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Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the UNASUR. Since 2017, he has been living with his family in Belgium.
Born to a lower middle-class mestizo family in Guayaquil, Correa studied economics at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and the University of Illinois, where he received his PhD. Returning to Ecuador, in 2005 he became the Minister for the Economy under President Alfredo Palacio, successfully lobbying Congress for increased spending on health and education projects.
Correa won the presidency in the 2006 general election on a platform criticizing the established political elites. Taking office in January 2007, he sought to move away from Ecuador's neoliberalism economic model by reducing the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He oversaw the introduction of a new constitution, being reelected in 2009 and again in the 2013 general election.
Correa's presidency was part of the Latin American pink tide, a turn toward leftist governments in the region, allying himself with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and bringing Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. Using its own form of 21st century socialism, Correa's administration increased government spending, reducing poverty, raising the minimum wage and increasing Ecuador's standard of living. From 2006 to 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5% (as compared to 0.6% over the previous two decades). At the same time, economic inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47. By the end of Correa's tenure, the 50% drop in the price of oil since 2014 had caused Ecuador's economy to enter a recession, resulting in government spending being slashed.
On 3 July 2018, a judge in Ecuador ordered a warrant for Correa's arrest after he failed to appear in court during a trial surrounding the kidnapping of his political opponent Fernando Balda. Correa, who lived in Belgium at the time, denied the allegations regarding the kidnapping. In July 2018 Interpol rejected an Ecuador-issued arrest warrant and called it "obviously a political matter." Deutsche Welle, "Ecuador's Rafael Correa requests asylum in Belgium: report", 8 November 2018. Read 1 November 2019 In April 2020 the Criminal Court of the National Court of Justice found Correa guilty of aggravated passive bribery in the . He was sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison.
When Correa was five, his father was arrested and imprisoned for three years after attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the United States. Publicly acknowledging this incident while president, Correa stated that "I do not condone what he did but drug smugglers are not criminals. They are single mothers or unemployed people who are desperate to feed their families". Correa was 18 when he was told about his father's actions.
While living in Guayaquil, Correa was highly involved in the Boy Scout program. When he was 17, despite his family facing financial hardship, a family friend paid for him to be educated at an elite local school, where he excelled. During his secondary studies he was president of the Lasallian Student Cultural Association ("ACEL" in Spanish). Correa then obtained a scholarship to study at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil (UCSG), a private higher education institution in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in economics in 1987.
When attending UCSG, he was elected President of the Association of Students of Economy, Audit and Administration (AEAA) and, later on, President of the Federation of Students (FEUC) of the same education center, a position which in 1986 allowed him to preside over the Private Universities Students Federation of Ecuador (FEUPE).
Correa was able to afford a university education with the aid of funding grants. He continued his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a Master of Science in economics in May 1999, and a PhD in economics in October 2001.
Returning to Ecuador, Correa secured a position at the University of San Francisco in Quito, where he taught economics. At the same time, he worked as an economic adviser to state and international agencies. During this period, Ecuador experienced a banking crisis and the government of President Jamil Mahuad replaced the Ecuadorean sucre currency with the U.S. dollar. Correa was highly critical of this dollarisation policy, arguing against it in various academic publications that he produced at the time.
During his four months in charge of the portfolio, Correa was skeptical of signing a free trade agreement with the United States and declining advice from the International Monetary Fund, instead working to increase Ecuador's cooperation with other Latin American countries. Arguably his most notable decision within the Ministry of Finance was to reverse the fact that surpluses from oil sales go directly to prepay Ecuador's foreign debt and instead go to investment in health and education. After the World Bank stopped a loan, citing changes in the oil revenue stabilization fund, Correa resigned from Palacio's government. He had also proposed the issuance of at a lower interest rate than the 8.5% prevailing one at that time. Venezuela's government was buying half of the new bond issue. Correa claimed in his resignation letter that the sale was done with full presidential authorization, but cited lack of support from the president as a factor in his decision to resign. When Correa resigned as minister, polls showed he had the highest credibility of any official in the administration at the time, with 57% of Ecuadorians saying that they trusted him.Solo, Tony. Sovereignty Takes One Step Backwards, Znet, 15 August 2005
Prior to becoming President, Correa denounced the "sophistry of Free Trade", in an introduction he wrote for a book titled The Hidden Face of Free Trade Agreements. One of the authors of that book is his ex-Minister and congressman Alberto Acosta. Citing as his source the book, Kicking Away the Ladder, written by Korean economist based at Cambridge University and Center for Economic and Policy Research analyst Ha-Joon Chang, Correa identified the difference between an "American system" opposed to "a British System" of free trade. The latter, he says, was explicitly viewed by the Americans as "part of the British imperialist system". Correa wrote that Chang showed that it was Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and not Friedrich List who was the first to present a systematic argument defending industrial protectionism. (Correa includes List's National System of Political Economy in his bibliographic references.)
