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Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garces

Lenin Moreno, won the Ecuadorean presidential election 02 April 2017. Ecuador made history by choosing a prominent disability rights activist as the world’s first head of state elected with open paraplegia. While US President Franklin Roosevelt is perhaps the most well-known elected official with a disability — he used a wheelchair after polio left him largely unable to walk without great effort — his paraplegia was actively downplayed and largely made invisible to the American people.

As Rafael Correa departed after 10 years of consecutive rule and a number of social gains made under the Citizens’ Revolution, the victory for Moreno was seen as key not only for Ecuador but for the wider Latin American region. Ecuador would remain a part of the pink tide that swept the region in the past two decades, not following the right-wing shift that took place in 2016 in Argentina and Brazil.

For many supporters of former President Rafael Correa, the February 2018 referendum marked yet another attempt by the increasingly right-wing administration of Lenin Moreno to dismantle the legacy and the achievements of the country's 10-year-long process of change. Moreno gained support for institutional changes through a seven-part referendum, carried out in February 2018 without the approval of the constitutional court. The main goal of the referendum was to block Correa’s eventual return to power by banning re-election.

The reactionary nature of Moreno's government became more apparent when analysing the different groups and individuals that pledged to support the "Yes" vote for each question. Prominent political figures on the right, such as Jaime Nebot and the Social Christian Party, Guillermo Lasso and the conservative CREO party, and former President Abdala Bucaram, who was removed from office on the grounds of and embezzlement, all actively campaigned in support of the "Yes" vote. The private media outlets that traditionally opposed Correa's government and played a prominent role during the 2010 coup, such as the newspapers El Commercio, El Universo and TV stations Ecuavsia and Teleamazonas, had also been broadcasting messages and adverts in support of the "Yes" campaign.

Since being elected on the platform of continuing the left-wing economic policies of the Correa administration in May 2017, Moreno had undertaken a number of actions that won praise from the right-wing political opposition. Commencing a "national dialogue" of reconciliation, he proceeded to foster closer cooperation with members of the opposition such as Jaime Nebot and Abdala Bucaram Jr., going as far as appointing individuals close to the latter's family. At the same time, he began to mimic the opposition's previous rhetoric about high levels of public debt and corruption, after criticising the 10-year period of Correa's administration (during six of which he served as his vice-president) for economic mismanagement and excessive public and social spending.

He then proceeded to replace the administrations of public newspaper El Telegrafo and the publicly owned Ecuador TV in July 2017. The control and distribution of electronic cash, long demanded by Ecuador's financial and corporate sector, was then transferred from the hands of the Central Bank of Ecuador to the Association of Private Banks. Most prominent of all, he supported the corruption allegations regarding now-dismissed Vice-President Jorge Glas, seen by many as a staunch loyalist of Correa.

A package of economic measures was announced on 02 October 2019 by President Lenin Moreno. The decree eliminated the state's subsidies for fuel, among other legislation, to comply with suggestions presented by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a US$4.2 billion loan announced on 11 March 2019. Moreno said the price of gasoline would go up to $2.30 a gallon from $1.85 and the cost of diesel up to $2.27 from $1.03. Panic and speculation sent prices soaring, with costs of some products - papayas, rural bus fares - doubling or more. Moreno said "There will be a mechanism to alleviate the effects that (the end of the subsidy) could have on some sectors, of course, and we are ready to do that, but under no circumstances will we change the measure."

Massive protests erupted across the country to protest against the neoliberal economic measures announced by Moreno. Taxi, bus and truck drivers blocked streets and bus stations were closed for a nationwide transport strike, forcing the government to suspend schools. Despite meeting severe police repression and declaration of State of Exception, the protesters continued demonstrations in various parts of the country. Protests significantly intensified since the arrival in Quito of the Indigenous march on 07 October 2019. Most of the center of Quito and the Ejido Park saw pitched battles between anti-IMF protesters, and police who used armoured vehicles and motorized units to help clear areas, often unsuccessfully. A flashpoint was the National Assembly, near Ejido Park, where protesters briefly broke police lines and seized control of the legislature.

