Lasso Led Business Attacks Against Ecuador’s Correa: WikiLeaks – teleSUR English

WikiLeaks cables included in a new book reveal the extent of the right-wing executive's attempts to discredit President Rafael Correa.

Since current President Rafael Correa assumed office in 2007, right-wing presidential candidate and bank executive Guillermo Lasso has been organizing the business sector against the administration's progressive measures, according to a new book which is based on WikiLeaks cables.

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Written by Norwegian journalist Eirik Vold, the book titled, "Ecuador In the Sights: The WikiLeaks Revelations and the Conspiracy Against the Government of Rafael Correa," reveals that Lasso as president of Banco de Guayaquil coordinated the attacks of the economic elites against Correa's measures.

As a financial tycoon, Lasso was already known for developing relations with the U.S. business sector during the neoliberal government of Lucio Gutierrez. But his role after Correa's election was overlooked until Vold's book.

Guillermo Lasso, president of the Banco de Guayaquil, on March 12, (2007) briefed the ambassador on a systematic effort he is coordinating to develop a cohesive sector response to Correa's administration policy, said the WikiLeaks cable.

A group that he had formed, Ecuador Libre, has worked with former El Salvadoran President Francisco Flores to analyze the risks that Correa administration might take. He stressed that the analysis was completed before Correa took office, and noted how the threats are now being realized. The four threats that Ecuador Libre identified are: manipulation of democratic institutions, increased state control of the economy, promotion of violence and class hatred, and replication of Venezuela's 'comites familiares' to facilitate control at the local level, added the U.S. embassy.

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Flores died in 2004 and was the first president investigated over corruption charges in Salvadoran history.

The cables also added that in the beginning, businessmen felt individually nervous about his proposal, but then agreed to join forces against Correa.

One of the strategies pursued by the Chamber of Commerce of Guayaquil an ally of Lasso's economic interests was to send messages to the media that would incite Correa to respond in an aggressive way, in a bid to take popular support away from him. Lenin Moreno, candidate for the governing party Alianza Pais, refused to participate in the first presidential debate organized by the institution, saying that it was not promoting a healthy conversation among candidates.

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Lasso Led Business Attacks Against Ecuador's Correa: WikiLeaks - teleSUR English