Ecuador's new president breaks ranks with predecessor.
| Autor | Saavedra, Luis Angel |
Ecuador's new president, Lenrn Moreno, has made early political moves aimed at distancing himself from his predecessor, Rafael Correa (2007-2017), surprising some of the opposition and upsetting part of his own base in the Alianza Pais (AP) party, including the former president himself. Correa has questioned Moreno's decisions and expressed concern over the fact that new AP representatives do not seem inclined to defend his administration or the model he laid out during his 10 years as president (NotiSur, April 21 2017).
Ruling party in crisis
Even though internal friction within the AP was visible at the beginning of Moreno's candidacy, the party managed to present a united front during the election campaign. Nevertheless, party militants don't think such efforts will survive the first 100 days of the new administration, especially after Moreno named his closest advisers, the most controversial choice being Gustavo Larrea (NotiSur, May 8, 2009).
Larrea is one of the founders of Alianza Pais, along with Alberto Acosta. Both became Correa's political enemies after they were expelled from the party. Leftist and progressive sectors see Larrea's selection as an attempt to return to the AP's origins in a leftist ideology that is modern, ecological, and geared towards collective construction. Meanwhile, others in the party consider the new administration a betrayal of Correa, the AP's top leader, and warn that the country risks returning to a period of political upheaval in which problems are resolved by overthrowing the president. Larrea was part of that sort of history.
Correa was upset when people banned by his administration returned to government positions. He couldn't hide his anger when Moreno met with police and military leaders, gave them a vote of confidence, and offered to solve problems caused by the previous administration, such as those related to the expropriation of land owned by a social service agency of the armed forces, the Instituto de Seguridad Social de las Fuerzas Armadas (ISSFA).
The meeting ended with a decision to not form the Servicio de Proteccion Publico (SPP), a force made up of armed civilians, independent of the military or the police, that had been authorized by a measure (the Codigo Organico de Entidades de Seguridad Ciudadana) hastily approved on May 10, during one of the final sessions of the National Assembly, in which the AP had total control. The SPP was designed to provide security for the president and...
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