In response, the government announced that they were moving the seat of government to the coastal city of Guayaquil, and shortly after, that a curfew was being imposed from 8 PM till 5 AM across the country in areas of ‘strategic importance’. In a defiant national television address, the Ecuadorean president announced that he was moving the government's seat to Guayaquil, a city which has been the traditional trench of the far-right and is located near the navy's main barracks. Moreno issued Executive Order 888 in which he decreed the move of the seat of government to Guayaquil, reaffirmed the state of exception and announced a special curfew around state buildings. The last time an Ecuadorean president decreed a curfew with regards to mass protests against neoliberal and austerity measures was Oswaldo Hurtado in 1982, who was the first head of state to sign a letter of intent with the International Monetary Fund in exchange of structural reforms.

Protests continued as the government shows no sign of withdrawing the current austerity measures. Likewise, protesters across the country remained determined to push on until the ‘paquetazo’ (package of IMF imposed measures) is reversed. According to official figures, over 510 protesters have been arrested by 07 October 2019. However, the number of injured and dead had not been announced yet, although social media users reported at least three people killed as a result of demonstration-related events.

Vnezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said that Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno is "out of reality" and incapable of understanding the reasons for the massive social protests which have been taking place in his country since the beginning of October. "Lenin is brave to take social benefits from the people," Maduro said and added "he is brave to deliver Ecuador to the International Monetary Fund."

Latin America is currently the scene of the dispute between two different visions of the economy. "We have two models: the IMF model which privatizes everything and takes away the people's rights to health, education and work; and the humanist-progressive model which is emerging in Latin America and has the Bolivarian Revolution at the forefront," Maduro he said.

Moreno accused the leftist Correa, his one-time mentor and boss when he was vice president, of seeking a coup with the help of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Speaking in Belgium, where he lives in self-exile, Correa has strongly denied the accusation, while movements like France's Unbowed, a polictical umbrella of former leftist presidential candidate and senator Jean-Luc Melenchon, denounced the accusations, saying Moreno was "pitiful for running away from his people."

Background

From 2007 to 2013, Lenín Moreno was Vice-President of Ecuador. Sylvan Hardy notes that within months of leaving office in 2013, Moreno publicly criticized his former boss’s governance style, referring to it as confrontational, mean-spirited, and vindictive. He cited Correa’s fight against the news media and non-profit organizations that opposed his policies. He objected to the president’s habit of “school-yard name-calling” to attack political opponents.

Moreno, who remained a strong supporter of Correa’s social and infrastructure programs and policies, said the president’s temperament harkens back to an era of loud-mouthed Latin American strong men, not forward to a spirit of consensus building Moreno said is necessary to build a modern Ecuador. Moreno also claimed that Correa’s anti-business attitude discourages investment and keeps Ecuador’s economy dependent on revenue from non-renewable resources, especially oil.

A lawyer by profession, Moreno’s term as vice-president took Ecuador’s people with disabilities from being barely regarded as citizens to people receiving housing and economic assistance, including guaranteed social security from their government. Moreno conveys a mature, serene demeanor and a genuine commitment to making a positive difference for his country.

Born in 1953, he is married and has three children. He has published ten books on philosophy and humor, including a book of jokes. He reportedly enjoys painting, swimming, singing, and playing guitar with his wife and three daughters in Quito. Moreno is known as the author of writings with titles such as “Humor in Theory and Practice”, “Being happy is easy and fun,” “The best jokes in the world” and “Laugh, don’t not be sick.”

Born into a middle-class family, Moreno enjoyed a normal and happy childhood. His father Servio Tulio Moreno was a professor, named after Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome was a reformer and builder who supposedly gave the plebeians of Rome the rights of citizenship. Servio Tulio Moreno believed in helping the less privileged sections of the society. As an educator he worked hard to promote integration of the schools in their town so that indigenous children and mestizo children could learn together. Lenin studied at the Instituto Nacional Mejia (Mejia National Institute), in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, before moving on to the Colegio Nacional Sebastian Benalcazar (Sebastian Benalcazar National School).

Later on he went to the Universidad Central del Ecuador (Central University of Ecuador), from where he earned a degree in public administration. He was a good student and had an innate interest in understanding the psychology of human beings. He was also a very principled young man.

Moreno ventured into politics and soon built a reputation for himself in this field as well. During his initial years in the public sector he served in an administrative post with the Minister of Government.

