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Opinion|This Exiled Leader Ruled Ecuador for 10 Years. The Nation Still Can’t Move On.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/opinion/rafael-correa-daniel-noboa-ecuador.html
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Guest Essay
April 11, 2025, 1:00 a.m. ET
By Caroline Ávila Nieto
Dr. Ávila Nieto, a professor and political communication researcher, wrote from Cuenca, Ecuador.
I was selling tickets for the end-of-year play at my daughter’s school in June when my phone started buzzing nonstop. People were calling and texting to ask if I was OK. Rafael Correa, the former president of Ecuador, had just posted on the social media platform X criticizing an interview I gave to El País in which I said his political party was struggling to counter the rising popularity of the current president, Daniel Noboa.
Mr. Correa, known for his low tolerance of criticism, wrote from exile in Belgium: “Does anyone know who Caroline Ávila is?” It was a signal to his millions of followers. Within minutes I became the center of a digital firestorm — with posts defending my work, as well as posts attacking me and the journalist who wrote the El País story. That day, I truly understood the full weight of Mr. Correa’s enduring influence in Ecuador.
While not even living in the country, Mr. Correa remains one of the most influential — and polarizing — figures in Ecuadorean politics. His presence is sustained not only by his supporters but also by his adversaries, who can’t seem to stop talking about him but have failed to construct a compelling alternative. Mainly, they have simply dismissed Mr. Correa as a relic of the past. That seems only to have strengthened his grip on the people.
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Mr. Correa governed Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. His administration presided over a surge in public investment fueled by large oil revenues and Chinese loans, which both financed ambitious infrastructure projects and expanded access to health care and education. For many Ecuadoreans, these were years of stability and a strong state presence. But during Mr. Correa’s presidency, the concentration of executive power, the erosion of institutional checks and balances and repeated attacks on journalists and opposition leaders also sparked serious concerns about democratic backsliding.
He has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since 2017, which granted him political asylum in 2022. He’s been convicted on corruption charges in Ecuador and sentenced to eight years in prison there.