Correa established a political vehicle, the PAIS Alliance (Alianza PAIS— Patria Altiva y Soberana, "Proud and Sovereign Fatherland Alliance"), which united a disparate group of leftist organizations. However, in an unusual move he announced that the PAIS Alliance would not put forward any congressional candidates during the election, thus reflecting his opposition to the established political system. During the campaign, Correa stated that if elected he would use an decree to introduce a national referendum on the establishment of a constituent assembly which had the potential to rewrite Ecuador's constitution.McDermott, Jeremy Man of the people closes in on presidency , The Scotsman, 14 October 2006. He presented this as a process necessary to overthrow the established political elites, whom he termed the partidocracia ("partyarchy") and redistribute political power.
The Alianza PAIS movement signed a political alliance with the Ecuadorian Socialist Party, which did present candidates for Congress. On 31 July 2006, Alianza PAIS also signed a Programmatic Political Agreement with the Communist Party of Ecuador when Correa was postulated for candidate for president. Other parties that joined Alianza PAIS coalition in a runoff election included Democratic People's Movement, Democratic Left, Pachakutik, and the Partido Roldista Ecuatoriano.
During his campaign, Correa traveled to Barinas, Venezuela to spend time at Hugo Chávez's family home, describing the Venezuelan President as a personal friend.
On economic policy, Correa called for reform of the petroleum industry, including an increase in the percentage of petroleum revenues spent on social programs for the Ecuadorian poor, following the reforms of the Hydrocarbons Law promoted by former Economy and Finance Minister Diego Borja. He accused foreign petroleum companies operating in Ecuador of failing to meet existing environmental and investment regulations.
In an interview, Correa stated:
Many of the oil contracts are a true entrapment for the country. Of every five barrels of oil that the multinationals produce, they leave only one for the state and take four... That is absolutely unacceptable. We're going to revise and renegotiate the contracts.
Correa also proposed strategies for reducing the burden of Ecuador's foreign debt service through compulsory debt restructuring. He indicated that his top priority would be spending on social programs rather than servicing Ecuador's debt. On foreign policy, Correa stressed Ecuador's aversion to becoming involved in Colombia's domestic conflict. Correa cambia de discurso de campaña: dice que rompería con Chávez y perseguirá a las FARC Diario El Comercio, 19 October 2006 In October 2006, Correa added that he would "pursue and capture" FARC members if they entered Ecuador. He also condemned their kidnappings, violations of human rights and bombings. "Correa cambia e discurso de campaña: dice que rompería con Chávez y perseguirá a las FARC" . Diario El Comercio, 19 October 2006. In addition to his platform on economic and social policy, Correa's ability to communicate with a large majority of Ecuador's indigenous population in their own language also differentiated him from other candidates. He learned Quichua in his youth during a year he spent volunteering in a remote highland town.Weitzman, Hal. Rafael Correa: Chavista with a whip hand, Financial Times. 9 October 2006.
In the October 2006 general election, Correa obtained second place (23%) behind banana tycoon Álvaro Noboa (27%). The situation led to a run-off election, in which Correa portrayed Noboa as an exploitative oligarch and Noboa portrayed Correa as a dangerous leftist with strong links to Venezuela. Correa won the subsequent November 2006 runoff election with 57% of the vote.
During his first months in office, Correa's government doubled the monthly poverty assistance payments to $30, doubled the credits for housing loans and reduced the electricity rates for individuals on low incomes.
