00:00And also in the context of Ecuador's general elections, let's welcome political scientist Ramon Mendes,
00:05mentioned in journalism by the City College of New York. Hi, Ramon, and thank you very much for joining us today.
00:12Hi, good evening. It's a pleasure to be here.
00:14As the country awaits the official results of the elections, let's recall that there are 16 candidates running for president.
00:21However, there are two on the front line, current president Daniel Novoa and also Luisa GonzĂĄlez from the leftist
00:27citizen revolution movement, who are facing each other once again after the
00:322023 early elections. What has changed, in your opinion, and how would you describe both candidacies at this point?
00:40The main thing that has changed is that the security crisis has worsened, the economy has worsened,
00:48immigration,
00:49immigration rather, has skyrocketed. We had over a hundred thousand
00:54Ecuadorians detected at the border of the U.S.
00:57last year. Detected. There's many more that were not detected. So the situation,
01:03the society, the social fabric has been ripping apart and also
01:09the society doesn't find any solutions in the president, Novoa.
01:14Nevertheless, the support from the oligarchy, the support from the establishment, the support from other right-wing parties that
01:22simply do not want CorreĂsmo to be back in power and to make them pay taxes, essentially follow the law.
01:28So there is some support
01:30from, for Novoa, even though the situation in the country is for the whole world to see that it has worsened.
01:38Also, we've seen Luisa GonzĂĄlez taking her political campaigns to the streets to be close to the people,
01:44while Novoa stayed indoors releasing his electoral campaign on social media.
01:48How could those different approaches be decisive on this election's outcome?
01:54Well, the mass of the Citizens' Revolution, that 30%
01:59base that they have is, you know, it's mostly working class,
02:02it's mostly going into the neighborhoods, the urban areas where the
02:08state is not reaching, right, where there is no access to good health or there is no access to good education.
02:14So that type of on the street, you know, walking with the people, it's always going to be more of a
02:22natural way of doing campaign for a leftist party, in this case the Citizens' Revolution. Of course, President Novoa
02:29being part of the wealthiest family in Ecuador, having all these connections with media, and of course having
02:35an unlimited amount of money to just do campaign at the same time that he's in office,
02:41then, of course, the balance, it's very difficult, especially when we think about the young population.
02:47Now, let's remember, after the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador, which was created under the presidency of Rafael Correa,
02:54La Constituyente, as it's called in Spanish,
02:58after that, 16-year-olds were able to vote, if they wanted to.
03:03Voting in Ecuador is compulsory, it's obligatory for 18-year-olds and older people, adults, right,
03:09but is optional for 16- to 18-year-olds. So this mass of folks,
03:15young people who are on TikTok, who are on different types of social media, right,
03:20if they choose to vote right now, their main option is Novoa, because they don't have to pay
03:27the bills, right, they don't have to pay for gas, necessarily. They do see insecurity, they do see a lack of options,
03:34that's why they're emigrating, but those that are in the country,
03:37they most likely, they also want to vote for Novoa. Let's not forget, a 16-year-old today,
03:44when President Novoa took off, when President Correa took office in 2007, you know, they weren't even born.
03:52So, a lot of these young folks do not remember
03:56their Citizens' Revolution, do not remember what that government was like, and that's the main population that in social media
04:03President Novoa is targeting.
04:05Luisa GonzĂĄlez has denounced the attempts of the extreme right of the country to undermine her candidacy.
04:10You mentioned the media, and I wanted to ask you, what's the role played by
04:14news media and social media in those attempts by the far-right intentions and efforts?
04:20Well, all of the media, even when Rafael Correa was president, all of the established media is part of the right wing,
04:27it's part of the oligarchy. No different than from other countries in Latin America.
04:32Ecuador did not have a public television until Rafael Correa was president, something that was normal for
04:39every other country in the world, essentially. So, social media, and mainly established media,
04:46they play a huge factor. Let's not forget, older folks tend to watch the news and the main TV channels,
04:52which I'm not gonna name, but the main three or four TV channels are all
04:57going against Citizens' Revolution and supporting Novoa. Now, there have been a couple of editorials here and there
05:05that do take jabs at President Novoa, but nothing too serious.
05:11The main thing that we have to think about is also that the immigrant population votes. I'm currently in New York,
05:17I'm an assemblyman until today, actually, for the migrants, representing them in the National Assembly of Ecuador
05:24with everything that that entails, yet a lot of people are afraid to go vote here in the U.S. for Ecuadorian elections
05:32because of the deportations that are going on, right? So that also creates disenfranchisement.
05:37In Venezuela, President Novoa has issues in recognizing the democratically elected government of Maduro,
05:45and there is no relationship in that sense, so over 9,000 Ecuadorians that live, that reside in Venezuela
05:52will not get to vote. And those people, those Ecuadorians living in Venezuela for decades,
05:59those are most likely, as we have seen in the last elections, people who would vote for the Citizens' Revolution.
06:05So those are the main issues of disenfranchisement, but they are targeted more than anything to the diaspora.
06:13The social media that is done in Ecuador also reaches the diaspora, so we have to also realize
06:18that even though there is a lot of immigration recently as well, especially to the U.S.,
06:22these folks still think the same way they thought in Ecuador, right?
06:27Very similar to other countries' diaspora who migrate, and yet they support the reactionary right-wing.
06:33It's very similar, so let's just hope that this disenfranchisement has happened directly in Venezuela
06:40through the actions of Daniel Novoa, and indirectly in the U.S. through the actions, in this case, of the U.S. government.
06:47So the media plays a strong role, and let's hope that they do not obscure the actual,
06:55they do not overshadow the actual will of the people.
06:59Thank you. Thank you very much, Ramon, for all your time hearing from the South
07:03and your remarks here in this context of these elections in Ecuador.
07:09No, thank you, and I hope the people of Ecuador is the one that wins,
07:15and that we can have peace and stability in the region.
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