Ruling party candidate and former vice president Lenín Moreno claimed victory in Ecuador’s presidential vote on Sunday, as supporters of conservative challenger Guillermo Lasso clashed with riot police in major cities, accusing authorities of permitting fraud in the election. With more than 99 percent of votes counted, Moreno had secured 51.2 percent of the votes compared with Lasso’s 48.8 percent, according to the electoral council. Lasso has called for a recount in every province of the nation, but the electoral council’s head, Juan Pablo Pozo, has appealed to the opposition to recognize the results.
While many talk about the return of the right in Latin America, Rafael Correa’s “citizen revolution” won another term in office: former vice president Lenín Moreno will rule until 2021 after defeating former banker Guillermo Lasso in a close second round vote. Although the opposition candidate denounced electoral fraud, other Latin American governments, as well as the observation mission of the Organization of American States (OAS), have recognized the results. On May 24, then, Correa will hand his chosen successor the presidency and a series of challenges: economic decline, social polarization and (less urgent) a foreign policy in need of some adjustments.
While the Trump administration’s “America first” policies are aimed primarily at giving higher priority to national security and economic growth for the United States, the White House’s approach will have impacts on energy relations with the rest of the hemisphere that should also be considered.
Lisa Viscidi, Director of the Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries Program, testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on the subject of “Energy Opportunities in Latin America.”
In the early 1980s, when the Inter-American Dialogue was born, the U.S. was actively supporting right-wing governments from El Salvador to Nicaragua. There were “tremendous misunderstandings between Latin America and the United States,” says Michael Shifter, longtime president of the D.C.-based think tank. These days, it seems those tremendous misunderstandings have returned with a vengeance, making the Dialogue’s work even more relevant.
Larry Luxner
Articles & Op-Eds ˙
˙ The Washington Diplomat
Enabling tools that motivate remittance recipients to access and use a variety of financial services needed to increase assets is key to wealth generation.
It is still too early to predict how Moreno will fare and whether his economic and anti-corruption approaches will ultimately succeed. But he has already defied predictions that he would act as Correa’s puppet.
Michael Shifter
Articles & Op-Eds ˙
˙ World Politics Review
En entrevista con EduPrensa, el director del programa de Educación del Diálogo Interamericano, Ariel Fiszbein, habla sobre los principales retos educativos que enfrenta América Latina y sobre los avances de los últimos años en algunos países que han priorizado la educación.
El 29 de noviembre Lisa Viscidi, la directora del Programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractivas, impartió una presentación en un evento de COMEXI en la Ciudad de México sobre la competitividad del sector petrolero en América Latina.
Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno has maneuvered to break with his predecessor, Rafael Correa, and a legacy tinged with authoritarianism and corruption.
Michael Shifter, Ben Raderstorf
Articles & Op-Eds ˙
˙ World Politics Review
On January 25, 2018 the Inter-American Dialogue’s Migration, Remittances & Development Program hosted “Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2017,” an annual event presenting remittance flows to the region.
If the region increases renewables to 80% of the electricity matrix and expands integration, countries can save billions of dollars in investments, avoid blackouts and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, argue Lisa Viscidi and Ariel Yépez.
On February 12, the Inter-American Dialogue hosted César Montúfar for an open discussion, moderated by Michael Shifter, about Ecuador’s current political climate. Montúfar is an academic, former member of Congress, a prominent political analyst, and the primary accuser in a recent trial against former vice-president Jorge Glas.