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e reproduce below the editorial of the publication of the Revolutionary Movement of the Workers of Ecuador (MRT), on the recent elections and the triumph of Daniel Noboa. From the LIS we share, in general terms, the balance made by the comrades, for which reason we believe it is important to disseminate it and thus deepen the necessary debate that will allow us to advance in the regrouping of revolutionaries in the face of the new stage that is opening in Ecuador.

The bitter descent of the Ecuadorian people

The image of Hell in the Garden of Earthly Delights by El Bosco illustrates well the bitter descent of the Ecuadorian people to the end of the night, to its darkest part. The triumph of Noboa’s right-wing government closes the circle of the crises we live in: insecurity, unemployment, violence of all kinds, submission to imperialism and accelerated deterioration of democracy.

The crushing defeat suffered by the Citizen Revolution at the hands of the National Democratic Alliance, which won with 11%, has several explanations: Noboa uses the apparatus of the Presidency to campaign throughout the length and breadth of the country, delivering resources and promising works, in addition to an enormous waste of resources. He was able to speak directly to the people and present himself as a president who does works and who cares about the problems of the country. He left for the networks and trolls the dirty campaign against the other candidacy. ADN carried out a unified campaign, without fissures, which allowed him to follow a single strategy. Noboa put in the foreground the answers to the main concern of Ecuadorians, which is insecurity.

He announced the return of US military bases, the increase of maritime security and the hiring of a mercenary company. A completely militaristic policy, which matches the desperation of the people who are subjected to the violence of crime. In this way, he was able to penetrate the most conflictive areas and wrest votes from the CR.

The government presented itself as an ally of Trump, using an informal meeting with the American president, pretending that the 10% tariffs are a concession, lowering tariffs for American cars, with its mouth shut in the situation of the deportation of migrants. Noboa found that hiding his head in the sand in complicated problems gave him results, as in the case of the oil spill in Esmeraldas; his ministers immediately came out to declare that it was sabotage. Noboa managed to present and convince an important part of the electorate that the return of the CR would be a catastrophe that Ecuador could not afford; thus, according to ADN, we would be on our way to becoming another Venezuela, we would get out of dollarization, we would isolate ourselves from the international tendencies where the right wing predominates. As for the Citizen Revolution, rarely has it been seen a political party that does everything possible to lose, with an incredible will to be defeated. Mistakes accumulated and they let themselves be carried away by an easy triumphalism. Contradictory statements, autonomous leaders with their own political agenda, a campaign focused on insults instead of proposals, aimed at confronting Noboa instead of talking to Ecuadorians about their central concerns, which are insecurity and economy. The strategy to capture votes from the right turned out to be a failure. It was thought that by turning to the right they would attract these voters and with that they would win. It was declared that the indigenous movement was part of the problem and not part of the solution.

Attacks on indigenous leaders multiplied and Correa himself did not stop confronting them permanently. Luisa Gonzalez brought up her evangelical affiliation and her policy of denial of social and reproductive rights, thinking that this would be an electoral weapon, besides being effectively her ideological position. One of the strongest mistakes was the issue of dollarization. Assembly members, former candidates, sectors of the Citizen Revolution, proposed the Ecuadollar, as a digital and parallel currency that, despite all the statements, the population saw it as a way out of dollarization, through a monetary trick. No matter how much the candidate tried to deny these assertions, the electoral damage was done. The campaign of the Citizen Revolution entered fully into the aggressions of all kinds in networks, allowing itself to be trapped by the dynamics imposed by Noboa; but, it did not have the capacity to address the people with effective proposals on security and economy. The long back and forth negotiations with CONAIE were contradictory and caused a deterioration that affects both the indigenous movement and the CR. Finally, the agreement was signed which, as we have seen, did not bring significant votes for progressivism. Pachakutik achieved 5.27% in the first round, escaping the political polarization of the two tendencies, ADN and RC. This was a moment of important resistance from the popular camp, because this percentage also included important popular sectors, radicalized by the struggles for water and by the national uprisings and strikes.

However, Pachakutik exploded politically. Each leader, community, organization, took its own position and unity could not be maintained. In the midst of the enormous dispersion of positions, it finally polarized between two tendencies: in favor of ADN or with the agreement with the CR. While the negotiations between the Pachakutik leadership and the CR were long, confusing and unproductive, the indigenous leaders who turned to the right, in many cases only because they opposed the CR and in others because it is really their ideology, made a fierce and aggressive campaign that, as seen in the electoral results, had a significant impact in favor of Noboa. Meanwhile, the united front policy, of unity of the popular sectors, of the workers, indigenous and other social sectors, was conspicuous by its absence. The indigenous leadership privileged the rapprochement with the Citizen Revolution, abandoning any possibility of consolidating a popular alternative in the face of the avalanche of the right wing that we are now experiencing. Class independence was left aside and the majority of the indigenous movement either joined ADN or left with the CR. A sad end to the great days of struggle and to that electoral positioning outside the polarization. Clearly these elections represent a significant defeat of the popular camp, a significant setback that will have painful consequences for the Ecuadorian people, where aggression against workers’ rights will be the order of the day.

The path of unity through the united front of all the popular sectors is the immediate task and the preparation to fight against a government that will become more and more authoritarian and will try by all means, the total control of the powers of the State, the destruction or co-optation of the social organizations and the repression of the mobilizations.