Author name: jbusby

Ecuador held a historic referendum which denied former President Correa a chance to run for the presidency again. The Washington Post argues that Ecuador is bucking an authoritarian trend in the region and around the world:

RAFAEL CORREA, like Vladi­mir Putin, Hugo Chávez and other authoritarian rulers, found himself stymied by term limits. So in 2015, the Ecuadoran president persuaded his legislature to lift a ceiling of two presidential terms by promising not to run in 2017. His idea was to install a follower for four years and then return to power, as Mr. Putin once did. Then, on Sunday, came a much-deserved comeuppance: Ecuadoran voters, prompted by Mr. Correa’s own successor, voted overwhelmingly to restore a two-term presidential limit, thus blocking the planned second act. It was a victory for democracy not just in Ecuador but also in a region where numerous rulers have sought to entrench themselves in power.

In other parts of the continent, leaders aren’t standing aside:

Voters elsewhere in Latin America appear eager to push long-serving leaders out of power; the problem is that the caudillos aren’t listening. Bolivian President Evo Morales lost a referendum to remove his term limit, but then induced the supreme court he appointed to void it. Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Honduras’s Juan Orlando Hernández similarly manipulated their courts. After extracting permission to run for reelection, Mr. Hernández most likely stole Honduras’s election last November.

Observers generally are pleased with the new president Ecuador and think the referendum was a positive break between the new president Lenin Morena and his predecessor Correa, who came from the same political party.

Since our last newsletter, Ecuador held a historic referendum which limited the ability of former president Correa to return as president, but it also entailed restrictions on oil drilling in Yasuni Nationa Park. Lots of discussion about what this might mean in practice.

From Mongabay: 

• In a recent referendum, 67.5 percent of Ecuador’s voting population voted in favor increasing Yasuní National Park’s Intangible Zone by at least 50,000 hectares and reducing the oil extraction area in the park from 1,030 to 300 hectares.
• Ishpingo Field, which forms part of Block 43 of the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) Initiative, is the only field that has not yet been exploited. Drilling was slated to begin there in mid-2018, but the referendum’s “yes” vote may prevent exploitation.
• Ishpingo is located on Yasuni’s Intangible Zone, which protects Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation. Environmentalists hope that a technical commission will be formed to define where the Intangible Zone will expand.

I was getting my tires changed and saw this terrible Amy Schumer/Goldie Hawn movie Snatched wason. They go to Ecuador! Ecuador! BUT, Ecuador is treated as cliched developing country punching bag in this unfunny comedy. Oh well. What’s the best movie that features Ecuador?

When I went and visited Ecuador last summer for the first time in almost 20 years, I found that many people are on social media. If not the parents I knew when I served, their kids are, and they are all grown up. If you haven’t tried to find Ecuadorian friends on Facebook, search for their names! By one account, nearly 60% of the population in Ecuador, nearly 10 million Ecuadorians, are on Facebook!

Once you friend a few, others will likely friend you! I feel like I have a better appreciation for what people are doing than I ever did. Soccer games, weddings, birth announcements, trips on horseback to the Paramo, dances, funerals, vacations, hospitalization, I’ve seen it all.

News reports said Ecuador’s vice president Jorge Glas was jailed on corruption charges in October and convicted in December:

Ecuador’s Vice President Jorge Glas was jailed on Monday after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest while he is investigated for allegedly taking bribes from a Brazilian construction giant involved in a sprawling regional graft scandal.

Apparently, evidence has been recently submitted against him.

Ecuador’s Inspection Commission has convened with assemblyman Roberto Gomez Alcivar, the trial judge presenting evidence in the impeachment hearings against suspended Vice-President Jorge Glas.

Ecuador’s president says Glas is no longer vice president, despite it being an elected position. …

Ecuador Vice President jailedRead More »

Last summer, I went to Ecuador and spent some time out in the Oriente near Vulcan Reventador which was rumbling at the time. In December, Reventador spewed lava! (video below). …

Reventador EruptsRead More »

I was also able to visit other counterparts during my recent stay in Ecuador. I dropped in on Nelson Torres. Torres learned the craft of raising pigs with some help from Peace Corps volunteers and then became a source of information for multiple generations of volunteers thereafter, including me. I learned everything I know about pigs from Nelson.

It was tremendous to see how his business had grown and hear of his big plans for the future.

I also was able to get some fantastic photos of his family.

One of the other joys of the trip was catching up with work partners from counterpart organizations. Those include Alberto Tamayo who continues to work with the Fundacion Pastaza.

At the time, they worked in reforestation and sustainable agriculture in the highlands around Ambato, largely to protect the hydroelectric dams. They now work on paramo conservation for water quality protection in the same region, with work with agriculture communities to protect drinking water and irrigation sources.

Alberto lives in Patate and his family runs a restaurant and hotel called La Casta. The back road to Patate from Pillaro is now paved and you can get there in 30 minutes in what would have been a multi-year trip.

I got some great photos of the family and Patate.

It was great to be able to catch up with them and to hear about their work and how the family is trying make their ecotourism venture work.