Correa ordered a plebiscite on the issue of whether or not Ecuador should establish a new constitution in April 2007; the proposal passed with over 80% of the vote. Elections to establish a Constituent Assembly were held in 2007 and were won by Correa's government with over 60% of the vote. The new constitution also increased the powers of the presidency by increasing the number of presidential decrees permitted.
In May 2007, evidence surfaced that some of the Ecuadorian government rhetoric might have been part of an alleged market manipulation to benefit Ecuador from movements in the price of financial instruments linked to Ecuadorian bonds. "Caught on camera A setback for Rafael Correa" The Economist, 26 July 2007 A fall in Ecuador bond prices, ignited by aggressive default rhetoric, would trigger a buyback by Ecuador, financed by Venezuelan banks. This strategy collapsed due to operations by Venezuelan financial institutions who profited from the market swings. Correa referred to the allegations as a conspiracy from a powerful banker. "El caso Patiño sacude todo el tablero político" El Comercio, 12 June 2007 "Ecuador Prosecutors Probe Patino, Banker Meeting" Bloomberg, 24 May 2007 "Una parte no revelada del video señala a venezolanos". El Universo, 29 May 2007 On 26 July 2007, Rafael Correa replaced finance minister Patiño, due to Patiño's appearance in a video recording, apparently discussing the market manipulation. Patiño then assumed a newly created position responsible for the Pacific coast region and later assumed the Political Affairs Ministry. "Correa replaces finance minister after Ecuador bond allegations". Financial Times. 26 July 2007 In a radio address on 13 December, Correa said that he wanted to force a "big discount" on creditors, whom a day earlier he called "true monsters who won't hesitate to crush the country". "I have lost sleep over this … this will cost us tears and sweat but I think we are doing the right thing." Correa, who endorses anti-debt NGO Jubilee 2000's slogan "life before debt", is popular among Ecuadorians for his stance against foreign investors.
Correa has criticized the neoliberal policies of previous presidents, particularly former president Mahuad's adoption of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador's domestic currency in 2000 to combat the country's inflation. Correa has characterized American dollarisation as a "technical error" which has effectively eliminated Ecuador's ability to set its own currency and exchange policy. However, Correa has also acknowledged that it would be politically and economically impossible to abandon that policy now. After his election victory of 15 April 2007, he pledged to maintain dollarisation during the entire four years of his administration, though he also indicated his support for the idea of replacing the US dollar with a regional South American currency at some point in the future.
On 16 April 2009, Finance Minister María Elsa Viteri embarked on a trip to Europe in a mission to present Ecuador's offer to buy back global bonds 2012 and 2030 at 30% of their current value. In May 2009, Ecuador announced that it had successfully bought 91% of the bonds at a cost of 35 cents on the dollar.
In May 2008, the Ecuadorian government renegotiated radio spectrum franchises for mobile phone operators Porta and Movistar for a total price of 700 million dollars, far more than that recommended by studies conducted under previous governments, which had proposed granting the same franchises for only 70 million dollars.
Correa adopted a confrontational approach to the governments of both the United States and neighboring Colombia. At the time of his election, Ecuador contained Manta Air Base, the only U.S. military base in South America. Correa refused to renew the base's lease when it expired in 2009 and the constitution was changed to ban foreign military bases being established in Ecuador.
On 1 March 2008 at 00:25 local time (05:25 UTC), Colombia launched a military operation, into Ecuador. According to Colombian authorities, the guerrillas responded militarily to this initial bombardment from a position in the vicinity of Santa Rosa de Yanamaru, on the Ecuadorian side of the border, killing a Colombian soldier, Carlos Hernández. A second bombardment was then carried out, resulting in the deaths of Raúl Reyes and at least 20 more FARC members. Two bodies, several documents and three laptops found in the guerrilla camp were returned to Colombia. This was the first time the Colombian military had killed a member of FARC's leadership council in combat. After this operation, Colombia increased its security measures nationwide, fearing FARC retaliation.
