Rafael Correa

Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel βiˈsente koˈre.a ðelˈɣaðo]; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the UNASUR. Since 2017, he has been living with his family in Belgium.

Born to a lower middle-class family in Guayaquil, Correa studied economics at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and the University of Illinois, where he received his PhD. Returning to Ecuador, in 2005 he became the Minister for the Economy under President Alfredo Palacio, successfully lobbying Congress for increased spending on health and education projects.

Correa won the presidency in the 2006 general election on a platform criticizing the established political elites. Taking office in January 2007, he sought to move away from Ecuador's neoliberal economic model by reducing the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He oversaw the introduction of a new constitution, being reelected in 2009 and again in the 2013 general election.

Correa's presidency was part of the Latin American pink tide, a turn toward leftist governments in the region, allying himself with Hugo Chávez's Venezuela and bringing Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. Using its own form of 21st century socialism, Correa's administration increased government spending, reducing poverty, raising the minimum wage and increasing Ecuador's standard of living. From 2006 to 2016, poverty decreased from 36.7% to 22.5% and annual per capita GDP growth was 1.5% (as compared to 0.6% over the previous two decades). At the same time, economic inequality, as measured by the Gini coefficient, decreased from 0.55 to 0.47. By the end of Correa's tenure, the 50% drop in the price of oil since 2014 had caused Ecuador's economy to enter a recession, resulting in government spending being slashed. Correa oversaw democratic backsliding in Ecuador.

After leaving office, Correa feuded with his successor, Lenín Moreno. Since leaving office in 2017, he has lived in self-imposed exile in Belgium, which granted him asylum. Correa continues to exercise political influence in Ecuador through social media and as a leading figure in his political party. Ecuadorean politics remains polarized between pro- and anti-Correa forces.

In 2018, a judge in Ecuador ordered a warrant for Correa's arrest after he failed to appear in court during a trial surrounding the kidnapping of his political opponent Fernando Balda in 2012. Interpol rejected requests by the Ecuadorian government to issue a red notice requesting Correa's arrest in connection with the kidnapping case, calling it "obviously a political matter." In 2020, Correa was tried in abstentia by an Ecuadorian criminal court, convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for public contracts from 2012 and 2016, sentenced to eight years in prison, and banned from seeking office for 25 years. Correa has denied all wrongdoing, and has called the charges against him politically motivated attempts to discredit his movement.

Correa's father was Rafael Correa Icaza, born in Los Ríos Province, Ecuador, while his mother is Norma Delgado Rendón (born 1 September 1939). He had three siblings; Fabricio Correa, Pierina Correa and Bernardita Correa. Having grown up in the coastal city of Guayaquil, he has described his family background as being that of the "lower middle class".^{[citation needed]}

When Correa was five, his father was arrested and imprisoned for three years after attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the United States. Publicly acknowledging this incident while president, Correa stated that "I do not condone what he did [but] drug smugglers are not criminals. They are single mothers or unemployed people who are desperate to feed their families". Correa was 18 when he was told about his father's actions.