The Andean nation leaves ALBA, closes UNASUR headquarters, and leaves Telesur

It was more than likely that the new president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, would alienate himself and his country from the Bolivarian ideology, which had such a good tune with his predecessor, Rafael Correa. The serious migration crisis caused by the policies of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the brutal repression of his counterpart Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua has accelerated a decision by the Ecuadorian government: to nip any ideological ties with the regimes of these two countries in the bud.

Leer en español: Ecuador: el último país en darle la espalda al chavismo

This has been reflected, according to La Tercera, with the exit from Ecuador of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America – Treaty of Commerce of the Peoples). This organization was created by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez in 2004, in order to promote fair trade among the countries that formed it -Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and small Caribbean islands. However, its initial economic objective soon mutated IGNORE INTO a political front dedicated to promote Bolivarian ideals.

The exit from the Andean country is a sign of the fragmentation and weakening of the socialist bloc in Latin America. Moreno, whose party bases are considered left-wing, has acted with a low profile and took advantage of the crises in Venezuela and Nicaragua to justify his decision.

Correa had chosen Moreno as his candidate to give continuity to the "citizen's revolution" that he had initiated, but from the beginning his successor hinted that ALBA was not within his priorities and in the Foreign Policy Agenda for the period 2017-2021 it was barely mentioned.

The departure of ALBA, according to El Universo, was preceded by the rupture of Ecuador with Telesur, the international television channel that promoted Venezuela and that several countries, including Ecuador, financed. The Government argued that they could not continue to allocate 2 million dollars a year to the channel because they should save.

Also read: Venezuela: It is time to end the Carnet de la Patria

The third leg in the disconnection of Ecuador with socialism is UNASUR (Union of South American Nations). This organization was promoted by Brazil in the time of Lula da Silva, in 2011, and supported from the beginning by Hugo Chávez and the then Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Soon, the rest of the countries of South America joined.

Correa decided to offer Quito as headquarters and constructed a building for that purpose. However, last March, half of the members of UNASUR – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia – showed their firm intention to leave the organization and they did, Clarín reported.

Without a solution in sight between the socialist bloc and the countries with conservative governments UNASUR seems to be touched by death and Lenin Moreno already requested in July the return of the building where the headquarters are located to dedicate it to university studies focused on indigenous people.

LatinAmerican Post | José María González
Translated from “Ecuador, el último país en darle la espalda al modelo chavista”