Elections in Ecuador Unmask Western Media Dishonesty
Submitted by Don Fitz on Sat, 02/18/2023 - 9:31am
By:
Joe Emersberger
Topic:
Labor / Economics
Correa’s real crimes, in the eyes of Ecuador’s elite, are breaking with both neoliberalism and Ecuador’s traditional subservience to Washington... He dramatically increased financial regulation and tax collection... Under Correa’s leadership, poverty fell by almost half [1]. By 2015, the efficiency of Ecuador’s public services, according to the Inter-American Development Bank [2], improved dramatically compared to other countries in the Americas. Studies by the [3]U.N. found that the quality of Ecuador’s educational system was, by 2016, one of the most improved. Ecuador experienced a dramatic and unprecedented two-thirds reduction in its homicide rate during Correa’s years in office (January 2007- May 2017). The homicide rate then increased, just as dramatically, after Correa left office and rightwing governments took over. If the graph above is updated for 2022, it would be even more dramatic; the homicide rate increased to 25.9 per 100,000 in 2022 according to InSight Crime [4] – a historic high for Ecuador. The graph, which shows which president was in office during each year, was cited by Ecuadorian economist and political analyst David Villamar [5]. The data comes from various official sources in Ecuador. World Bank data [6] shows a similar story.
http://greensocialthought.org/print/1754
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CORREA’S ACHIEVEMENTS: NEITHER FORGIVEN NOR FORGOTTEN
Correa, a leftwing economist by trade, left Ecuador for Belgium after his time as president came to an end. He cannot even return to his native country, as, in 2020, he was sentenced (on entirely spurious grounds) to prison for corruption before being recently granted political asylum in Belgium. Other members of his government have faced similar persecution; some have even been jailed.
Correa’s real crimes, in the eyes of Ecuador’s elite, are breaking with both neoliberalism and Ecuador’s traditional subservience to Washington. His achievements while in office explain the persecution but also why his movement was able to make such a remarkable electoral comeback on February 5.
Under Correa’s leadership, poverty fell by almost half. He achieved that by completely discarding neoliberal dogmas like the supposed importance of central bank independence. Much to Washington’s dismay, after a commission found that much of it had been illegally contracted, his government defaulted on a third of Ecuador’s external debt. He dramatically increased financial regulation and tax collection. He also increased government revenues by getting much better terms for Ecuador in oil contracts. And his policies did not just involve the improved distribution of oil and other revenues to reduce poverty; a foundation for sustained development was built through public investment.
By 2015, the efficiency of Ecuador’s public services, according to the Inter-American Development Bank, improved dramatically compared to other countries in the Americas. Studies by the U.N. found that the quality of Ecuador’s educational system was, by 2016, one of the most improved. In 2016, the World Economic Forum touted Ecuador’s system of roads as the best in the region. It had ranked Ecuador tenth by that metric a decade earlier.
More:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/elections-ecuador-western-media-bias/283696/