According to the Ecuadorian government, the attack happened inside its own territory, lacked its permission and was a planned strike, intended to be followed by the incursion of Colombian troops by helicopter. It pointed out that the attack had left a total of more than 20 people dead in Ecuadorian territory, many of whom were found to be wearing underwear or sleeping clothes. The government of Ecuador concluded that the attack was a "massacre" and not the result of combat or "hot pursuit". Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa had reason to believe that the Colombian warplanes had penetrated 10 km into Ecuador's territory and struck the guerrilla camp while flying north, followed by troops in helicopters who had completed the killings. He claimed that some of the bodies had been found to be shot from behind.
The Ecuadorian authorities found three wounded women in the camp, including a Mexican student who was identified as Lucía Andrea Morett Álvarez. Lucía Morett claimed that she was visiting the guerrilla group as part of an academic investigation, refusing to answer other questions about the circumstances surrounding her presence there. Regarding the attack on the camp, she has stated: "I was asleep when we received a first aerial attack. Two or three hours later we were attacked again". Ecuador said that it was cooperating with Mexico to investigate whether any Mexicans had been killed during the raid. According to the director of the Ecuadorian military hospital which treated the three women, they had received some sort of medical attention from both the attacking Colombian forces and the Ecuadorian soldiers who later found them.
President Uribe of Colombia spoke by telephone with his Ecuadorian counterpart, Rafael Correa, early on the morning of the raid, to inform him of the incident. In a press conference that evening, Correa denounced the attack as "aggression" against Ecuador, calling it a "", and claiming that the rebels had been killed in their sleep using "advanced technology". He announced that he was summoning his ambassador in Colombia for consultations. On Sunday, 2 March, Correa said that a diplomatic note would be sent in protest at the incursion, claiming that the action had been a violation of Ecuador's airspace. Ecuador formally recalled its ambassador from Colombia and expelled the Colombian ambassador from Quito.
Correa withdrew his government's ambassador in Bogotá, Colombia, and ordered troops to the country's border following the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis in early March 2008. On 3 March 2008, Colombia's police said that documents found in a camp in Ecuador where Colombian troops killed Raul Reyes, a top guerrilla boss, showed ties between the FARC rebels and Correa, including contacts about political proposals and local military commanders. Correa denied the accusations, calling them lies. Acusación de Colombia es una patraña, El Comercio, 3 March 2008 Correa also said that a deal to release political prisoners – including former Colombian Sen. Ingrid Betancourt – was nearly complete before the 1 March 2008 Colombian raid into his country. On 5 March 2008, Correa and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez met to discuss Colombia's attack and made a series of accusations against Colombia's government. Chavez: Cross-border raid a 'war crime', CNN, 6 March 2008 During the meeting, Correa dismissed Colombia's president Álvaro Uribe as just a "puppet" while others are the "puppet masters". Rafael Correa insiste en la condena El Comercio, 6 March 2008 On 18 May 2011, Colombia's Supreme Court ruled documents found on computers of slain FARC commander "Raul Reyes" are inadmissible as evidence in court as the material is illegally obtained and provides no evidence.
On 22 March 21 alternate deputies were sworn in, allowing the Congress to regain quorum, and on 23 and 24 March a further 20 deputies were sworn in. The new majority (formed by 28 alternate deputies and 31 deputies from parties that support the referendum and Assembly) pledged to support the referendum on the Constitutional Assembly. 13 diputados suplentes fueron posesionados hoy , El Comercio, 22 March 2007
On 23 April, the Constitutional Court decided to try to reinstate 51 of the 57 Congressmen who had been fired by the Electoral Tribunal. The Constitutional Court claimed that it was illegal to remove them in the first place and approved a petition by the 51 requesting their reinstatement. Ecuador Reinstates 51 Ousted Lawmakers Washington Post, 24 April 2007 But before the congressmen had the chance to reenter Congress, Congress voted to fire all nine judges of the Constitutional Court for their "unconstitutional actions". Ecuador's Congress sacks judges, BBC News, 24 April 2007
On 15 April 2007, Ecuadorians voted overwhelmingly (81.72% in favor) to support the election of a constituent assembly. Constitutional Assembly official report Tribunal Supremo Electoral On 30 September 2007, due to the extraordinarily large number of candidates and lists (26 national lists, 428 provincial lists, 44 emigrant lists) the 2007 Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly election was the most complex in Ecuador's history. As a result, in the national election, President Correa won backing for his plans to rewrite Ecuador's constitution and expand state control of the nation's economy. Correa's faction won approximately 61% of the seats in the National Assembly (80 of 130 Assembly Members).
