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Ecuador

President Lasso Dissolves Parliament Through ‘Cross Death’ Mechanism

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, on Wednesday, May 17, at 7 am, signed a presidential decree to activate the “cross-death” constitutional tool and dissolved the National Assembly, the country’s unicameral parliament. The decision came a day after the legislature began an impeachment hearing against Lasso, who stands accused of the crime of embezzlement of public funds. With this decision, the impeachment process against Lasso was canceled, which could have removed him from office. In a televised address to the nation, Lasso explained that he had applied article 148 of the Constitution that grants him the power to dissolve the National Assembly and request the National Electoral Council (CNE) to call for new presidential and legislative elections.

Political Crisis In Ecuador: President Lasso To Face Impeachment

Ecuador is on the way to an impeachment trial against its neo liberal president, Guillermo Lasso. This Wednesday, the Constitutional Court listened to the voice of parliamentarians, workers, Indigenous people, and many other citizens of Ecuador and admitted, in part, the demand for an impeachment trial of the banker turned president, Lasso, for the alleged crime of embezzlement. Ecuador’s National Assembly overcame the first filter of the Legislative Administration Council (CAL), formed by seven assembly members, who are mostly from the opposition parties. CAL approved the impeachment request and sent the document to the Constitutional Court.

Elections In Ecuador Unmask Western Media Dishonesty

On February 5, Revolución Ciudadana (RC5), the political party led by former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, a leftist who was in office from 2007 to 2017, won significant victories in municipal and regional elections. RC5 candidates triumphed throughout the country but, most significantly, were elected mayors of Ecuador’s largest cities: Guayaquil, Quito (the capital) and Cuenca. Notably, in Guayaquil, RC5 ended three decades of rightwing rule. It also won the prefectures of the most populous provinces: Guayas and Pichincha. Indeed, it won the most mayor and prefect elections of any political party on February 5.

Inside Latin America’s New Currency Plan, With Andrés Arauz

Geopolitical Economy Report editor Ben Norton spoke with Ecuadorian economist Andrés Arauz, a former presidential candidate who came close to winning the 2021 elections. Arauz discussed Latin America’s attempt to create a new currency and regional financial architecture, to challenge what he described as the “hegemonic, neo-colonial” US dollar-dominated system. “We need the type of bank that can really serve the Global South”, he urged, calling for a “clearing and settlement bank that can allow for these transactions to take place, and that is not afraid of sanctions from the United States”.

Lasso Facing Political Crisis In Ecuador

Without support and with resignations in his cabinet, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, ends the week facing a political crisis after the defeat of his referendum at the polls and the loss of key positions in simultaneous municipal elections. This referendum constituted Lasso’s last hope to breathe fresh life into his leadership for the remainder of his term, but the citizens voted “No” to the eight questions proposed on issues such as extradition, reduction of parties and assembly members, and environmental measures, among others. The allegations of corruption that involve the national administration, the failure of the state to meet the needs of the country’s most vulnerable populations, as well as the recurring lies of President Lasso, contributed to the government’s failure in the referendum and municipal elections, former vice-presidential candidate Carlos Rabascall told Prensa Latina.

Ecuador: The Crumbling Of Another Neo-liberal Restoration Project

Last Sunday, regional elections were held in Ecuador. Thirteen million people were called to elect 5,700 (governors, mayors, counselors, and parish board members) and the seven Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control (Citizen Council or CPCCS)’s counselors and their substitutes. In addition, the executive led by Guillermo Lasso submitted eight Constitutional Referendum questions, which were grouped into three topics: security, environment, and the country’s political work. The process took place amid an economic crisis, the highest insecurity levels in the last 30 years, and a president’s approval rate that barely reaches 20%. All these elements played against this neoliberal administration’s odds, although the crushing defeat suggests a much deeper cause beyond the current situation.

Digital Rights Activist Ola Bini Declared Innocent By Court

Swedish software developer and digital rights activist Ola Bini was acquitted of charges of hacking a computer on Tuesday, January 31 by a court in Quito. The activist was acquitted unanimously by a tribunal of three judges after delivering a nearly 4.5-hour-long statement. Bini has faced persecution from the Ecuadorian state since 2019, and the legal proceedings against him have been marred by irregularities. Speaking after the verdict to Peoples Dispatch, Carlos Soria, a member of the legal team for Bini, termed the tribunal’s unanimous verdict “unexpected” and a “very nice surprise,” considering all the irregularities, over 100 violations of due process, and adverse judgments over the nearly four years since Bini was first arrested. The prosecution has declared it will file an appeal, and Soria said Ola Bini’s legal team will be preparing for it.

