Macri and he eventually "retires" in Paraguay like other right wing crooks before him, or if they manage to put him into prison. Unfortunately, Argentina has a large and robust right wing, so they'll periodically get these fuckups into office and need the better part of a decade to repair the damage before the next one buys and lies his way in.

All you have to do is look at what Macri has done to know what Dolt45 has in store for his "tax reform" now that he's been shot down on health care. We can only hope enough Congressmen and journalists have learned how to do basic arithmetic better than they did 30 years ago during Reagan's tenancy.

[tenorly]

8. Well said.

With the GOP, as with the right-wingers in Latin America, the problem is above all one of lobbying.

They'd sell their mistresses if their lobbyists paid them enough.

[Percy Cholmondeley]

9. Drift to the right?

Koch brothers Fail!!! Putin fail!!! Get Nigel down there STAT!!

[L. Coyote]

10. That "drift to the right" wouldn't the undemocratic overthrowing of democracy by rightist?

[tenorly]

12. You might could say that.

[regnaD kciN]

14. Well, they always seem to cite the "ouster of" (i.e. coup against) Brazil's leftist president...

...as prime evidence of the "drift away from the left" by South Americans.

[L. Coyote]

15. Indeed. Albeit, it is the same corporatist, oligarchic conspiracy against democracy globally.

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Lenin ? The Director of the CIA will have fit with his leg up !

Come back Fidel and Che ! All is forgiven....

[Blue_Tires]

13. Assange can unclench his sphincter now...

since Lasso was supposedly going to kick his worthless ass out on the street...