Rafael Correa

Rafael Correa (2013)

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (born April 6, 1963 in Guayaquil ) is an Ecuadorian economist and politician . He was President of his country from January 15, 2007 to May 24, 2017.

The "revolution of the citizens", as the left-wing President Correa called his government, brought Ecuador a hitherto unknown political stability, institutional advances and social successes. Correa's political legacy is, among other things, the successful fight against poverty, which fell by 38 percent between 2007 and 2014 and extreme poverty by 47 percent. Correa, on the other hand, was criticized for an authoritarian political style and restrictions on freedom of the press. Correa's successor to the presidential office since 2017, Lenin Moreno , carried out a right-wing reversal of politics in terms of domestic and foreign policy after his election and accused Correa of ​​being responsible for the protests against the Moreno government. Several legal proceedings against Correa have been ongoing in Ecuador since 2018. In July 2018, an Ecuadorian court issued an international arrest warrant against Correa on charges of kidnapping. However, this was rejected by Interpol after examination because of the political nature of the proceedings. On April 7, 2020, Correa was sentenced in absentia by an Ecuadorian court to eight years in prison on charges of corruption.

Person and education

Correa first studied economics at the Catholic University of Guayaquil and graduated in 1987. During his studies he chaired various student committees. He then worked for a year as a volunteer in a mission and social station of the Salesians Don Bosco in Zumbahua in the province of Cotopaxi , where he also acquired a basic knowledge of Kichwa . He then completed in-depth Masters courses at the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve (completed in 1991) and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (completed in 1999). In October 2001, he received his PhD from the University of Illinois. At the same time and in the meantime he was a lecturer at the University of Guayaquil, the University of San Francisco in Quito and the University of Illinois. After earning his doctorate, he taught at various universities in Ecuador and was Professor and Director of the Department of Economics at the Universidad San Francisco until 2005. In this function he was also a consultant for various economic policy projects, including the then Vice President Alfredo Palacio.

Correa is married to Anne Malherbe from Belgium. He has three children (two daughters and a son) and lives in Brussels .

Economics and Finance Minister (2005)

After the overthrow of President Lucio Gutiérrez , his successor, the previous Vice-President Alfredo Palacio , appointed him to the office of Minister of Economics and Finance of Ecuador in April 2005. Correa tried to implement a political course of less determined servicing of foreign debts and, accordingly, of stronger opposition to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . Instead, he sought a closer rapprochement with Venezuela and a greater participation of the state in the revenues of the oil produced in Ecuador. Since he was unable to enforce this course, he resigned from his position in August 2005. He then worked as a freelance consultant.

Presidential candidacy

Rafael Correa (2006)

Shortly after his resignation as Economy and Finance Minister Correa was a candidate for the 2006 presidential elections dealt first with the indigenous -party Pachakutik associated. Eventually he ran for the Movimiento PAÍS party, which he founded, and the Socialist Party of Ecuador .

From the beginning of September 2006 he was doing better and better in polls and in the last polls three weeks before the election he took first place ahead of the social democratic candidate León Roldós . In the end, he came in second in rural and urban marginal areas behind the conservative entrepreneur Álvaro Noboa ( PRIAN ), who was also poorly placed in the polls , primarily due to the influx of votes for Gilmar Gutiérrez, brother of the ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez , who was completely undervalued by the survey institutes. . Correa then criticized the survey institutes and the national television stations, the majority of which are owned by Noboa-friendly banks.

After the runoff election on November 26th, the first election prognoses after the ballot boxes were closed showed him as the winner, which was confirmed by the counting of the votes: According to the final result announced on December 4th, Correa received 56.67 percent of the votes and was well ahead of Noboa (43 , 33%).

Political program

Correa is a left-wing politician who is often given the negative attribute populist by parts of the media . His political convictions are described as "left nationalist", which in the Ecuadorian context means, on the one hand, to implement a policy of participation of broad sections of the population in decision-making and wealth in the country and to counter the influence of economic-political elites on all levels of society and the state apparatus, on the other hand, " to curtail foreign influences in politics and economy (in the form of influence especially by international organizations such as the World Bank and IMF and the USA) and to strengthen and win domestic forces for an “economic and social revitalization”. In this sense, “nationalism” is not limited to Ecuador, Correa sees himself as a pioneer for a South American nation. In his inaugural address he described his government as " Bolivarian " and " alfarist ", which expresses the rejection of foreign interference and Latin American solidarity as well as a clear reorientation of politics against the conservative elites.

