Country Article / Postcards
New Presidents
Date: 11/30/2006Ecuador has a newly elected president: Rafael Correa. Some of you have written to me, asking what I think of Señor Correa, and whether his ideas may be bad for my retirement.
To be honest, it's difficult to keep up to date with new presidents in Ecuador, since they change so often--eight times in the past 10 years.
In places like Vilcabamba--and, to a lesser extent, Cuenca--we wouldn’t even know the president had changed unless we read the paper or get e-mails from readers. Life in the campo goes on, as it always has.
Rafael Correa has much the same rhetoric today as Lucio Gutiérrez had when he was elected a few years ago. But then Gutiérrez got the summons to Washington, where he faced the realities of what it means to default on foreign debt, or fail to abide by loan covenants. I suspect that Correa will soften his position on these issues when he learns that he can’t run the country without that money coming in. (Of course, I could be wrong.)
I'm glad Correa won. His main rival for the presidency, Alvaro Noboa, is one of the richest men in Latin America, and owns a large percentage of Ecuador. He was recognized as the "U.S.-backed" candidate, and I personally don't think we should be wading into democratic elections. As we saw in Nicaragua, our active role sometimes has undesired consequences.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Señor Correa snatches a few of his former opponent’s banana plantations, but will he snatch my hectare in Vilcabamba? Probably not.
Lee Harrison
For International Living
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