Socialist Lenin Moreno Wins Ecuadorian Presidential Election, Much to Julian Assange’s Relief
Lenin Moreno.(Twitter)
Ecuador’s president elect Lenin Moreno, who became disabled after he was shot during a burglary and “put rights for disabled Ecuadoreans at the heart of his campaign,” inherits a difficult economy as he takes the helm of a nation still recovering from a terrible earthquake.
From Reuters:
Moreno, a former United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility, has a more conciliatory style than the fiery Correa and has promised to reach out to opponents and business sectors.
He will be under pressure to create jobs and crack down on graft amid corruption scandals at state-run oil company PetroEcuador and Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.
Lasso had criticized Moreno as being ill-equipped to deal with economic issues and warned that his major social promises would hit already pressured coffers in a country dependent on exports of oil, bananas and shrimp.
“Moreno’s margin of victory was much smaller than those of his predecessor, Rafael Correa, leaving him in a much weaker spot,” said John Polga-Hecimovich, a political scientist at the U.S. Naval Academy.
“He has the advantage of a legislative majority (for now), but his government will have to confront fiscal restraints, a stagnant economy, and the burden of a recovery from last April’s earthquake.”
On Monday, Moreno’s victory celebrations were tempered by opponent Guillermo Lasso’s fraud allegations. Meanwhile, Latin American leaders such as Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Bolivia’s Evo Morales, congratulated the socialist’s win, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reportedly experienced relief since Lasso had promised to remove the activist from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, U.K., where he currently resides.
The WikiLeaks founder tweeted a cutting remark at Lasso, who is suspected of tax evasion.
I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions) #AssangeSILassoNO https://t.co/mU3HwPfP44
— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) April 3, 2017
Assange also published WikiLeaks links to U.S. diplomatic cables regarding the Ecuadorian president elect.
U.S. diplomatic cables on Ecuador's new president elect @Lenin Moreno
1) https://t.co/yGIRpBFwgH
2) https://t.co/frsfMODe5L pic.twitter.com/gxfLkcaeOC— Julian Assange (@JulianAssange) April 3, 2017
Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald also took to Twitter to respond to Moreno’s victory with the following tweet:
Last night I wondered who would be the first to claim Putin caused Ecuador's election results, but I should've known https://t.co/fleeBHnxJy
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 3, 2017
Previously, Greenwald had criticized American liberals siding with Lasso due to his comments regarding Assange’s asylum.
.@Lenin If you're a western liberal hoping for a right-wing takeover of a country of 15m people all because of Assange, that's a warped perspective.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 3, 2017
— Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata
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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/socialist_lenin_moreno_ecuador_president_election_julian_assange_20170404/
