Guillermo Lasso’s battle against populism in Ecuador

AFTER HIS surprising victory in Ecuador’s election in April, Guillermo Lasso, a conservative self-made banker, confounded sceptics yet again by getting his presidency off to a flying start. He fulfilled a campaign promise to vaccinate half the population in his first 100 days (57% are now fully jabbed). His approval rating soared to over 70%. But the past fortnight has been difficult. A fight among gangs inside a prison ended with 119 inmates dead. The board of the National Assembly sent back without debate Mr Lasso’s key initiative, a bill to raise taxes and loosen restrictions on labour. And then the president was named as the controller of a number of offshore companies in a global trove of documents dubbed the Pandora Papers.