A constitutional referendum was held in Ecuador on 28 September 2008 to ratify or reject the constitution drafted by the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly elected in 2007. Partial results show that 64% of voters voted to approve the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador.
The NGO Amazon Watch claims that the reason for the projects is the government's 7-billion-dollar debt to China and the desire to get Chinese funding to build a 12.5 billion dollar oil refinery. Ecuador auctions off Amazon to Chinese oil firms, The Guardian, 26 March 2013.
An 11,000-barrel oil spill in the Amazon was considered problematic to Correa's desire to win a third term, because he had tried to assure his critics of him being environment-friendly. Ecuador oil spill threatens Brazil and Peru, The Globalpost, 11 June 2013.
President Correa has stated that Ecuador's first option is to maintain the crude oil in the subsoil. The national and international communities would be called on to help the government implement this costly decision for the country. The government hopes to recover 50% of the revenues it would obtain by extracting the oil. The procedure involves the issuing of government bonds for the crude oil that will remain "in situ", with the double commitment of never extracting this oil and of protecting Yasuní National Park. The hoped for-amount is estimated at 350 million dollars annually.
A more promising alternative would be a strategy to provide the government with the 50% of resources in such a way as to provide a consistent income for an indefinite period of time. This resource would be channeled towards activities that help to free the country from its dependency on exports and imports and to consolidate food sovereignty. Ecuador Seeks Compensation to Leave Amazon Oil Undisturbed Environment News Service, 24 August 2007
In August 2013, Correa abandoned the initiative and approved oil drilling, blaming lack of support from the international community for the decision. Ecuador approves Yasuni park oil drilling in Amazon rainforest BBC News, 21 August 2013
On 3 August 2007, Correa ordered the deportation of Sean O'Hearn-Gimenez, director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, saying that he would not allow "gringuitos" (literally, "little ") to tell Ecuadorians what to do or to pursue local fishermen. However, a local newspaper noted that O'Hearn-Gimenez had signed a 5-year agreement with Ecuador's own Environmental Police rather than acting unilaterally (as a foreigner with no authority of his own), and was married to an Ecuadorian. Correa se retracta de expulsar a un ecologista foráneo El Universo 5 August 2007 The deportation was ordered because Sea Shepherd, in partnership with the Ecuadorian National Environmental Police, exposed and stopped the biggest shark-fin shipment in the port city of Manta. Expulsan de Ecuador a un ecologista de EE.UU. El Clarín, 5 August 2007 Correa later rescinded the extradition order because O'Hearn-Gimenez was married to an Ecuadorian woman. All the arrested fishermen were released, too, and the confiscated shark fins returned to them. Ecuador frees activist, halts expulsion USA Today, 6 August 2007
Correa was sworn into the Presidency on 10 August 2009, the same day as Ecuador's bicentennial. His speech took place in front of several Latin American dignitaries, such as the president of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Raúl Castro, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Correa used the opportunity to promise a continuation of his "socialist revolution", his plans to end poverty and to go on "stamping out the structural causes of poverty". He also said the actions of the media were opposing his government. He claims that the continuation of his "The Citizens' Revolution" policy is intended to ensure all citizens are equal.
Infant mortality, from 24.4 per 1000 in 2005, declined to 18.3 in 2015. Between 2008 and 2016, new public hospitals have been built, the number of civil servants has increased significantly, and salaries have been increased. In 2008, the government introduced universal and compulsory social security coverage. In 2015, corruption remains a problem. Overbilling is recorded in 20% of public establishments and in 80% of private establishments.
On 6 November, the government declared an emergency in the power sector, which was expected to "allow the Finance Ministry to seek to guarantee fuel imports for thermoelectric plants". The government also agreed to purchase an additional "5,200 MW per hour of electricity from Peru and Colombia". Government officials aimed to end power rationing before Christmas. "Ecuador Aims to End Power Rationing Before Christmas" . Latin American Herald Tribune (17 November 2009).
