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Lenín Moreno will carry on the policies of Rafael Correa |
Lenín Moreno will carry on the policies of Rafael Correa, including the continued sheltering of Julian Assange.
Ecuadorians have voted in the first round of their
Presidential election. This was the first election since 2006 in which
Ecuadorians will not be able to vote for popular leftist leader Rafael
Correa.
With 80% of the votes counted Correa’s former Vice President
and endorsee Lenín Moreno is leading for votes with over 38%. It is now
a certainty that he will have won the first round of votes. All that
remains to be seen is if it will get enough votes to avoid a second
round in April.
Like many in South America, Ecuador has peacefully broken
out of the ultra-right wing clutches of US hegemony. For Ecuadorians,
this was expressed through the increased nationalization of resources
like oil, windfall taxation imposed on big corporations and an
improvement in social services for the poor.
Internationally, though, Correa is probably best known as
the man who granted asylum to Julian Assange in his hour of need, at a
time when Britain, Sweden and the United States were all looking for his
blood, in spite of the fact that he was never charged with any crime in
Sweden.
This took on a new meaning in the election as Moreno’s
right-wing opponent Guillermo Lasso vowed to resend Assange’s asylum,
thereby effectively throwing him to the dogs.
This would have been a national embarrassment for Ecuador.
If Ecuador could not handle the pressure of sheltering a well-known
figure like Assange, they should have never taken it on.
But Correa was a personal supporter. Correa has stated that
it was only through Wikileaks that he learned of US interference in the
internal affairs of Ecuador and for that, he was eternally grateful.
But for Ecuador, the cause of Assange soon took on a deeper
meaning. Ecuador was seen by the wider world as a bastion of justice and
humanitarianism, standing defiantly against a west that had long
surrendered any credibility when it came to such things.
If a right-wing government were to reverse this stance, it
would show that Ecuador was prepared to sell out on its principles of
compassion and fairness. It would frankly appear pathetic.
Moreno’s victory is a vote of confidence for Correa’s time
in office. It also sends a message that a country typically off the
wider international radar is willing to stand up to big bullies in the
wider world.
Source: The Duran
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