Interview with Ricardo Restrepo, university professor and political analyst
Ricardo Restrepo, university professor and political analyst, brings us some insights on the importance of Ecuador’s elections. teleSUR
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00:00 Welcome back to From the South, and we return to the topic of Ecuador, and we welcome Ricardo
00:04 Restrepo, university professor and political analyst, to go deeper in the importance of
00:11 this election.
00:12 Welcome, Ricardo.
00:13 Hello, Luis.
00:14 Great to be with you.
00:15 It's a pleasure to have you with us.
00:17 Ricardo, polls recently closed.
00:19 What can you tell us of today's voting day?
00:21 How have the Ecuadorians lived these elections?
00:25 Well, generally, the voting rounds have been pretty normal.
00:31 I can tell you that where I voted in Quito, I went to various stations, and they were
00:38 operating very fluidly.
00:42 And I understand that international observers have said that today's voting rounds have
00:50 been relatively uneventful.
00:53 There have been a few instances where it has been found that members of the junta in charge
01:02 of taking care of the ballots have been found jotting down votes for Novoa.
01:13 But it hasn't been reportedly a systematic phenomenon, and the perpetrators were captured
01:25 and they're currently being processed.
01:28 But in general, it's been a peaceful day.
01:33 It hasn't been marred by irregularities thus far.
01:38 And I'll begin the counting in a few moments.
01:43 Apparently, we should start to have results with the CNE, the National Electoral Council,
01:52 has said that from 7.30 onwards, maybe before, hopefully.
02:01 But this is a -- you know, that we should start to see results and making sure -- it's
02:07 very important that everybody is attentive to the process and also that all -- every
02:16 step in the process is audited and the international as well as national observers are very much
02:25 on the lookout so that we do have the president that is elected by the people.
02:33 Former President Guillermo Lasso Ricardo said earlier in the day that he was leaving a nation
02:37 with stronger institutions and economic growth.
02:39 It almost seems that he wants to make it look like his term ended normally and not with
02:44 a cross death and forgets entirely of the crisis the nation experiences.
02:48 How can this be explained?
02:49 What's behind this communication strategy?
02:51 Well, Guillermo Lasso lives in fairyland.
02:57 He is leaving a country way more violent than the one that he inherited.
03:05 He received a country that was already increasing in violence during the Moreno administration.
03:13 Prior to that, when Correa left power in 2017, Ecuador had reduced 70 percent of the homicide
03:21 rates and was the second most secure country in the Americas.
03:27 After that, it's been escalating and it is now one of the most insecure countries in
03:32 the world.
03:34 And this has really escalated during Lasso's tenure.
03:41 Homicide rates have more than doubled during Lasso's tenure.
03:45 And he is being ousted initially for various reasons, including the most – the reason
03:53 that was procedurally valid and processed was because of corruption in several petroleum
04:04 services companies, which were under his control.
04:11 And he designated one of the key people to – from his bank – he was formerly head
04:19 of the Banco del Pacífico Bank, Banco de Guayaquil Bank – to head approximately half
04:29 of the budget of the state, around $13,000 million.
04:37 And it was found that there was corruption involved in that endeavor.
04:41 So he leaves a country that is marred in violence.
04:45 He is accused of corruption with valid evidence.
04:52 And he leaves as well with record high narco-trafficking schemes, including instances that have marred
05:03 his administration, such as Bernardo Manzano, which was one of his ministers for agriculture
05:13 who was put there by the Albanian mafia.
05:19 And this has been revealed through various audios that basically orchestrated how he
05:28 came to be this – being a very powerful person to, in fact, expand exports of drugs
05:38 into Europe and the rest of the world.
05:43 It's worth mentioning that this is through – Bernardo Manzano comes from the Noboa
05:50 group, which is the economic group owned and controlled by the family of Daniel Noboa,
05:59 one of the two candidates, the right candidate.
06:05 And he works for the Grupo Noboa.