The power crisis led to criticism of the Correa administration's management of the power sector as water levels of the reservoirs became depleted.
The United States declared support for Correa through its ambassador to the Organization of American States. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed "full support for President Rafael Correa, and the institutions of democratic government in that country." On 5 October, Ecuadorian foreign minister Ricardo Patiño said "I firmly believe that Mr. Obama had nothing to do with this. I hope, and trust that neither his (immediate subordinates) did.
On 10 August 2009 Correa hosted the Heads of Government of South America in Quito, as he took over the one-year Pro Tempore Presidency of UNASUR. Correa announced on 3 April 2010 that he would propose to UNASUR the creation of a united front against transnationals like the American Chevron, which he accused of attempting to destroy his country.
Correa also asked that UNASUR create a commission to investigate the events that led to the 30 Sep police revolt in Ecuador in which about a dozen people died and 270 were wounded. The uprising was led by police upset over a new law that would deny them promotion bonuses.
During Friday's summit, leaders also approved a democratic charter that would serve as a guide for the 12-nation bloc if any of them faced an attempted coup. The charter would have been an effective tool during Ecuador's revolt, Correa said. On 29 November 2010, UNASUR's presidency passed from Ecuador to Guyana.
In 2014, Correa opened the $65 million headquarters in Quito.
"We are not only suing the editorial writer, but also the newspaper El Universo's directors", said Correa, in a radio interview on Ecuadorinmediato, quoted by El Universo. "Ecuador's autocrat cracks down on media freedom," was the title of an editorial published by The Washington Post on 27 July 2011:
Last week the president personally attended the trial while thuggish supporters threw eggs and bottles at the defendants outside the courthouse. To no one's surprise, the provisional judge hearing the case quickly ruled in the president's favor, sentencing Mr. Palacio and the three El Universo directors to three years in prison and awarding $40 million in damages to Mr. Correa – an amount that exceeds the total value of the newspaper.
As of 16 February 2012, the National Court of Justice (Ecuador's highest court) confirmed the lower court's award of $40 million in damages, as well as the three-year prison sentences against a journalist and three executives of the newspaper. The case related to unrest in September 2010, described by Correa as an attempted coup, which saw him trapped inside a hospital for several hours by police officers. In an opinion article from February 2011 which appeared in El Universo, Emilio Palacio alleged that the president had ordered soldiers to fire on the hospital, which was full of civilians.
Correa also filed a lawsuit against Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, investigative journalists and authors of the book Gran Hermano (Big Brother). Rafael Correa insisted that if the authors of the book admitted wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness he would pardon them. The lawsuit is based on the book's accusation that Correa knew of his brother Fabricio Correa's multimillion-dollar contracts with the government, a journalistic "investigation" into contracts signed between the president's brother, Fabricio Correa, and the State. The authors claim was based on a testimony by Pablo Chambers, who based his accusation on a manipulated video of Correa during an interview with a radio station in Quito.
Following wide condemnation of the sentences in the El Universo case, Correa announced on 27 February 2012 that he would pardon the four individuals involved, also reminding that from the very beginning he asked for a rectification by the newspaper or an apology, both which the newspaper refused, instead claiming this was censorship, including asking Correa what he wanted them to publish. Despite the subsequent pardons, "the lawsuit had," according to Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, "a powerful chilling effect on the press." (2018). 9781524762957, Crown Publishing. ISBN 9781524762957
Correa also said he would drop his case against the authors of Gran Hermano.
Correa has been accused, in the words of the President of the Inter-American Press Association, of mounting a "systematic and hostile campaign to do away with the independent press and establish, by law or through the courts, ownership of the truth that all the Ecuadoran people must swallow." These complaints relate both to a series of lawsuits against journalists and to government takeovers of many media outlets.
The Washington Post reported in July 2011 that, according to a report for the National Endowment for Democracy, the government had controlled one radio station when Mr. Correa became president in 2007, but that by the time of the report it owned five television channels, four radio stations, two newspapers and four magazines.