Indigenous Resistance And The Roots Of Ecuador’s National Strike

“He was my uncle. They killed him during the strike in the center of Puyo, here in Ecuador. He was my uncle, he was Oldemar Guatatoca Vargas.” Yolanda Vargas, a Shuar woman in her mid-30s, sits in her parked car in the remote jungle outpost of Palora, located within the province of Morona Santiago. She drove out there so she could get a cell phone signal to talk to me. The ride from her community takes roughly an hour over the dirt roads winding a narrow path through the Amazon. With everyone else in the community, besides her elderly and sick mother, in the capital of Quito taking part in El Paro Nacional—the National Strike—she’s had to bring her school-aged children with her, smooshed shoulder-to-shoulder in the front and back seats.

Corruption Exposed: US Meddled In Ecuador’s Election

A former minister of Ecuador testified that the US government conspired with a right-wing political party to run a disinformation campaign against the leftist Correísta movement, backing a millionaire banker for president in exchange for giving up journalist Julian Assange, who had asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. Ecuador’s former energy minister testified that the US government conspired with a right-wing political party to run a disinformation campaign against the leftist Correísta movement of ex President Rafael Correa. He said that US “federal agents” pledged to help “influence” the 2017 presidential elections and support the candidacy of conservative millionaire banker Guillermo Lasso in exchange for the promise to turn over journalist Julian Assange, who had been given asylum by Correa and was stuck living for years in Ecuador’s embassy in London.

Ecuador: Anti-Neoliberal Resistance

A neoliberal ‘redesign’ of the State is underway in Ecuador, activated since 2017 through different surreptitious tactics, especially “lawfare”, known for resorting to judicial and media plots as ruses to reverse alternative projects.  Also on the scene are different expressions of authoritarianism, which are con-substantial to the pursuit of the neoliberal model, to impose the dominance of the market over the interests of society.  It is a programmatic agenda, which is made possible by the conversion of State institutions into minimal operational agencies, in charge of executive aspects to attend primarily to private actors, especially transnational and national corporations, financial capital and related. In this case, the imposition of a radical neoliberalism brings with it the destruction of a sovereignty project, constitutionally based (2008) on a perspective of the common good and the public, with a horizon projection that places Good Living as a counter-hegemonic proposal, aiming at the primacy of life rather than the reproduction of capital.

The Rights Of Nature Movement Cannot Be Stopped

The Ecuadorian constitution, since 2008, has stated: ”Nature or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” This bold statement galvanized the rights to nature movement across the globe. Its growing reach, along with a precedent-setting court decision earlier this winter, illustrate the power of invoking legalized rights in protecting endangered ecosystems. The importance of rights of nature is deeply rooted in Indigenous understandings of the interconnectedness of all life. In this century, the legal movement for protection has looped from the Navajo Nation through a small town in Pennsylvania, to Ecuador then across the world, returning to native communities of North America, and back to Ecuador.

National Strike In Ecuador Was Also A Strike For People’s Health

After more than two weeks of mobilization, people’s movements in Ecuador reached an agreement with the government, bringing the national strike to halt. On Thursday, June 30, representatives of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), the Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador (FEINE) and the National Confederation of Peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant Organizations (FENOCIN) formally recognized a list of measures announced by the government, including a 15-cent reduction of the price of diesel fuel per gallon and a continuation of the discussion on the inclusion of Indigenous communities in debates that impact their livelihoods, like exploitation of land and water sources.

National Strike In Ecuador Completes 15 Days, Struggle Continues

Monday, June 27 marked 15 days since the beginning of the national strike in Ecuador against the right-wing government of President Guillermo Lasso and his neoliberal economic policies. Since June 13, hundreds of thousands of people have been organizing protests and roadblocks across the country with a set of 10 demands that support the working class in the face of rising inflation and cost of living. On Monday, under the banner of “There are 10 demands, not 10 cents”, members of various peasant, Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations held a massive march in capital Quito to mark 15 days of the national strike and reinforce their social demands. The demands include: reduction and freeze of fuel prices; employment opportunities and labor guarantees...

Ecuador: Indigenous Groups Lead National Rebellion Over Inflation

An alliance of Indigenous organizations in Ecuador have held daily demonstrations after sharp increases in the costs for fuel and food. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) began their general strike actions on June 13 after huge price hikes crippled the capacity of rural and urban communities to access transportation and food for their households. In response to the demonstrations and an assortment of other forms of resistance, President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency in several provinces of the South American state. The order reads in part that: "To declare a state of exception due to serious internal commotion in the provinces of Azuay (south), Imbabura (north), Sucumbios (east) and Orellana (east).” 

In Solidarity With The Ecuadorian People

The Ecuadorian people, with the indigenous and peasant movement at the forefront, have taken to the streets to express their resistance to the adverse impacts of the extreme neoliberal policies implemented by the government of banker Guillermo Lasso.  The peaceful nationwide mobilization is demanding from the government response to critical aspects that affect the people in their daily lives, such as the lack of employment and labor rights, a moratorium and renegotiation of personal and family debts, fair prices for peasant production, control of basic prices and an end to speculation, fuel prices, respect for collective rights, no privatization of strategic sectors and public patrimony, funds for healthcare, limits to mining and oil extraction, education for all and effective security and protection policies.

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