The Guardian 6 December, 2006
Ecuador joins revolutionary Latin America
With a decisive electoral victory the left-wing candidate in the Ecuadorian elections, Rafael
Correa, joins the sweeping changes taking place in Latin America. He joins the trend being
blazed by the people of Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay and Chile
who have all elected or re-elected progressive candidates.
Correa, with about 75 percent of the votes counted has won over 61 percent to his opponent, a
banana multi-millionaire, with about 39 percent.
Correa announced that he supports the integration of the countries in the region and opposes the
Free Trade Agreement that the US has been attempting to impose on Latin America. He will
proceed to re-negotiate oil contracts which have previously favoured the foreign oil companies.
Correa says that out of each five barrels of oil exploited in Ecuador, four remain in the hands of the
foreign companies.
He has pledged to shut down the US military base at Manta on the Ecuadorian coast. He
suggested that "We can negotiate with the US about a base in Manta, if they let us put a military
base in Miami. If there is no problem, we'll accept".
Correa has pledged five key areas of change: constitutional revolution; ethical revolution; economic
and productivity revolution; education and health revolution; and dignity, sovereignty and Latin
American integration revolution.
President Correa is to take office officially on January 15, 2007 but has already begun appointing
new government ministers, some of whom have already started work.