Correa pointed out that China gives credits to Ecuador at 7.0 percent, but the credits are to finance projects with 23 or 25 percent of profitability, that is extremely good business, when referring to two thousand million dollars which will be dedicated to public investment initiatives. The Chinese credits are a "good business" with interests of 7 percent to finance projects with a profitability that goes from 23 to 25 percent. Correa discarded the idea that Ecuador is delivered to or have mortgaged its petroleum to China.
On this point he mentioned that in the year 2006 75% of the Ecuadorian petroleum went to United States, in exchange for nothing. "Now we have 50% of the committed petroleum with China, in exchange for thousands of millions of dollars to finance the development of this country.
In 2012, China loaned Ecuador 240 million dollars for the purpose of overhauling the Ecuadorian security system. This system comprises 4,300 new surveillance cameras, drones, automated evidence processing systems, and increased manpower to manage each of these new technologies, which have been collectively dubbed the ECU 911 Integrated Security Service. Much of this new hardware has been developed in Ecuador, but in laboratories designed and set up by China National Electronics Import and Export Corporation (CEIEC), which is a state-owned company and a subsidiary of national defence contractor China Electronics Corporation (CEC). The CEC has also undertaken similar surveillance overhauls in Venezuela and Bolivia and has also introduced technology to monitor the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. The Ecuadorian government has highlighted the benefits of this extensive security system, which has been installed across the nation's 24 provinces. They argue that it has been able to decrease the response time for everyday emergencies such as life-threatening illness, and have cited the system as a large factor in the dramatic drop in crime in Ecuador since its installation. Some individuals have expressed concern about the nature and the pervasiveness of these technologies, however, and how they may be used to create an Ecuadorian police state.
In 2014, the law is amended to allow same-sex unions to benefit from legal recognition.
The support march on the Government concentrated on thousands of demonstrators coming from different zones that met in a park where they enjoyed artistic shows put on to celebrate the Woman's International Day. The march began in an Amazon region to the southeast and it arrived in Quito on 22 March. It had the support of the teachers' organizations and students.
Correa declared that the protests were intended to destabilize his government and he encouraged his followers "to keep mobilized until March 22"... "to resist peacefully. Those in favor of the Government also announced countermarches in various localities, such as in Cuenca where they had a concentration that gathered around fifteen thousand people.
The Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Society won the WSIS 2013 prize in category C5: Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs with the project Digital Training through Mobile Classrooms. In 2013, a comprehensive communication law was adopted, called Ley Orgánica de Comunicación.
Between 2007 and 2014, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5%. At the same time, inequalities, as measured by the Gini index, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47. Between 2006 and 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5 percent (as compared to 0.6 percent over the prior two decades).
In April 2014, Correa's government ordered all US Defence Department employees working in the US embassy out of the country. Correa had previously stated that the US had too many military officers in Ecuador and that they had "infiltrated ... all sectors" of the country.
Within months of winning the elections, President Moreno began to move away from his election platform, igniting a feud with Correa.
Correa led "No" campaign the during the 2018 Ecuadorian referendum and popular consultation.
Since 2018, Correa has hosted the weekly political talk show, Conversation with Correa, on RT Spanish.
On 3 July 2018, a judge in Ecuador ordered the arrest of Correa after he failed to appear in court during a trial surrounding the kidnapping of his political opponent Fernando Balda. Correa, who lived in Belgium at the time, denied the allegations regarding the kidnapping.
Correa's trial in absentia, on charges of bribery, began on 10 February 2020. On 7 April 2020, The Criminal Court of the National Court of Justice found the former president guilty of aggravated passive bribery in the . He was sentenced to 8 years in prison for leading the corruption network that, between 2012 and 2016, received "undue contributions" at the Carondelet Palace to finance his political movement in exchange for awarding state contracts to businessmen, along with former Judiciary Secretary of the Presidency Alexis Mera, former Ministry of Housing and Urban Development María de los Angeles Duarte, former congresswoman Viviana Bonilla, and former Constitutional Judge—and his secretary—Pamela Martínez.
Moreno's government made three separate requests to Interpol to arrest Correa. Interpol rejected each request on human rights grounds.
On 9 October 2024, the U.S. State Department banned Rafael Correa from entering the United States on accusations of corruption.
