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Populism in ecuador: From Jose M. Velasco ibarra to rafael correa

Abstract:

Ecuador has had the second-most intense experience of populism after Brazil. However, Ecuador does not fit the typical mold of Latin American populism nor does the country display all of its characteristics. While the chapter discusses two recent populist presidents, Jaime Roldos and Lucio Gutierrez, it concentrates on three figures who have dominated the Ecuadorian political scene since the 1930s: A classic populist leader, Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra,1 who was a five-time president between the 1930s and 1970s; a neopopulist, Abdala Bucaram, who governed for six months in 1996-1997; and a radical populist leader, current president, Rafael Correa, who was first elected in 2006. This chapter compares these populists primarily through an examination of how they rose to power, how their campaigns appealed to the people, and what they accomplished and failed to do. First, these three charismatic leaders rose to the presidency by presenting themselves as the best alternative during periods of crisis when people had lost trust in the previous president or traditional political parties. Velasco Ibarra and Correa were political outsiders. They effectively organized political movements, Velasquista and Alianza Pais (AP), rather than political parties. Whereas, even though Bucaram already had been involved in party politics, he formed the new Ecuadorian Roldosista Party as his vehicle to appeal to the people. Second, all of these populist leaders used confrontational rhetoric. They emerged as prominent figures by identifying the people's unmet needs, wants, and grievances, and then transforming them into political demands, which generated a new political identity not only for the leaders but for the people as well. These populists represented the excluded, the newly enfranchised, those who did not identify with the established structure of power or the dominant ideas and values of the period. Velasco Ibarra stood for freedom of suffrage through fair elections, improved education (especially for women), and expansion of production through the building of roads that would unite the country and expand the market. Bucaram vaguely articulated economic and social reforms that utilized neoliberal policies. Today, Correa fights for better education and health care systems, against corruption, and for an economics of solidarity. Finally, all three won elections mobilizing well-organized clientelist bases. When their promises could not be fulfilled, however, the political coalitions that brought them to office disintegrated, and their credibility crumbled. This led to Velasco Ibarra being overthrown three times and Bucaram meeting the same fate during his only term in office. Correa remained in power, but his approval rating fell from 80 percent during his first months as president to somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent at the beginning of 2010, which may signify difficult times ahead for him.