Ecuador's dismissive media portrayal smacks of post-colonial arrogance
Ecuador's dismissive media portrayal smacks of post-colonial arrogance
The Assange case has sparked much comment about Ecuador and its president – most of it deeply unenlightened
Posted by
Jonathan Glennie
Wednesday 22 August 2012 02.00 EDT guardian.co.uk
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On Monday, the UK-based Daily Mail published a piece describing Ecuador as "a world of fear under a Left-wing dictator who responds to dissent with an iron fist". This "dictator", the country's president Rafael Correa, has been elected twice with overwhelming majorities, most recently notching up 52% in 2009, more than 20% ahead of his nearest rival. The freedom and fairness of these elections have never been questioned by any country or relevant entity. His current approval ratings are hovering just under 60%.
Concerns about freedom of speech are justified, but should not be exaggerated. According to last year's press freedom index, published by Reporters Without Borders, press freedom in Ecuador has worsened significantly in the past decade and especially in the past two or three years under Correa. But although Ecuador finds itself in the bottom half of the table, it is only four places below Brazil, and well ahead of its Latin American neighbours Peru and Colombia, as well as India and Turkey. Oft-quoted analyses by organisations such as Human Rights Watch have been criticised for failing to discuss the whole picture.
Corruption is still a major political problem, but it is worth noting that last year Ecuador achieved its highest score on Transparency International's corruption perceptions index – which, though imperfect, provides the best measure we have of a country's corruption – since 1996. Moreover, since 2009 Ecuador has scored top marks on the World Bank's credit depth of information index, which measures rules affecting the quality of credit information to facilitate lending decisions. Yes, Ecuador is corrupt. But according to these measures at least, it appears to be getting ever so slightly better, not worse.
Claims about high rates of poverty and inflation since Correa came to power can be easily refuted by glancing at the World Bank figures. Consumer price inflation, which averaged 39% in the 90s and 26% in the first half of the 00s, has averaged 4.5% since Correa came to power. And poverty has never been lower, with $1.25-a-day poverty down from more than 20% in 2000 to less than 5% in 2010. Inequality is also at a historic low, with the Gini coefficient (which measures income inequality) dipping under 50 in 2009 for the first time since records began, a significant decline from rates nearer 60 a decade earlier. In 2010, Ecuador was described by the Overseas Development Institute as one of the top 20 performing countries in the world in terms of reaching the MDGs, particularly with regard to reducing extreme poverty and under-five mortality rates.
More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/aug/22/ecuador-dismissive-portrayal-post-colonial-arrogance
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