In his election campaigns Correa also took a decisive stand against what he called the “party democracy” of the existing party landscape in Ecuador. He announced that he would abolish the National Congress, which is generally not well respected by the population, and instead call a constituent assembly. After his election victory, he withdrew the dissolution of the Congress, but not the convocation of the constituent assembly, which was given extensive legislative powers. His most widely used election campaign slogan, Dale Correa (German, for example: "Give him the belt ") is a play on Correa's last name and indicates his will to limit the power of party politicians.

In the second phase of the election campaign he described himself as “humanists” and “left-wing Christians” - also in view of his opponent Álvaro Noboa , who appeared as a fundamentally Christian who had warned against “communism” with reference to Correa. Correa's political orientation, as far as can be seen so far, shows, similar to that of his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales, strong propagandistic proximity to the Bolivarian ideas of his political friend Hugo Chávez , from whose popularity in Latin America he is obviously trying to participate. In a speech that he gave shortly after his inauguration at a joint event with Chávez in the presidential palace, he made a very clear commitment to a " socialism of the 21st century " propagated by Chávez and spoke out in favor of Ecuador becoming a member of the ALBA out. On the other hand, there can be no talk of actual socialist or revolutionary political measures. Analysts suspected a proximity to Christian social teaching in the form of liberation theology and a neo-Keynesian economic policy.

His political positions include the rejection of a trade agreement with the USA (and the Free Trade Area of ​​the Americas ) with reference to the "destruction of thousands of jobs" in agriculture and criticism of the US dollar as the national currency in Ecuador. He shows himself to be an advocate of limited servicing of foreign debts insofar as these hinder the productive development of the country. Among other things, by renegotiating the contracts with the energy companies, the Correa government achieved a greater share of the state in the oil revenues. Social programs such as monthly support of US $ 30 for the poorest, a "house bonus" for buying or building housing and the free distribution of medicines are intended to help reduce the poverty rate in Ecuador further.

In order to break the “monopoly of opinion” of the private media, public media were created for the first time in 2008 with the television station Ecuador TV , the radio channel RPE and several daily newspapers. However, his actions against private media have been criticized many times. In 2012, 17 private broadcasters were shut down due to allegedly unpaid license fees. A ruling by the National Court of Justice on February 15, 2012, in which a journalist for the opposition newspaper El Universo , Emilio Palacio, was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined $ 42 million , received international attention . In the course of reporting the events on September 30, 2010 (see below), they reported that Correa had ordered the army to attack the hospital where he was besieged for several hours by insurgent police officers. The Supreme Court saw no evidence to support this claim and convicted the journalist of defamation. However, after the verdict was pronounced, Palacio was pardoned in the spirit of Correa. Since Correa took office in January 2007, Ecuador fell in the ranking of press freedom of the organization Reporters Without Borders from 74th place from 173 to currently 119th place out of 179. The Neue Zürcher Zeitung criticized Correa's media and information policy as authoritarian: "This is Correa's major weak point: He is allergic to criticism. He is absolutely convinced that he has the only right concept for his country. He should know that there can be no monopoly on truth. Where free discussion among citizens is prevented, the revolution will freeze. "

Presidency

Rafael Correa with the sash when he took office as President

First term

Events

Correa was sworn in on January 15, 2007 by the President of the Parliament of Ecuador, Jorge Cevallos (PRIAN), in a solemn ceremony and received the official sash from his predecessor Alfredo Palacio. The day before, representatives of the indigenous population in Zumbahua had presented Correa with a wand of wisdom and a poncho as an insignia of authority in a symbolic ceremony in the presence of the Presidents of Venezuela and Bolivia . In the first decree after taking office, Correa announced a referendum on the establishment of a constituent assembly. Its vice-president became Lenin Moreno .

His presidency was overshadowed on January 24, 2007 by the death of Defense Minister Guadalupe Larriva in a helicopter crash in the immediate vicinity of the air force base in Manta .

In addition to the disputes with the National Congress about the convening of a constituent assembly and the election and constitution of the same, in which Correa had clear support (see below), the year 2007 was mainly domestic political disputes about increased autonomy of the provinces, especially the economically strong and most populous province of Guaya in the coastal region and its capital Guayaquil. In October 2007, against the political will of the Prefect and Provincial Parliament of Guayas, it was decided at the national level to establish a new province, Santa Elena , from areas in the west of the province of Guayas. At the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008, the mayor of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot , who is also one of the leaders of the opposition party PSC, mobilized a march and various demonstrations for more, especially financial, autonomy. In August 2007, the Correa government created a new coastal ministry, which was announced as a technical facility for the decentralization of the state in the coastal region, but was classified by observers as an instrument for neutralizing Nebot. It was occupied by the politically influential Ricardo Patiño , previously Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, who is now a leading member of the ruling faction in the Constituent Assembly.

