Heir, banker, cyclist: Ecuador’s high-stakes election
Anti-incumbency, anti-correismo—and a positive newcomer
FOR A DECADE Rafael Correa, a leftist populist, ruled Ecuador as an autocrat. Enjoying an oil boom, he doubled the size of the state, built roads and hospitals, curbed the media, harassed opponents and presided over corruption. As money got tight, he lined up a proxy: Lenín Moreno, his former vice-president, narrowly won a presidential election in 2017 against Guillermo Lasso, a conservative banker. But then Mr Correa’s plan unravelled.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Ecuador’s politics of the negative”
From the February 13th 2021 edition
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