Mass Protests Challenge Correa’s ‘Citizens’ Revolution’ in Ecuador

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/16106/mass-protests-challenge-correa-s-citizens-revolution-in-ecuador

Unlike his predecessors, Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has enjoyed consistently high approval ratings since coming into office in 2007. And while support for some other regional leaders, hit hard by economic slowdowns and corruption scandals, are nearing rock-bottom levels, Correa’s rule has also been relatively free of political turbulence. But over the past several weeks, that has changed.

Growing protests reveal that many Ecuadoreans are increasingly disaffected and no longer afraid to take to the streets and openly defy a self-assured president intent on carrying out his so-called citizens’ revolution. The biggest protests came late last week in the country’s largest city, Guayaquil, where thousands of Ecuadoreans marched in the streets and called for Correa’s resignation. Guayaquil’s long-time mayor, Jaime Nebot, one of Correa’s fiercest critics, led the demonstrations and warned that Correa was leading Ecuador down the path of nearby Venezuela.

Protests first hit Ecuador in early June following the announcement of two proposed bills that would hike taxes on property appreciation and inheritance—initially up to 77 percent on the latter, though Correa later lowered that to 45 percent. In keeping with his populist rhetoric aimed at the country’s traditional elite, Correa argued that the taxes would only affect the rich, enabling him to continue financing development and infrastructure projects to help the poorest sectors. Indeed, the law’s official name is “the wealth redistribution law.”

Although Correa last week decided to temporarily withdraw the bills from Congress until after Pope Francis’ visit in early July due to the large public backlash, protests have not stopped. Indeed, they build on cumulative discontent by civic groups resisting the concentration of presidential power and erosion of democratic safeguards. The dramatic drop in oil prices—in a country where oil exports account for 11 percent of its GDP—hasn’t helped Correa’s cause, contributing most to Ecuador’s troubled economy. In response, the government has eliminated up to 40 percent of state contributions to retirement pensions and added tariffs, some as high as 45 percent, to more than 2,500 imported products.

[COLGATE4]

1. Correa seems to be heading towards learning

that the popularity of the President in Ecuador (and his time in office) is indeed fleeting.