Correa hopes to be able to follow Lula’s path in Ecuador

By Fernando Arroyo Leon |

Quito (EFE).- The Citizen Revolution (RC), the political movement of the former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa, aspires for the United Nations Permanent Committee on Human Rights to resolve its complaint of alleged inconsistencies in the trial where he was sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption.

“This year is very important in the ‘Bribes’ case, because we hope that the United Nations makes an evaluation” of that process for which Correa was sentenced to prison, and “something similar to what was done with Lula in Brazil” happens. commented in an interview with EFE Paola Pabón, high leader of the Revolution and re-elected as prefect of the province of Pichincha, whose capital is Quito.

Pabón even highlighted that a former minister of the Lasso government, the lawyer Francisco Jiménez, has warned that “the law was stretched in a way that had never been seen before” against Correa, who was convicted of “psychic influence”, a controversial figure who some consider it a “legal aberration”.

Thus, the correísta movement hopes that its leader suffers the same fate as the Brazilian leftist Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who was released from prison after annulment of an alleged corruption process against him, recovered his political rights, defeated the far-right Jair Bolsonaro and once again became President.

Correa, based in Belgium since his term ended in 2017, has avoided prison after staying out of the country, although he has been present in Ecuadorian political life through social networks and his movement, which on February 5 was the winner of the local elections.

First force in Ecuador

The Citizen Revolution established itself as the first political force in Ecuador after winning in jurisdictions considered among the most important and also adding their votes to the “No” to a referendum promoted by the Government of the conservative Guillermo Lasso, which conceded a resounding defeat in the vote to make reforms to the 2008 Constitution promoted by Correa.

The former president is without a doubt, Pabón said, “the leader with the greatest acceptance in the country” and “many people want the Citizen Revolution to return, for Correa to return but, above all, for health, education, employment and a better life to return.” worthy” for Ecuadorians.

According to her, “people do not forget” Correa’s management and compares it with the current one, overwhelmed by an “economic, social, and ethical crisis.”

He attributed the electoral victory of RC as well as the defeat of the Lasso government to these factors, which after the results has fallen into one of the darkest moments of his administration that has lasted 20 months, and which has two years left with almost no margin of maneuver by having the National Assembly (Parliament) controlled by the opposition.

The management of the social

Also harassed by allegations of alleged corruption that have affected his close circle, Lasso has not made a good reading of the situation, according to Pabón, who translates the votes as a “cry for help” from the population.

However, Lasso seems that “every day he is taking steps so that this crisis deepens,” while “the country demands a change” in the government’s strategy towards promoting social policy, said the Pichincha prefect.

Inequality affects everyone, especially the impoverished classes and vulnerable groups, which is why many sectors demand a deeper transformation, Pabón insisted.

However, he stressed that the problems of the Executive have not been generated by the opposition, since the supposed “destabilization” that Lasso alleges, “is in who has the upper hand, which is the Government.”

Focused on managing the win

Finally, Pabón assured that his political movement, after the electoral victory on February 5, has an important task for the future.

The RC, he said, must “manage this triumph adequately, with efficient local governments and with the social axis as the main action” of the elected local authorities, with a thought set “in health, education, public works, production, tourism, employment”.

Only in this way, “we will enter into another dynamic against a central government (that of Lasso) that stopped making social policy,” Pabón added.