The former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa has attributed to the «corruption» of the current institutions and the «destruction» of the structures left by his government the current insecurity crisis that the South American country is experiencing and that has among its main focuses the prisons, where the former president even fears that there is a «deliberate» inaction on the part of the authorities in search of a «social cleansing».
Correa has denied that his ten years in office (2007-2017) can be blamed for all the ills that have befallen Ecuador and, in the field of security, he has defended in an interview to Europa Press from Brussels that he left the country as the second safest in Latin America, only behind Chile.
The current president, Guillermo Lasso, has made the fight against insecurity one of his main government mantras, for which he has taken exceptional measures in the most violent regions and cities, such as Guayaquil, and has promised reforms of the penitentiary system, which already has hundreds of deaths in protests in recent years.
«There cannot be such a magnitude of ineptitude», Correa has sentenced, who has raised a «conjecture» based on «indications» to question the real will of the Government in the penitentiary area. «For me it is already deliberate, is that this right wing seeks social cleansing, because they cannot be inept to have been able to control (the crisis) in three years, because since 2019 we have this kind of massacres,» he has apostilled.
In this sense, he considers «ridiculous» that his government and its alleged «narco-politicians» can still be blamed for today’s emergencies. «I would gladly accept it if it solved the problem, but people are dying,» said Correa, who has ironized with the argument that under his mandate there was not so much insecurity because they agreed with the mafias. «The logical conclusion? Pact again, at least there were not so many deaths,» he said.
Regarding the proposal to elaborate a census of inmates at national level, Correa considered that this measure shows that «they have lost control», considering that «there should not be a census if there were adequate records». He also denounced «corruption» within key institutions such as the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI).
The former president has attributed the current situation to the efforts of the administrations of Lasso and the «traitor» Lenín Moreno -former ally of Correa- to «destroy» the institutionality and to leave behind «a vision of State», within which all agencies worked together and initiatives such as the ECU911 system or the «community police», involved at the local level, were promoted.
«BRUTAL PERSECUTION».
Correa feels that both he and his entourage have been victims of a «brutal persecution» in which the «judicial party» and the «media party» have served as executing arms at the service of the government in office, first of Moreno and now of Lasso.
Correa has a pending sentence of eight years in prison for the so-called ‘bribery case’, which he considers «paradigm of ‘lawfare'» or political use of Justice worldwide. He has denounced that this trial, «the fastest in history», was only used as a tool to prevent his registration as a candidate in the last elections.
Correa tried to return as a vice-presidential candidate and, later, as a candidate to the National Assembly, in both cases without success due to bureaucratic obstacles. «If I was a candidate and I was in Ecuador, we would win the elections,» he said, assuming that if a «bad» candidate like Lasso triumphed it was because of the absence of a major rival.
The former Ecuadorian leader perceives, however, that things are beginning to change. Last week, Justice annulled one of the convictions against his former vice-president, Jorge Glass, and according to Correa it is because, now that the «inevitable» social support to the «citizen revolution» is becoming evident, there are «judges who do what they always should have done.
In fact, he has affirmed that the Ecuadorian authorities are increasingly going against the tide, defending that he enjoys «political asylum» in Belgium. «It is not a failed state, it is not a Bolivarian state, it is not even a Latin American state,» he added.
Correa accused the government and its alleged accomplices of «stealing democracy from the Ecuadorian people» and made it clear that, «if necessary to recover the country», he will be a candidate again — «but that is the means, not the end», he then clarified. «If I were a candidate for president I would beat them, modesty aside, in the first round», he declared.
He has also recognized that he will not return to Ecuador as long as he does not enjoy the immunity that, for example, would grant him an official electoral candidacy, since the contrary «would be suicidal». Correa has insisted that he did not go «fleeing», since when he moved to Belgium he did so «without a traffic violation», but he is clear about what could happen if he returns today: «If I return to Ecuador, they will put me in jail».
In Belgium he is «relatively safe», although he has recalled the recent assassination attempt against Cristina Fernandez in Argentina to warn that his ally is «alive by a miracle». «They instill so much hatred that any fool believes that shooting a progressive leader makes him a hero», he pointed out.
Ecuador has remained as one of the few countries in Latin America under a conservative government, although Correa considers that the «tendency» that has raised leaders such as Gabriel Boric in Chile or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is not alien to the feelings of a «majority» of Ecuadorians. Thus, he foresees that «sooner rather than later, the citizen revolution will recover the homeland».
He believes that this new wave has arrived because people have been able to compare the management of conservative executives with «the golden age» of the beginning of the century, when he himself came to power.
The victories of the left in Latin America have also been accompanied by an unprecedented support for ultra-right candidates, a phenomenon that Correa perceives as the same in Europe and that, in his opinion, responds to the electoral success of «easy» and, at times, «inhuman» ways out.
If in Europe he has attributed the «fear of migration» a large part of the success of ultra-right parties, in Latin America the main pillar would be «dissatisfaction with democracy»: spreading the idea that «all (politicians) are the same» and that «there is no way out». «People, in their desperation, buy the easy way out of the extreme right», their «siren songs», he lamented.
