Ecuador is facing many of the same issues we see across Latin America today. Long one of the region’s most peaceful countries, it has recently seen a daunting increase in violence, as international drug cartels use the country as a transit point. It is also immersed in a debate about how and whether to exploit its oil and minerals, during an era of rapid climate change. Politics have been unstable this year. In October there will be a runoff for a new president to serve out the rest of Guillermo Lasso’s term, after he invoked a constitutional mechanism that triggered fresh elections for both the presidency and the legislature. In this episode, Brian Winter and Will Freeman discuss the two candidates, Luisa González and Daniel Noboa, and how Ecuador might fit into wider regional trends when it comes to ideological tendencies and environmental issues. Freeman, a columnist for Americas Quarterly, is a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a political scientist.
Subscribe to The Americas Quarterly Podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google and other platforms
Guests:
Will Freeman is a is a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a political scientist.
Brian Winter is AQ’s editor-in-chief.
Supplemental reading:
Meet the Candidates: Ecuador by AQ Editors
The Coming Crisis for Latin America’s Left-Wing Leaders by Will Freeman
REACTION: González, Noboa to Square off in Ecuador’s Presidential Runoff by AQ Editors
REACTION: Ecuador Presidential Candidate Assassinated
AQ Podcast: How Organized Crime Is Changing In Latin America
Behind a Rise in Latin America’s Violent Crime, A Deadly Flow of Illegal Guns by Carina Solmirano