In addition, Correa increasingly criticized various Ecuadorian media, in particular the television channels Teleamazonas , Gamavisión and TC Televisión , which in his opinion are the only instruments for degrading the office, dignity and person of the president in favor of traditional elites. Teleamazonas is linked to the owners of the Banco de Pichincha , while Gamavisión and other smaller TV channels are linked to the Isaís family, the main owners of the bankrupt Filanbanco bank . On July 8, 2008, the Ecuadorian bank guarantee agency, which, as the state authority, represents the outstanding claims against the owners of the Filanbanco, confiscated 200 companies belonging to the Isáias brothers, including Gamavisión and TC Televisión, whose administration was initially the head of the newly established state television channel Ecuador TV took over. He had previously reported the publisher of the daily La Hora for defamation, which had accused the president of “government vandalism” in an opinion article, which escalated the confrontation with his political opponents with “tumult, stones and sticks”. Teleamazonas became an increasing target of the President and the Ecuadorian media regulator in Correa's second term.

On March 1, 2008, a major foreign policy incident occurred when a nightly plane attack with cluster bombs on a makeshift shelter of the Colombian guerrilla organization FARC in the Ecuadorian province of Sucumbíos and the subsequent invasion of Ecuadorian territory by Colombian ground forces, including the international spokesman and FARC diplomatic agents Raúl Reyes (aka Luis Édgar Devia ) and a Colombian soldier, were killed. Ecuador then expelled the Colombian ambassador and increased its troop presence on the border. Ecuador did not want to resume diplomatic relations with Colombia until Colombia agreed to fully investigate the military attack against the FARC, which the Colombian side refused to do. See: Armed Conflict in Colombia

On December 16, 2010, Presidents Rafael Correa and Manuel Santos met in Cali and announced the restoration of bilateral relations.

Confrontation with the National Congress

Since his political movement and the Socialist Party were not represented at all or only weakly in the country's political institutions, Correa was confronted with the position of the “party democracy” in the legislature after his election victory. While the Socialists provided one of the 100 members of the newly elected National Congress and Alianza PAÍS only ran in parliamentary elections in a few provinces in electoral alliances without winning seats, the party of the loser in the runoff election, PRIAN , formed the largest there in the 2007-2011 legislative period Fraction. His first political goal of convening a constituent assembly met with resistance from the other parties. Thus, Correa held since the beginning of its term in constant media slugfest with the parties PRIAN , PSC and UDC , and at times with the PSP of Lucio Gutiérrez , who sought a constitutional reform through the National Congress National Congress itself, trying now to prevent the referendum.

Since the constitution in force at the time did not clearly regulate whether the president could, with or without the consent of parliament, commission a referendum to convene a constituent assembly, which would amount to a referendum on the abolition of the existing constitution, parliament and government initially agreed on at least one a right of consultation of the National Congress. In this, the project and possible changes to the desired statute of the constituent assembly were debated for a long time, which de facto delayed the calling of the referendum, which was in the interests of the majority of the National Congress.

At the end of January 2007, the National Congress was temporarily evacuated due to demonstrations by supporters of the President and organizations supporting him. At the same time, the President said that he was afraid that Parliament was planning to remove him to avoid partial disempowerment by a constituent assembly, but also said that the dialogue between the executive and legislative branches on the issue should not break off. Discussions about the constituent assembly continued, and the situation initially calmed down. On February 13, the National Congress voted by a majority in favor of the referendum, which the Supreme Electoral Court then scheduled for April 15. It met with opposition from the leading parties in parliament. On March 1, the “election campaign” was declared officially open.

As a result, there was a serious political crisis in Ecuador in the first week of March, in which the president was not directly involved, but which revolved around the statute for the constituent assembly and the calling of the referendum. The judicial decisions arose under controversial circumstances, as the voting power of the Supreme Electoral Court was only established after its president, Jorge Acosta ( PSP ), appeared late, and two judges sent by opposition parties (PRIAN and PSC) had already left the session .

Since the decision of the Supreme Electoral Court was contrary to the interests of the majority parties in Congress, the latter submitted a constitutional complaint to the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court and on March 6, the president of the electoral court withdrew his mandate as a member of the Partido Sociedad Patriótica and replaced the substitute delegate Alejandro Cepeda. This bypassed a complex impeachment procedure, but violated the separation of legislative and executive branches.

