Ecuador: In Brief

Summary

Ecuador is a small oil-producing country of about 16 million inhabitants located on the west coast of South America between Colombia and Peru. President Rafael Correa was first elected in 2006 and has since stood for and won two elections following the 2008 rewrite of Ecuador’s constitution. Correa took office after a very unstable decade in Ecuadorian politics when no elected president finished his term, and has received sustained high levels of popular support for his administration unparalleled in recent times. In November 2015, he indicated he would not run for reelection in 2017, leading some to speculate if, or how, as a popular former president Correa might continue to influence Ecuadorian politics in the future.

President Correa has described his effort to remake the politics of Ecuador as a “Citizens’ Revolution” and placed it in the tradition of “21st century socialism” personified by populist leaders of nearby Andean region countries, Venezuela and Bolivia. Ecuador has effectively fought poverty with ambitious social programs and investments in infrastructure and seen strong growth averaging 4% annually. However, the government has lowered its 2015 gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate to below 1% because of the recent drop in oil prices, while some analysts forecast that the economy will contract this year. Petroleum is the country’s largest export, comprising more than half of total exports. Ecuador is OPEC’s smallest member, and petroleum is its largest export to the United States, the country’s top trade partner.

With the slump in oil prices and budget-tightening measures to compensate, the Correa government has been hit with growing protests from a diverse set of domestic actors: indigenous people, trade unionists, environmentalists, and critics from the right and center-right. The President’s critics also maintain that he has constrained freedom of assembly and association, stifled freedom of the press and expression, and politicized the judiciary while centralizing power in the executive branch.

Under left-leaning Correa, relations between Ecuador and the United States have been strained. President Correa has been critical of undue U.S. influence or “imperialism” in the region. Yet, Ecuador has maintained close economic relations with the United States. Following a period of economic turmoil, Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar as its currency in 2000. Ecuador receives significant remittances from Ecuadorians living in the United States and abroad. Ecuador has also become a popular place for U.S. tourists and retirees.

This report will briefly examine the political and economic conditions in Ecuador and U.S.-Ecuadorian relations.