06:10 He's a high executive for Grupo Noboa and, as we can see, then was the top person managing
06:20 the agro sector in the country under President Lasso.
06:27 And as well, he was evidently in links with the mafia and narco-traffickers.
06:37 So institutions, we're seeing a collapse as well in faith in institutions.
06:45 We're at a record low in public consent and acceptance for public institutions.
06:52 Latino Barometro, which tracks these polls for the organization of record, we went from
07:02 being the country that most trusted institutions in Latin America to now being the country
07:11 in which citizens least trust and accept public institutions.
07:18 It is very hard to do anything in the country, even getting a cedula, getting married, just
07:26 normal things in the country that were very easy just a few years past are ordeals right
07:35 now.
07:37 So it's very hard to say that institutions have been strengthened in any way.
07:43 They've been completely dismantled.
07:46 On the economic front, we have record citizens emigrating, having to flee the country because
07:53 there's no longer economic opportunities.
07:57 There's such a high risk on life because of the violence that has tremendously escalated
08:06 in the last few years, and especially under the Lasso administration.
08:13 And the public debt is at record high.
08:19 More than 60 percent of GDP is public, is debt.
08:25 And this is, in fact, something that was very interestingly criticized by Lasso when he
08:30 was a candidate.
08:32 He used to criticize when Ecuador had a 30 percent of GDP debt, and he's doubled that.
08:42 So we are finding ourselves in the bottom of what could be the status of national public
08:52 institutions.
08:53 They're at the worst time in recorded history.
08:56 Ricardo, with all this in mind, whoever wins today will have a short but paramount time
09:02 in office.
09:03 So we can – what can we expect of both candidates, and what do you believe is necessary for Ecuador
09:08 to move forward and overcome the current crises?
09:11 Well, it's very clear what our presidency of Novoa would be like.
09:20 In fact, his vice president – running vice president has been very clear.
09:25 He wants to dismantle public education, public health, the things that really matter for
09:33 large swaths of the population for citizens' rights.
09:38 He wants to reduce the state in a moment where we need the state to do the things that are
09:46 good for everybody, such as secure the lives of everybody, making sure there's opportunities
09:55 for all.
09:57 And he's running on a candidacy of basically continuing the Lazo, the Moreno-Lazo presidencies,
10:06 and in fact is being backed by Lazo and by Moreno and their parties.
10:10 So it's very, very clear what the agenda is going to be.
10:14 We're going to get more of the same.
10:16 If he wins, we are definitely still going to be in this neoliberal night.
10:24 Apparently, it's going to run lower than could be.
10:29 Otherwise, we have Luisa Gonzalez, who is the progressive candidate under Revolución
10:35 Ciudadana, which is the party of Rafael Correa, which promises to enact a series of solutions
10:47 that have already been tested, that have lifted millions of people out of poverty, have given
10:56 educational rights and opportunities to all the population, have drastically increased
11:06 access to public health, have gave Ecuador some of the best roads in Latin America, best
11:14 infrastructure, hospitals, and economic programs.
11:21 So we can expect either a system of reduction of rights and reduction of democracy and reduction
11:35 of the conditions and opportunities for all under a plutocratic elite democracy headed
11:42 by Daniel Novoa, or we can expect a progressive government that will support the strengthening
11:53 of rights for all in all domains so that everybody can live a dignified life and increase the
12:02 conditions under which we can all carry out our life projects without violence and human
12:08 flourishing.
12:09 Thank you, Ricardo, for your time.
12:11 Well, we have time, unfortunately, right now from the south, but thank you so much for
12:14 your inputs here.
12:17 Thank you so much, Luis, for the invitation.
12:19 Great to be with you.
12:20 It was our pleasure.
12:21 We're overanalyzing Ecuador's key elections with Professor Ricardo Restrepo.
12:25 We will continue covering Ecuador's election as we await for the first result.
12:29 But now let's take a short break and we'll be right back with more stories.