The electoral court did not recognize this decision, declared it null and void in a separate decree and dismissed all MPs who had voted for Acosta's dismissal because they had unconstitutionally disrupted an ongoing electoral process. These were all MPs from the opposition parties PRIAN, PSC, PSP and UDC with the exception of the President of Parliament Cevallos (PRIAN) and thus 57 of the 100 MPs in the National Congress. Among those excluded were seven MPs from the above parties who were absent or abstained from the vote, including Carlos Larreátegui , chairman of the UDC parliamentary group. The constitutionality of this measure is strongly questioned; in any case it led to a further destabilization of the political institutions of Ecuador. Several hundred police officers then screened the National Congress to deny entry to the excluded members. At the same time, the substitute delegates of the deposed MPs did not accept their appointment, so that the Congress with fewer than 51 MPs was not quorate. A call from the country's most important daily newspapers called for an end to the “systematic process of the destruction of institutions and the manipulation of power” and a return to constructive politics. He blamed all political forces for the escalation.

Correa said that with the removal of the MPs, the opposition to the Constituent Assembly had been defeated for good, with Interior Minister Gustavo Larrea stressing that the government was not responsible for the power struggle between the electoral court and parliament. Correa also rejected the allegations against him contained in the press appeal and stressed that the situation could only be resolved if the deposed MPs gave up their seats and were replaced in accordance with the rules.

After an official complaint from the President of Parliament was not accepted by the Constitutional Court due to a formal error in mid-March 2007, the Constitutional Court ruled on April 23, 2007 that 51 of the deposed MPs were not to be regarded as deposed and thus justified a complaint that they had previously submitted to a Court in Rocafuerte in the province of Manabí . Six MPs, including the UDC chairman Larreátegui, had not signed the lawsuit and thus recognized the dismissal in the interests of resolving the conflict and maintaining institutionality. Correa criticized the decision as “another move by the party democracy”, while the Supreme Electoral Court declared the decision of the Constitutional Court to be invalid and impracticable. The background to this is, among other things, the question of whether the judges of the constitutional court, whose terms of office, according to various representatives of the other state organs, had expired at the end of the legislative period at the beginning of January 2007, were still in office legally. Correa suspected in this connection a political pact between deposed MPs and constitutional judges to secure the offices of both. The Supreme Electoral Court also contested the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court, which was not an arbitration board between state institutions. On April 24, the Congress, which was still occupied by parts of the "substitute MPs", passed a bill by the PS-FA MPs Salgado, after which they declared the term of office of the constitutional judges to be over. The Vice President of the Congress, on behalf of the Congress President, also denied the Secretary of the Constitutional Court, who wanted to deliver the decision on the invalidity of the deposition, access to the Parliament building and did not allow the "deposed" MPs to re-enter for the time being.

At the National Congress in March 2007, numerous substitute members applied for and carried out their official swearing-in. Around 20 of them had formed a parliamentary group called "Nationale Dignity" (Spanish: Dignidad Nacional ) , apart from their original parties, on March 19 , which wanted to support Correa's policy with regard to the constituent assembly. Congress spent most of the time after the new MPs were sworn in on recess. In the meantime, the MPs were to be regarded as de facto removed, but sought the support of the Organization of American States (OAS) in early May 2007 . In the person of the German Ambassador Bernd Sproedt, the European Union urged to defend and uphold the rule of law, the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and political pluralism.

After the dismissals and new appointments, Correa had a majority of supporters in parliament, which, however, was to be regarded as fragile after the events. Since the Congress was on pause after the Constituent Assembly was called (see below), this was of no concern at the time. The deposed MPs in 2007 regained their rights to exercise public office, which had been suspended for one year.

In the referendum held on April 15, 81.7% voted for and 12.5% ​​against the convening of the constituent assembly. 5.8% of the ballot papers were invalid or blank.

Constituent Assembly

In the elections to the Constituent Assembly, which were held on September 30, 2007, Correas Movimiento PAÍS obtained an absolute majority with 15 of the 24 nationally elected and 58 of the 106 nationally and internationally elected representatives, and another 7 were elected through electoral alliances with the socialist party, the Movimiento Popular Democrático and local small parties and belong to the government bloc. The next largest parties are PSP (19), PRIAN (8) and PSC (5).

The Constituent Assembly has been meeting since November 2007 in a conference complex in Montecristi , Eloy Alfaro's hometown. The Constituent Assembly ordered the National Congress to pause during its session.

In June 2008 there was a break between Correa and his political friend Alberto Acosta , as a result of which the latter resigned as chairman of the Constituent Assembly on Correa's advice. Correa had criticized the fact that Acosta “gave everyone the floor”, that is, giving the opposition too much speaking time and thus giving too much importance. Acosta had drafted parts of the government program and before the election to the Constituent Assembly held the very important office of energy minister in Ecuador because of the oil reserves.