Moreno became a paraplegic in 1998 after two men robbed him in a grocery store parking lot and one of them shot him in the back. For several years he was bedridden and fought depression. Being the resilient soul that he was, he turned to laughter therapy and gradually began to recover from the physical and mental trauma of the shooting.

Clearly familiar with the U.S. from many visits, he noted that his three daughters (ranging in ages from 19 to mid-20's) all have lived there either currently or previously and are very American-oriented. As a person confined to a wheelchair, he particularly admires the U.S. sensitivity and inclusive approach to people with physical challenges, unmatched by any other country.

Moreno remained committed to the social causes with which he had been associated throughout his political career. Moreno had active and positive ties with the grassroots "forajido" movement in Quito, which helped organize the popular uprising that toppled President Palacio after his shift to the right in 2005. Upon assuming office President Correa assigned Moreno responsibility for the National Technical Secretariat for the Development of Human Resources (SENRES), the National Council for Disabilities (CONADIS), the Council for Amazonic Development (CODA), and the Secretariat for Citizen's Solidarity, to which Moreno devotes most of his time.

The Secretariat for Citizen's Solidarity launched three major initiatives under Moreno's guidance: "Ecuador without Barriers" which promotes the social integration of the disabled, "Ecuador without Children in Prisons," which aims at protecting the children of incarcerated individuals and "Smile Ecuador, We are Nice People," which has promotes social cohesion and kindness through public service announcements.

Moreno spearheaded a partnership program with Microsoft which provided information technology training for persons with disabilities and was the driving force behind Ecuadorian adoption of the United Nations Convention on Persons with Disabilities. Ecuador's adoption of the convention allowed it to go into force. USAID had a positive working relationship with Moreno on disability issues. Moreno remained fully committed to a major role in these initiatives.

During the critical hours in an assumed coup attempt 30 September 2010, it was he who appeared on the screen, spoke calmly, and gave people confidence in the public institutions. President Correa himself was captive in a hospital. With his close relationship with the powerful Minister for Internal and External Security Gustavo Larrea, Moreno remained a figure important to watch.

Vice President Lenin Moreno, a paraplegic with a history of health difficulties linked to the shooting accident that crippled him, was hospitalized on 22 April 2008 for a urinary tract infection and remained in intensive care for six days, then remained hospitalized for several more days. Though he returned to his office for the first time on May 5, the press continues to report that he has not resumed a normal work schedule. Moreno remained very popular among the Ecuadorian electorate (as evidenced by the response to the prayer to his health offered at the Israeli National Day celebration on May 7.)

Moreno’s work earned him an appointment as the United Nations Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility in 2013. “We have taken enormous steps in Ecuador, but much work remains,” wrote Moreno for Americas Quarterly in 2012. “Our goal is for no disabled person to be denied comprehensive attention.” In recognition of his achievements, Moreno was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 by members of Ecuador’s National Assembly. He has received a number of awards, including the Grand Cross Grade of the Andean Parliament.

"Solidarity — not as charity, but rather as the recognition of others as equals — is the basic pillar for initiating social inclusion," Moreno wrote in 2012. "We political actors are temporary; we can, at best, give these great processes a push forward, but the true protagonists of these changes are society, people with disabilities and their families. The efforts of all these actors have allowed Ecuador to leave behind the years of exclusion and marginalization to which disabled people were subjected, and to integrate them now into work, education, culture, the arts, and sports."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garces of Ecuador as his Special Envoy on Disability and Accessibility on 19 December 2013. He was Chairperson of the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities of the Organization of American States. Moreno is a globally acclaimed advocate for persons with disabilities and inclusive society. Under his leadership as Vice-President, Ecuador greatly advanced social inclusion and the integration of persons with disabilities into national development efforts as well as regional and international cooperation.

In a public address, Correa stated in November 2016 “Lenin is a working machine, with clean hands and a burning heart for this country.” He held a 37 percent lead in polls over right-wing banker Guillermo Lasso from CREO; Cynthia Viteri of PSC; former military member Paco Moncayo from the National Agreement for Change; and Dalo Bucaram from Fuerza Ecuador and son of former president Abdala Bucaram. In his public remarks, Moreno said he will continue to work toward providing free education and healthcare for children and adults and ensure the country does not only depend on exporting oil.