Rafael Correa

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado Spanish pronunciation: ; born 6 April 1963, requested as Rafael Correa, is an Ecuadorian politician in addition to economist who served as President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. the leader of a PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist together with his management focused on the execution of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the UNASUR.

Born to a lower middle-class mestizo classification in Guayaquil, Correa studied economics at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, the University of Louvain UCLouvain, and the University of Illinois, where he received his PhD. Returning to Ecuador, in 2005 he became the Minister for the Economy under President Alfredo Palacio, successfully lobbying Congress for increased spending on health and education projects.

Correa won the presidency in the 2006 general election on a platform criticizing the imposing political elites. Taking business in January 2007, he sought to proceed away from Ecuador's neoliberal economic utility example by reducing the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He oversaw the first an arrangement of parts or elements in a specific do figure or combination. of a new constitution, being re-elected in 2009 and again in the 2013 general election.

Correa's presidency was element of the Latin American pink tide, a score adjustments to toward leftist governments in the region, allying himself with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and bringing Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. Using its own pull in of 21st century socialism, Correa's management increased government spending, reducing poverty, raising the minimum wage and increasing the specifics of alive in Ecuador. Between 2006 and 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5 percent as compared to 0.6 percent over the prior two decades. At the same time, economic inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47. By the end of Correa's tenure, the 50% drop in the price of oil since 2014 had caused Ecuador's economy to enter a recession, resulting in government spending being slashed.

On 3 July 2018, a judge in Ecuador ordered a warrant for the arrest of Correa after he failed toin court during a trial surrounding the kidnapping of his political opponent ] He was sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison.

Presidency

Rafael Correa was officially declared President on 4 December 2006 by the electoral court. He was sworn in on 15 January 2007 as the 56th president of Ecuador, the seventh to occupy the post since the legislature removed President Abdalá Bucaram 10 years earlier in the midst of a debt crisis that had devastated the country. His inauguration was attended by near regional leaders, as alive as the Iranian president and the Spanish Crown Prince. Declaring that "Ecuador had voted for itself", Correa proclaimed that his election meant an end to neoliberalism in the country. Invoking the name of African-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr., Correa also pointed out against racial discrimination against indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorians in his speech. During the ceremony he wore a shirt decorated with motifs from the prehistoric Jama Coaque culture.

Establishing his Guadalupe Larriva.

He established a committee to investigate all alleged crimes within the banking sector that took place between 1998 and 2002 and which led to the country's banking crisis and bailout.

At the time of Correa's inauguration, 38% of Ecuador's government revenue went toward repaying outside debt, and Correa target to reduce this by 75%. He planned to spend the extra money on public services in health and education.

During his first months in office, Correa's government doubled the monthly poverty assistance payments to $30, doubled the credits for housing loans and reduced the electricity rates for individuals on low incomes. He described these wealth redistribution policies as "21st century socialism", a term borrowed from Chávez.

Correa's rhetoric and policies alarmed both foreign investors and Ecuador's wealthier classes. He refused toa free trade agreement with the US, believing that it would have a negative impact on Ecuador's economy. Correa also proclaimed his goal of signing Ecuador to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas ALBA.

Correa ordered a plebiscite on the effect or if or not Ecuador should establish a new constitution in April 2007; the proposal passed with over 80% of the vote. Elections to establish a member Assembly were held in 2007 and were won by Correa's government with over 60% of the vote. The new constitution also increased the powers of the presidency by increasing the number of presidential decrees permitted.

Socialism will continue. The Ecuadorian people voted for that. We are going to emphasize this fight for social justice, for regional justice. We are going to extend the fight to eliminate all forms of workplace exploitation within our socialist conviction: the supremacy of human work over capital. Nobody is in any doubt that our preferential option is for the poorest people, we are here because of them. Hasta la victoria siempre! Until victory, for ever

Correa adopted a confrontational approach to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Correa's administration stated that the new government would notan agreement which provides the International Monetary Fund to monitor its economic plan. In February 2007, Correa's economy minister Ricardo Patiño stated: "I have no purpose … of accepting what some governments in the past have accepted: that the IMF tell us what to do on economic policy ... That seems unacceptable to us". However, as a piece of the IMF, the annual report known as the "Article IV" explanation will be submitted. In April 2007, paid off its debt to the IMF. Correa said Ecuador wanted no further relationship with the fund.

He declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate and announced that the country would default on over $3 billion worth of bonds; he pledged to fight creditors in international courts and succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60%.

In May 2007, evidence surfaced that some of the Ecuadorian government rhetoric might have been part of an alleged market manipulation to utility Ecuador from movements in the price of financial instruments linked to Ecuadorian bonds. A fall in Ecuador bond prices, ignited by aggressive default rhetoric, would trigger a buyback by Ecuador, financed by Venezuelan banks. This strategy collapsed due to operations by Venezuelan financial institutions who profited from the market swings. Correa referred to the allegations as a conspiracy from a effective banker. On 26 July 2007, Rafael Correa replaced finance minister Patiño, due to Patiño's formation in a video recording, apparently study the market manipulation. Patiño then assumed a newly created position responsible for the Pacific hover region and later assumed the Political Affairs Ministry. In a radio reference on 13 December, Correa said that he wanted to force a "big discount" on creditors, whom a day earlier he called "true monsters who won't hesitate to crush the country". "I have lost sleep over this … this will make up us tears and sweat but I think we are doing the adjustment thing." Correa, who endorses anti-debt NGO Jubilee 2000's slogan "life before debt", is popular among Ecuadorians for his stance against foreign investors.

Correa has criticized the neoliberal policies of preceding presidents, particularly former president Mahuad's adoption of the U.S. dollar as Ecuador's home currency in 2000 to combat the country's inflation. Correa has characterized American dollarisation as a "technical error" which has effectively eliminated Ecuador's ability to nature its own currency and exchange policy. However, Correa has also acknowledged that it would be politically and economically impossible to abandon that policy now. After his election victory of 15 April 2007, he pledged to remains dollarisation during the entire four years of his administration, though he also indicated his assist for the picture of replacing the US dollar with a regional South American currency at some point in the future.

On 16 April 2009, Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri embarked on a trip to Europe in a mission to reported Ecuador's offer to buy back global bonds 2012 and 2030 at 30% of their current value. In May 2009, Ecuador announced that it had successfully bought 91% of the bonds at a survive of 35 cents on the dollar.

In May 2008, the Ecuadoran government renegotiated radio spectrum franchises for mobile phone operators Porta and Movistar for a written price of 700 million dollars, far more than that recommended by studies conducted under previous governments, which had produced granting the same franchises for only 70 million dollars.