On July 24, 2008, the Constituent Assembly passed the new constitution of Ecuador with 94 votes to 32. On September 28, 2008, the new constitution was passed in a referendum by 81% of the electorate. It guarantees citizens free education and health care as well as more participation through citizen participation. The influence of the Catholic Church in education was curtailed, the right to abortion was extended and civil partnerships for homosexuals were allowed. The new constitution forbids the stationing of foreign troops in the country, so Correa did not renew the contract for the US air force base on the Pacific coast in Manta with its satellite-based spy systems and the US military finally vacated the base in September 2009. The election campaign can no longer be contested from private funds and a re-election of the president will be made possible so that Correa can run again in the 2013 elections. In the run-up to the referendum on the constitution, there were disputes between the Ecuadorian government and representatives of the Catholic Church in Ecuador after the chairman of the Ecuadorian bishops' conference and Archbishop of Guayaquil, Antonio Arregui , criticized the constitutional project, as it had civil partnerships for homosexuals liberal stance on abortion and a stronger role for the state in controlling the education system. On the one hand, this restricts religious freedom and, on the other hand, the project contradicts the Church's view of the role of the family and the right to life. According to this statement, Correa has repeatedly criticized the leadership of the Catholic Church in Ecuador, particularly Arregui, for its meddling in politics. The dispute received more attention in the Ecuadorian media than the campaign of the opposition parties against the constitutional project. The Mayor of Guayaquil, Jaime Nebot ( PSC ), came out in particular , warning that the constitutional project and Correa's policies could cause a division of the country, in which Guayaquil and the province of Guayas played the role of the Santa Cruz Department in simultaneous disputes with the President Evo Morales in Bolivia may be forced to take.

On September 16, 2008, the government spokeswoman Mónica Chuji left the Alianza PAÍS. In an interview, she justified the move with contradictions in government activity to the demands of the indigenous movement (which she represented), for example to projects for the exploitation of raw materials that the Correa government continues to pursue.

Second term

On April 24, 2009 Correa was re-elected as President of Ecuador for another term with 51.99 percent of the votes in the first ballot.

On September 30, 2010, there was a violent uprising against the president by police officers and soldiers . They protested against a law passed by parliament the day before that provided for financial restrictions on promotions . Police stopped working in large parts of the country and the international airport in the capital, Quito, was occupied by insurgent soldiers. Correa went to a police regiment in Quito and first tried to calm down the rebel police officers personally. After a tear gas grenade exploded in his immediate vicinity , he first retired in the armored presidential car and half an hour later made a second attempt to talk to the mutinous police officers. After being beaten, kicked and subjected to massive tear gas bombardment, Correa lost consciousness in the turmoil and was taken to a nearby police hospital, which was then besieged by insurgents. While he was being protected by 50 members of a special police force, around 200 insurgent police officers tried to get to his room. Outside the hospital, the insurgent police fought street battles with thousands of Correa's sympathizers. After a twelve-hour siege in the hospital, Correa was freed by loyal military personnel in cooperation with special police forces, and one of the police officers of the special unit protecting him was shot dead. The car in which Correa was taken was also shot at. Correa triggered the state of emergency and spoke of an attempted coup against him, which had been organized by ex-President Lucio Gutiérrez . Eight people died in the unrest across the country (three in Quito, five in Guayaquil) and more than 270 were injured.

In 2010 Correa withdrew Ecuador's ambassador from Israel because of the Ship-to-Gaza incident . In early 2012, on the occasion of a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadineschad, he expressed his rejection of international sanctions against Tehran because of the Iranian nuclear program.

Re-election 2013

In the presidential election on February 17, 2013, Correa was re-elected in the first ballot with 56.9 percent of the votes cast, ahead of the conservative banker Guillermo Lasso ( Creando Oportunidades , 23.1 percent) and the former president Lucio Gutiérrez ( Partido Sociedad Patriótica , 6 , 6 percent). Correa officially took up his third term until 2017 on May 24, 2013.

Third term

Correa tried for six years with the Yasuní-ITT initiative to leave the oil reserves in the Yasuni National Park underground and asked the international community to compensate Ecuador for the lack of income. The industrialized countries were supposed to pay $ 3.6 billion into a fund for the globally unique climate protection project - but the money did not come together. The then Minister of Development of Germany Dirk Niebel 2009 stopped the payments. Both sides blamed each other for the failure. Correa felt confirmed in his course critical of capitalism, according to which climate protection in rich industrial countries was nothing more than lip service. Correa received criticism from indigenous peoples and environmentalists for his drilling plans.

