Correa

Even at the lowest ebb of his popularity, according to a U.S. Embassy cable from Quito, Rafael Correa held “the… record for popularity among all presidents in Ecuador since 1979.” Correa is a transformative president for Ecuador. Since taking office in 2007, he has taken unprecedented moves to revolutionize the small Latin American country. In 2008, he declared Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate. His defiant stance eventually led to a favourable renegotiation of Ecuador’s repayment terms. While a new constitution brought in under his administration guarantees environmental rights, Correa has also opened up Ecuador to Chinese mining. His stance towards the United States has been controversial: he closed a U.S. military base in Manta, and expelled the U.S. ambassador after WikiLeaks State Department cables revealed the embassy exercising influence over members of the Ecuadorian police force. Surviving an attempted police coup in 2010, Correa was criticized by private media in Ecuador, and retaliated with a series of controversial libel actions in Ecuadorian courts – a move for which he has been slammed by press freedom groups internationally. A charismatic left-wing populist with a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois, Correa proves a pivotal figure in recent Ecuadorian history, and a keen spokesperson for the Latin America of the 21st century.