Juan J. Paz-y-Miño Cepeda*
Despite declaring himself a liberal, he joined the Social Christian Party (PSC) along with figures from Guayaquil’s elite. He was an opponent of the system of return to constitutional order introduced by the military triumvirate, culminating in 1979, and later, as a deputy, led the opposition to the government of Jaime Roldós (1979-1981) and the radical struggle against the “communist” Osvaldo Hurtado (1981-1984), who catapulted his leadership and support of the right wing grouped in the “National Reconstruction Front”, leading him to President of the Republic for the period 1984-1988.
The PSC, reconstituted in 1978 under liberal economic principles, far removed from Catholic social doctrine and the sectarianism it had in its origins as a “poncista” movement (its founder was Camilo Ponce Enríquez, 1951), became the main force of the right nationals. Under the undisputed leadership of multimillionaire industrialist Febres Cordero and the hegemony of a Guayaquil economic and political elite, the party gained a formidable presence on the coast and managed to expand into various provinces, with electoral successes in various branch governments and a significant legislative presence. It even gained popular support through populist patronage, recruitment and mass mobilization mechanisms.
As President, Febres Cordero initiated the economic business model that endured for two and a half decades. He was favored by the “Reagan era” of the US, the deals with the IMF and the spread of neoliberal ideologies, which were quickly endorsed by the national oligarchy. Paradoxically, Febres Cordero centralized the state, “revived” private debt, made public investments, strengthened the corporate sector, liberated markets, and privileged the interests of social elites, thus developing unprecedented and “successful” policies in the vision of those who supported him. . But the “model” used the imposition of other state functions, the closure of various media outlets, the marginalization of the labor movement, the containment of the left and the fight against the AVC guerrilla movement. The results of his presidency accentuated the concentration of wealth without improving the living and working conditions of the population and with several corruption scandals. The despotic and authoritarian exercise of power led to tensions over democracy, the rebellion of part of the Air Force, an impeachment motion and the resignation of Congress. O. Hurtado dedicated the book The Civil Dictatorship to him and the Truth Commission (2010) singled out his regime as a human rights violator (https://bit.ly/3FoQdhw).
Febres Cordero became Mayor of Guayaquil (1992-2000) and his management transformed the community and the city. His work was continued by Mayor Jaime Nebot (2000-2019), who became the new local leader of what he called a “successful model”. The right-wing hegemony in this community for over three decades has fomented a kind of “autonomism” in Guayaquil, based on regionalist positions and the ideal of a city-state, which is also nurtured in its own historical ideology (https://bit.ly / 3mS641R ). In Guayaquil, identification as a social Christian or right-wing became part of social status among the upper and middle classes to such an extent that it was very difficult and even “risky” to question Febres Cordero or Nebot. The break with this hegemony was confirmed during the decline of Cynthia Viteri’s mayorship (2019-2023) by the PSC, which lost re-election in February 2023 because Aquiles Álvarez triumphed from the Citizens’ Revolution (RC), ie from “correísmo”.
Guillermo Lasso M. (Guayaquil, 1955) finished high school and was forced to work from an early age. His working relationships have been established in financial services companies, he has been a bank director, he has held the presidency of the Association of Financial Companies of Ecuador and he concentrated his activities at the head of the Banco de Guayaquil. He ventured into public life during the government of Jamil Mahuad (1998-2000) as Governor of Guayas, then as Super Minister of Economy and later as a traveling ambassador to the government of Lucio Gutiérrez. Due to his personal ambition and promotion of CREO, a party he founded (2012) also with liberal economic principles but conservative ideology and became his voting power, Lasso was a presidential candidate in 2013, again in 2017 and eventually won the presidency of the republic in 2021 , this time with the support of the PSC.
President Lasso (since 2021) began his management by successfully taking care of vaccination against the Covid pandemic. He was preceded by Lenín Moreno (2017-2021), who broke with the RC and overturned his government (https://bit.ly/3JGJvpH): he dismantled the achievements of “correísmo” that affected very sensitive services to the population ( Education, health, housing, social security, registry office, post office), established a relentless government persecution of the “Correistas” (including litigation and the promotion of a true anti-Correista “mythology” followed by the right), restored the outdated business model During the progressive government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017) he paralyzed public works and investments, carried out disastrous economic management with serious neglect of social policies (prosecutors have filed charges of alleged bribery against Moreno and part of his family: https:/ /bit.ly/3LwJm9O), joined the US, the international right, and enabled the Formation of a power bloc determined by big business, the big press and the political right, which without them were directly represented with the triumph of Lasso and his promotion to the executive branch.
But instead of overcoming the legacies received and the deinstitutionalization of the state, creating a government that demonstrates the “values” of private enterprise, the “advantages” of the free market, the “efficiency” of people who know how to do business to create wealth and “create work”, as Febres Cordero proclaimed at the time, the multimillionaire banker Lasso turned out to be Moreno’s political “continuist”. It consolidated the business-neoliberal economic model, but also with oligarchic features and the privileging of the interests of the profitable financial bourgeoisie, which is why one can speak of the second “plutocratic era” in Ecuador (the first, between 1912 -1925, produced the Julian Revolution : https://bit.ly/40ebJ0j). He also agreed with Moreno to repress the indigenous movement and to seek the support of “democracy” in support of the armed forces and especially the police, which have gained direct political space in the executive branch (https://bit . ly/3JLpG0A / https://bit.ly/3mThceF). The incomprehensible ineffectiveness of the government in the face of the galloping deterioration of the population’s living and working conditions, the paralysis of works, services and public investments, together with the explosion of citizens’ insecurity, unprecedented and due in the country’s history to unstoppable crime (https://bit.ly/42g4c2Y) ultimately undermined President Lasso’s credibility and support. More than 80 percent of the country questions his management and, most importantly, he lost the February referendum with eight questions presented as axes for a better future, amid government accusations of being “narcos” who would vote NO.
Although the issue of the “Pandora Papers” (https://bit.ly/3mUWxH8) mentioning Lasso, which had far-reaching international repercussions, was literally “silenced” in Ecuador (https://bit.ly/ 3FtPMmd), another scandal has surfaced in recent weeks about a possible public-private corruption plot involving people from the presidential environment, a certain corrupt police leadership, organized crime, drug trafficking and the “Albanian mafia” (https:// bit.ly /3mYQqBS / https://bit.ly/3LmJkRG), a serious fire that the “big press” and “lasist” defenders are trying to quench. The National Assembly passed a vigorous report, as a prelude to a possible constitutional impeachment of Lasso (https://bit.ly/3Lpz5Mo / https://bit.ly/3ZSxS4A), the outcome of which is unpredictable, also because everything could be with impunity, while the government sees this as an attempt at “destabilization”. Under these conditions, the break with the PSC, which now backs impeachment, has split the once-solid power bloc (including Guayaquil), at least for the moment. And given the apparent institutional and political crisis Ecuador is going through, there is a majority consensus in favor of Lasso resigning or initiating legal proceedings to end his mandate (https://bit.ly/3Jt1HSy).
Consequently, the political right is hit, although it is a temporary phenomenon. Because what unites the country’s economic elites is the defense of the neoliberal business model, which they believe will suffer if the progressive forces, the left and above all the “Correísmo”, the specter that plagues them, eventually triumph. They will do everything to prevent their “return”.
rmh/jjpmc
*Ecuadorian historian and analyst.
(Taken from selected companies)