The years 2015 and 2016 were dramatic for the economy in Ecuador, with the highest decline in exports since 1949. Then there was the drop in oil prices, the appreciation of the dollar (Ecuador has a dollarized economy and this has cost the country competitiveness), natural disasters such as the eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano , the effects of the drought associated with El Niño and the earthquake in April 2016 that struck the In addition, loss of life also cost an economic price of 3.5% of gross national product for reconstruction. To finance the reconstruction, Correa introduced a wealth tax . The economy stagnated, but the Correa government managed to cope with the situation in these two years thanks to an anti-cyclical fiscal and economic policy. Following the revelations of the Panama Papers in early 2016, the Correa government investigated and convicted a number of high-ranking opposition and government officials of corruption and tax evasion. Correa had been an important spokesman for a change in the world economic and financial architecture since 2007. However, the greatest financial paradise is not Panama , but Switzerland . "If you add up the British overseas territories, it is surpassed by Great Britain ," said President Correa on July 21 in an address to the population. The tax authorities assumed that a total of about 30 billion US dollars from Ecuador was in tax havens. The issue of combating tax havens was put on the agenda of the United Nations (UN) on the initiative of Ecuador . Correa called for an ethics pact in Ecuador, according to his information, 3.379 billion US dollars were moved from Ecuador between 2014 and 2015 alone. At the beginning of 2016, up to 32 billion US dollars were stored in accounts in tax havens. At the same time as the presidential and parliamentary elections on February 19, 2017 , a referendum was held, as a result of which elected representatives and government employees are prohibited from depositing money in tax havens. The referendum was initiated by President Correa's publication of the Panama Papers. A large majority of the Ecuadorians voted for elected representatives and government employees to be prohibited from investing their wealth in tax havens.

After the presidency - break with the successor Moreno and legal proceedings

Correa did not run for the presidential election again in 2017 after ten years in office. According to his own statements, for personal reasons he decided to move to Belgium with his wife, who is Belgian, where his daughter had received a scholarship. Moreno, who, contrary to his own party program, turned to a neoliberal policy of privatization after taking office, loudly blamed Correa for many of the country's problems. A deep division developed between both politicians and the party. During the nationwide protests against his government in 2019, Moreno accused Correa of ​​being responsible.

In July 2018, Ecuador requested Belgium to extradite Correa because of his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of the politician Fernando Balda in Colombia in 2012 . He fled Ecuador to Colombia because he was accused of participating in the failed coup in 2012. Evidence of Correa's involvement was never found. An " international arrest warrant " was issued through Interpol . After careful examination, Interpol rejected the warrant and refused to extradite. The decision was based on the political nature of the indictment.

In autumn 2019, Correa and members of his team visited the heads of state of Venezuela and Cuba, among others. The Moreno government then accused Correa in several media outlets in front of Ecuador as planned, in cooperation with the governments that had been hit.

On April 7, 2020, an Ecuadorian court sentenced Correa, who was still in exile in Belgium, to eight years in prison. The court found him, along with 19 other defendants, guilty of bribery. The defendants would have accepted a total of 7.5 million US dollars in return for the award of lucrative government contracts. With the verdict, the accused lost the right to political activity for 25 years. Among those convicted was Correa's former Vice President Jorge Glas, who had already served a six-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht . Correa's defense accused the court of bias and turned to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The defense appealed on a point of law. On July 20, 2020, the Court of Appeal (Tribunal de Apelación) upheld the judgment of the first instance. The judgment is then final.

ancestors

Correa's maternal grandparents, Simón Delgado (* December 16, 1905 - August 3, 2008) and Luz Isabel Rendón (* May 9, 1908 - May 3, 2008) were almost 80 from December 8, 1928 to May 3, 2008 Married for years, making it one of the longest-married couples in the world. Simón Delgado is the son of a nephew of the influential figure in Ecuadorian politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Eloy Alfaro .

literature

• Pablo Ospina Peralta: Corporativismo, Estado y revolución ciudadana. El Ecuador de Rafael Correa . In: Christian Büschges, Olaf Kaltmeier, Sebastian Thies (eds.): Culturas políticas en la región andina . Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-86527-678-0 , pp. 85-116.

Movie

In the 2009 documentary South of the Border by Oliver Stone , Rafael Correa is interviewed alongside other government presidents of Latin America.

