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Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said that the opposition candidates were fighting among themselves for second place in the coming elections because “no one doubted who would be first,” referring to his former vice president Lenin Moreno and Alianza Pais candidate who has been leading in polls in recent months.
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In an interview with Spain's Podemos party leader Pablo Iglesias, he added that the Citizens' Revolution had to create new systems because institutions were so weak when he was elected in 2007. “In 10 years, we had had seven presidents, on average each administration lasted 18 months,” said the current president.
Among the measures was a reform of the tax system: the country's elites are not used to paying taxes, he said, and the banking sector usually invested in the media in order to manipulate information.
“Out of seven TV channels, at least five belonged to the banking sector. And if you tried to implement measures that went against their interests, they would respond with a large campaign in the media.” The new constitution implemented at the beginning of Correa's administration prohibited the banking sector from owning media organizations.
The opposition regularly evokes Ecuador's debt with China, although it actually does not even represent a third of the external debt. “Saying that we handed the country to China is a giant lie,” Correa said.
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