Forbidden to Forget II

Luisa González is the friendly face of correísmo, a second-level official in that authoritarian and corrupt regime

By Luis Fierro Carrión (*)

Twitter: @luis_fierro_eco

The average Ecuadorian voter has a fragile memory and tends to remember only positive things from the past.

Luisa González is the friendly face of correísmo, having only been a second-level official in that authoritarian and corrupt regime (although she was charged by the Comptroller, for $880,473, for the misuse of presidential planes, which flew to tax havens for no apparent reason).

But that does not prevent her from being the candidate, along with Andrés Arauz, of Rafael Correa, Jorge Glas, Mera, Duarte and others accused of corruption (some in prison, others fugitives, others released by venal judges).

Many indigenous people seem to have forgotten the persecution they suffered at the hands of the correista regime, which included the murder of several indigenous leaders (Bosco Wisuma, Freddy Taish, José Tendentza, Bairon Morocho); the attacks received by Yaku Pérez, his partner Manuela Picq, Salvador Quishpe, and other leaders of Conaie and Pachakutik. They also seem to forget that the government took the headquarters of Conaie (2014), which was later restored to them by Lenin Moreno.

Social organizations seem to forget that during the Correa decade more than 800 social leaders were arrested, leading to the criminalization of social protest; This included cases such as the 10 from Luluncoto, the 12 from Central Técnico, the 21 from Arbolito, etc. Karla Calapaqui documents in her book "Criminalization of the Protest: 2007-2015, the victims of correísmo", more than 700 arrests, beatings and torture for social protests, as well as some murders.

The UP/MPD leaders have forgotten that Correa dissolved the National Union of Educators (UNE) in 2016, liquidated its assets and appropriated the pension fund for the Ecuadorian teachers, the financial entity of the UNE, which held 405 million dollars. These organizations forget that correísmo created parallel organizations to divide the social movement, such as the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), the Red de Maestros, etc.

Does society forget that there are at least 35 unsolved murders, which include 15 journalists and people who denounced corruption, such as General Jorge Gabela, Quinto Pazmiño and his wife María Chancay, Fausto Valdivieso, among others?

Voters forget that there are reports of acts of corruption estimated by the late president of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Jorge Rodríguez, at least at $35 billion, in bribes, overpricing in public contracts, tax evasion, commissions on oil exports and imports of derivatives, public debt and current spending. Other estimates calculate losses to the State between $30 and 70 billion; that is, between 10 and 20% of tax revenues during the 10 years.

We cannot forget that former President Correa, former Vice President Glas, 10 former ministers, 4 assembly members, and directors of the IESS, Petroecuador, the Secretary of Intelligence, and the Legal Secretary of the Presidency were investigated and sentenced.

In 2021, Arauz said that he hoped that the Correísmo government would last from 20 to 50 years. He also said that he would promote a "good de-dollarization".

Hopefully the memory of citizens is reawakened.

(*) Translation of my column published on July 21, 2023 in the newspaper “El Universo” of Ecuador

https://www.eluniverso.com/opinion/columnistas/prohibido-olvidar-ii-nota/

Partial list of more than 35 deaths that were unsolved, during the Correa regime. Full list available at the “Plan V” site:

https://sobrevivientes.planv.com.ec/categoria/muertes-no-aclaradas/