Web links

Commons : Rafael Correa  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Correa's blog (Spanish, kichwa )
• Interview with Rafael Correa, 2009 (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ecuador: Will the Citizens' Revolution End? , Deutsche Welle, February 18, 2017
2. ↑ Mark Weisbrot: Ecuador's Left-Wing Success Story , The Nation , February 14, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Franklin Ramírez Gallegos: Right swing in Ecuador - LMd. In: monde-diplomatique.de. Accessed April 30, 2020 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Ehringfeld: Ecuador explodes: Protesters vandalize government buildings and media seats - policy. In: fr.de . October 13, 2019, accessed April 30, 2020 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Steffen Vogel: Far-reaching criticism of the judgment against the ex-president of Ecuador. In: amerika21.de. April 14, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Analizan si extender seguridad para expresidente Rafael Correa , El Universo , May 14, 2018, accessed on June 28, 2018.
7. ^ Correa wins runoff election , n-tv from November 27, 2006
8. ↑ Correa insiste en que no eliminará al Congreso ( Memento of 26 September 2007 at the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil) October 30, 2006
9. ↑ ^{a b} Benjamin Beutler: New beginning with Correa. In: young world. October 2, 2010, accessed October 2, 2010 . 
10. ↑ Correa attacks journalists again. In: latina press. July 19, 2012, accessed January 23, 2013 . 
11. ↑ Judgment against El Universo meets with international rejection. In: latina press. February 18, 2012, accessed January 23, 2013 . 
12. ↑ Ecuador court upholds $ 40m Rafael Correa libel victory. In: BBC. February 16, 2012, accessed July 12, 2013 . 
13. ↑ Ranking list of press freedom. In: Reporters Without Borders. January 25, 2012, accessed January 23, 2013 . 
14. ^ "Citizens' Revolution " and Truth, Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 19, 2013
15. ↑ Ecuador: Ministerio del Litoral contribuye a la descentralización del Estado ( Memento of December 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), RTU Noticias, July 26, 2007 (Spanish)
16. ^ TC, Gamavisión y 200 firmas más en poder estatal , El Universo , July 9, 2008.
17. ↑ Correa pide el diario La Hora sanción para por Injurias ( Memento of 16 October 2007 at the Internet Archive ), El Universo , 11 May 2007 in relation to vandalismo oficial , La Hora, March 9th of 2007.
18. ↑ Correa contraataca a Teleamazonas , El Expreso , June 12 of 2009.
19. ↑ Padres de víctimas de ataque a Ecuador denuncian Cancillería mexicana. (No longer available online.) TeleSUR, November 3, 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on November 10, 2008 (Spanish): "26 personas resultaron fallecidas" 
20. ↑ Reyes fue abatido por Colombia en Teteyé-Ecuador ( Memento from June 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), El Universo , March 2, 2008 (Spanish)
21. ↑ Harald Neuber: OAS Commission investigates attack , america21.de March 6, 2008
22. ↑ Telesur: Ejército ecuatoriano rescata dos guerrilleras heridas en que Bombardeo mató a Raúl Reyes ( Memento of 5 March 2008 at the Internet Archive ), Amerika21, March 2, 2008
23. ↑ Embajador de Colombia sale de Ecuador ( Memento from July 29, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), El Universo , March 4, 2008 (Spanish).
24. ↑ el pais: Ecuador pospone indefinidamente la reanudación de relaciones con Colombia of June 25, 2008
25. ^ Resumption of diplomatic relations with Colombia in December 2010
26. ↑ A consulta el 15 de April  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio, February 14, 2007.  
27. ↑ El Gobierno envía al TSE un nuevo estatuto  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio, March 1st, 2007.  
28. ↑ Ciudadanía Informada, El TSE convocó a consulta popular ( Memento of March 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), February 28, 2007
29. ↑ The indictment against the Supreme Electoral Court was formally admitted on March 8th and will be decided after 15 days, see TC admitió tramitar demanda del Congreso contra plebiscito t ( Memento of September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), March 9, 2007.
30. ↑ Susana Rentería, Congreso sin juicio político quiere sacar a Acosta del TSE  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Telégrafo (Guayaquil), online March 6, 2007.  
31. ^ Text of the decree (PDF, Spanish) ( Memento of March 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
32. ↑ La lista del TSE incluye a siete que no votaron  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio, March 11, 2007.  
33. ↑ "Las actuaciones de Congreso y TSE no tienen sustento"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio, March 9, 2007  
34. ↑ El Congreso está bloqueado  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Comercio, March 9, 2007.  
35. ↑ ¡INTOLERABLE!  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , printed among others in El Comercio on March 9, 2007.  
36. ↑ La oposición a la consulta está vencida: Régimen ( Memento of March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Comercio, March 9, 2007.
37. ↑ Correa rechaza críticas de medios escritos ( Memento of March 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (online), March 9, 2007.