Correa has criticized several newspapers as El Universo, El Comercio, Diario Hoy, Diario Expreso, La Hora, calling them "news mafias" for criticising the ruling of the Electoral Tribunal depriving 57 opposition legislators of their seats in Congress. Correa argued that the press had remained silent about the holdups that had occurred in state-owned enterprises like Pacifictel and the Ecuadorian Customs Administration (CAE).
On 10 May 2007, Correa filed a lawsuit against Francisco Vivanco Riofrío of the board of directors of the Quito-based La Hora newspaper, over an editorial published in the paper on 9 March. The editorial, titled "Official Vandalism", said that Correa intended to rule Ecuador "with turmoil, rocks and sticks". It described the president's behavior as "shameful." Correa's suit is based on Article 230 of the country's penal code that sets prison penalties of up to two years for contempt, expressed in "threats or libel that would offend the president." Committee to Protect Journalists 15 May 2007 La Hora, 18 May 2007
The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has declared that it is "a clumsy step on the part of the Ecuadorean president to file a criminal charge against a news outlet, accusing it of contempt, an archaic concept in a modern democracy and outmoded in Latin America and which should be eliminated from penal codes, as the IAPA has been insisting." 14 May 2007 IAPA press release, IFEX 14 May 2007 The Committee to Protect Journalists has also protested against the lawsuit: "Fear of criminal penalties will inhibit the Ecuadoran press in reporting and commenting on issues of public interest. We call on President Correa to drop the libel suit against Vivanco and repeal defamation laws that contradict international standards on freedom of expression". 15 May 2007 CPJ press release, CPJ 15 May 2007
In August 2007 he signed Ecuador to TeleSUR. Correa decided to create Ecuador TV, the first state-owned channel in the country, with the announced intention of producing television with better quality standards than the private channels. Also, newspaper El Telegrafo was purchased and became state-owned. Radio Pública, El Ciudadano, ANDES and PP were also created under Correa's presidency and are administered by state agencies.
Correa has also Doxing of a number of his social media-based critics which has led to the individuals concerned being harassed. On 1 May 2015, Correa stopped his motorcade in downtown Quito to berate 17-year-old teenager Luis Carrera, after he spotted Carrera gave the middle finger gesture at Correa. Carrera was later sentenced to 20 hours of community service.
President Correa responded by offering a multimillion-dollar donation for human rights training in the United States. "Ecuador offers the United States economic aid of US$23 million annually, similar to what we received with the trade benefits, with the intention of providing education about human rights", said a government spokesman. "Ecuador does not accept pressure or threats from anyone, nor does it trade with principles or submit them to mercantile interests, however important those may be."
Ecuador, which had originally issued Snowden a temporary travel document through its embassy in London, withdrew it because it did not meet the requirements of being in an Ecuadorian Embassy at that time. Snowden said that having the document gave him "the confidence, the courage to get on that plane to begin the journey" and that "there are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world". President Correa said that, although he respected the decision of the London consul Fidel Narváez to issue it, the document was invalid.
Correa is Catholic, and while President, kept a photograph of the Pope on his desk.
Correa's actions vis-a-vis indigenous communities, however, were described as not populist. To protect Chinese mining interests, "Shuar lands are now under occupation by 8,000 military personnel — marine, air and land troops — equipped with four war-tanks, surveillance drones, aerostatic balloons, mobile satellites and helicopter gunships."
On 23 May 2013, Correa reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
| Grand Collar of the Order of the Liberator | 11 October 2007 | Caracas | Former Venezuelan highest distinction. | |||
| Collar of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín | 21 April 2008 | Quito | Argentinian highest decoration. | |||
| Grand Cross of the Order of Francisco Morazán | 31 May 2009 | Tegucigalpa | ||||
| Grand Collar of the Order of the Sun | 9 June 2010 | Lima | Peruvian highest award. | |||
| Order of Augusto César Sandino | 15 November 2010 | Quito | Highest honour of the Republic of Nicaragua. | |||
| Order of José Martí | 5 May 2017 | Havana | Highest distinction of the Republic of Cuba. |
Also, in April 2010 he received the Prize for Exceptional Academic Achievement 2009 of the University of Illinois. On 3 December 2010, the UBA Cultural Center of Buenos Aires gave him the Faces and Masks Democracy Prize.
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