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LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 February 2020

Moreno delivers final blow to Correa’s legacy

Not since Lucio Gutiérrez (2003-2005) met George W Bush on 11 February 2003 had an Ecuadorean president been invited to the White House. This owed to strained bilateral relations under Correa whose embrace of 21st century socialism took Ecuador decisively out of the US orbit. But that began to change under President Moreno who withdrew Ecuador from the left-leaning ideology-focused bloc Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (Alba) led by Venezuela, and cemented a profound foreign policy transformation by applying for full membership of the outward-oriented and export-driven Pacific Alliance. Seeing the way the wind was blowing, the US began courting Moreno assiduously and the reconstruction of bilateral relations has since moved apace. While meeting Trump, Moreno expressed his full support for Venezuela’s opposition figurehead and widely recognised interim president Juan Guaidó.

According to a White House statement published after their meeting, Trump and Moreno “committed to explore new areas in trade, investment, and job creation…based on a sound investment environment and fair market access”.

During a press conference in Quito’s Carondelet presidential palace on 17 February to discuss the balance of his US visit, Moreno went further, saying that there was a strong will on both sides to proceed with a dialogue leading to a trade deal, most likely along the lines of the recently concluded United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Moreno said that deepening commercial ties with the US, Ecuador’s principal trading partner with which it had a bilateral trade surplus of around US$300m in two-way trade of US$12.49bn in 2019, was crucial.

Moreno said he had broached with Trump the elimination of US tariffs on exports of broccoli, artichokes, tuna, and roses, and this will form part of preliminary talks in April when a delegation of US trade and investment officials visit Ecuador. But discussing sensitive issues such as reducing tariff barriers and opening markets, possibly to the detriment of farmers and domestic industry,

in an electoral year will be challenging - in Ecuador and the US. In the meantime, Ecuador will join the ‘Growth in the Americas’ initiative to promote US investment in infrastructure and energy. An office of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will formally reopen in the US embassy in Quito in March to advance development cooperation programmes, and, in May, a bilateral political dialogue to discuss trade, security, and regional priorities will take place in Washington.

Trump and Moreno also discussed bilateral security cooperation to combat transnational crime, money laundering, and terrorism, while the defence minister, Oswaldo Jarrín, took part in a meeting in the Pentagon on 13 February centring on the fight against drug trafficking. Last month Ecuador’s ambassador to the US, Francisco Carrión, resigned over the lack of a signed accord with the US regulating its counter-narcotics and surveillance flights conducted over Ecuadorean territory since September 2018 [WR-20-02]; Correa pointedly refused to renew the US Southern Command’s lease on its Forward Operating Location in Manta in 2008.

Correa corruption trial begins

Ecuador will also create a criminal intelligence centre and a unit for fighting corruption, with which the US will provide cooperation, financing, and training. This was eye-catching because just two days before Moreno travelled to the US, a corruption case dubbed ‘Sobornos 2012-2016’ began in Ecuador, implicating Correa, his former vice-president Jorge Glas (currently serving a six-year prison sentence for illicit association), and 19 others comprising an assortment of former cabinet ministers, secretaries, and their advisers.

At the outset of the trial, the attorney general, Diana Salazar, denounced “a corrupt government undermining public administration, betraying the confidence of the people that elected it and condemning them to absolute poverty”. Salazar argued that Correa led “a criminal structure composed of strategically designated officials” who misused their positions to extract bribes from companies in exchange for public works contracts, running to some US$150m. Those charged stand accused of funnelling the illicitly obtained funds into the ruling left-wing Alianza País (AP) when it was controlled by Correa. Salazar levelled charges of bribery, illicit association, and influence peddling at the accused.

In an interview with the Colombian weekly magazine Semana on 11 February, Correa said he felt “totally betrayed” by Moreno, accusing him through Salazar of “political persecution” and of orchestrating “a big show trial”. He claimed Moreno was “desperate” to try and obtain a sentence before November this year to bar him from registering to compete in the presidential and legislative elections on 7 February 2021. Correa said he was prepared to return to Ecuador from Belgium, where he is living with his family, to stand as a candidate either for vice president or as a legislative deputy for his Revolución Ciudadana (RC), an AP splinter group vehemently opposed to the Moreno administration.

Fausto Jarrín, Correa’s lawyer, also denounced an attempt to turn the ‘Sobornos 2012-2016’ case into “the trial of the century” and sought the recusal of the three judges assigned to the case, Iván León, Iván Saquicela, and Marco Rodríguez, immediately after it began. This led to a brief stay in proceedings but this was lifted on 14 February and the trial resumed.

On 19 February the court heard a legal expert in criminal organisations, Alexandra Mantilla, offer her opinion in the case. Mantilla said she had concluded that a “corporative criminal structure” had been in operation. She contended that it was multi-layered, headed by Correa along with Glas, with a second level composed of officials such as Viviana Bonilla, a serving RC legislative deputy; María de los Ángeles Duarte, a former transport and public works minister; Alexis Mera, a former legal secretary to the presidency; and Doris Soliz, a former AP executive secretary.

External financing

During his visit to the US, President Moreno also held a meeting with David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, which is set to release US$300m of credit to Ecuador this March, a sum the economy & finance minister, Richard Martínez, said his government was keen to see increased. Separately, Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), an independent agency of the US government, will visit Ecuador shortly to explore new opportunities to finance private development projects.

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