38. ↑ Contra reloj surge fallo del TC a favor de 50 destituidos ( Memento of April 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), April 24, 2007; El TC restituye en sus cargos a los diputados opositores , El Comercio, April 24, 2007.
39. ^ Correa critica decisión y el TSE busca bloquearla ( Memento of September 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), April 24, 2007
40. ↑ ibid., On the position of the constitutional court, see Carecen de apoyo vocales de Tribunal Constitucional ecuatoriano ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Prensa Latina (Cuban press agency), April 19, 2007, and Tribunal Constitucional: Restituiría a 57 honorables , miltonramirez.org, March 11, 2007.
41. ↑ Congreso votó por cesación de vocales del TC ( Memento of April 26, 2007 on the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), April 24, 2007. The corresponding resolution can be found here ( Memento of October 22, 2007 on the Internet Archives ) on the homepage of the National Congress (PDF).
42. ↑ TSE analiza acciones que tomará contra TC ( Memento of April 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) and No se permitirá ingreso de diputados restituidos por el TC ( Memento of April 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), 24. April 2006
43. ↑ Dignidad Nacional there nuevo bloque ( Memento of 22 August 2007 at the Internet Archive ) in March, El Mercurio (Cuenca), 20 of 2007.
44. ↑ Unión Europea llama a sostener Estado de derecho , HOY online (Quito), May 11, 2007
45. ↑ Más del 81% votó por Asamblea en Ecuador ( Memento of April 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), April 17, 2007.
46. ↑ Tribunal Supremo Electoral, Asambleístas Electos ( Memento of 3 March 2008 at the Internet Archive ), accessed on March 6, 2008 (Spanish)
47. ↑ Manuela Botero, El poder distanció a dos amigos , El Universo , June 30, 2008; Correa y Acosta, en sus frases , El Universo , June 29, 2008 (both Spanish)
48. ↑ Asamblea Nacional Constituyente aprobó texto de nueva Constitución ( Memento of September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), ecuadorinmediato.com, July 25, 2008 (Spanish)
49. ↑ Iglesia católica no acepta 4 temas de nueva Constitución , El Universo, July 29 of 2008.
50. ↑ Una sympatizante del Sí enjuicia a Mons. Arregui , El Universo, August 12, 2008; La Iglesia pide que el Presidente la respete , El Universo, September 17, 2008.
51. ^ "Correa será el culpable si se sigue a Santa Cruz" , El Comercio, September 17, 2008
52. ↑ Whither Ecuador? An Interview with Indigenous Activist and Politician Monica Chuji - Upside Down World. In: upsidedownworld.org. November 6, 2008, accessed May 6, 2020 . 
53. ↑ Tagesschau: President Correa celebrates election victory in Ecuador ( Memento from April 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
54. ^ Attempted coup in Ecuador: "We know where they come from" , taz.de of October 1, 2010
55. ^ Uprising in Quito: Soldiers Liberate Ecuador's President , Spiegel Online from October 1, 2010
56. ^ National mourning in Ecuador. In: amerika21. October 2, 2010, accessed October 2, 2010 . 
57. ↑ Navid Thürauf: The coup in Ecuador (1). In: amerika21. October 4, 2010, accessed October 4, 2010 . 
58. ^ Elections in Ecuador: President Correa celebrates his triumph at stern.de, February 18, 2013 (accessed on February 18, 2013).
59. ↑ Ecuador triggers horror with drilling plans in the Amazon. In: Wall Street Journal , German-language edition. August 20, 2013, archived from the original on November 4, 2013 ; accessed on December 11, 2018 . 
60. ↑ Guillaume Long: "We will put an end to the tendency towards electoral defeats in the region" , amerika21, February 21, 2017
61. ↑ Rafael Correa propone consulta popular sobre los paraísos fiscales , NODAL, July 15, 2016
62. ↑ Kerstin Sack: NGOs and government of Ecuador demand the end of tax havens , America21 , February 17, 2017
63. ↑ Ex presidente Rafael Correa se muda para Bélgica , Deutsche Welle, July 10, 2017, accessed on June 28, 2018.
64. ^ A court in Ecuador issues arrest warrant for ex-President Correa , Eva Haule, Christian Kliver, amerika21 , July 5, 2018
65. ↑ Ecuador court orders ex-president Correa's arrest , BBC , July 4, 2018 (in English)
66. ↑ Ecuadorian Protests Intensify as President Flees Capital, Blames Venezuela , TheRealNews, October 9, 2019
67. ↑ Ecuador accuses Venezuela of fomenting Widespread Unrest. In: Voice of America . October 11, 2019, accessed on May 6, 2020 . 
68. ↑ ^{a b} Ecuador ex-president Correa jailed in absentia for corruption. BBC News, April 7, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 . 
69. ↑ Tribunal de Apelación notifica sentencia por escrito de segunda instancia en caso Sobornos , El Universo , July 22, 2020, accessed on August 20, 2020.
70. ↑ Un abuelo orgulloso, cerca de un récord ( Memento of January 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), El Universo (Guayaquil), January 16, 2006; EFE, Orgulloso abuelo de 101 años acompaña a Correa en inicio de su mandato ( Memento of October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), RPP Noticias, January 15, 2007
71. ↑ El abuelo de R. Correa falleció a los 102 años , El Comercio, August 4, 2008.

predecessor	Office	successor
Alfredo Palacio	President of Ecuador 2007-2017	Lenin Moreno