The President of Ecuador is Rafael Correa. Correa's presidency is rooted in a militant mass movement that has been mobilising and challenging the country's ascendant economic and political interests for years.
Rafael Correa and the popular movements that back him have emerged triumphant in their first battle with the oligarchy and the traditional political parties that have been dominating the country. Correa, in his inaugural address in January, called for an opening to a new socialism of the twenty-first century in the country of Ecuador.
The Ecuadorian political system, was referred to as partidocracia, and was run by dissenting political parties, which were dominated by oligarchs who pull the strings on a corrupt state. Even the Supreme Court and the presidency until Correa's election were in the grasp of corruption.
The central demand of the broad movement that brought Correa to power was for a new constitution that broke the active impaired state, and ends the reign of the partidocracia. The new President strove to re-build the country along the lines of pluralism and democracy. The new government moved on to reclaim the Ecuadorian sovereignty, which is beneficial for the country and not the oligarchs.
He also moved forward with the expropriation of Occidental Petroleum, the largest petroleum corporation in the country, merging it with the state-owned company PetroEcuador, which in turn signed a number of accords for cooperation and joint investments with PDVSA, the Venezuelan state company.
As a President, Correa made his intentions of controlling the private banks which were in the grasp of corruption.
He also moved forward with the expropriation of Occidental Petroleum, the largest petroleum corporation in the country, merging it with the state-owned company PetroEcuador, which in turn signed a number of accords for cooperation and joint investments with PDVSA, the Venezuelan state company.
