Ecuador faces harsh economic indicators in 2009. Still, President Rafael Correa commands high approval ratings as the country prepares for April elections.
As attention turned to the possibility that Ecuador may default on its foreign debt, AS/COA hosted its first Quito conference, bringing high-level private sector leaders and officials together to analyze the Andean country's outlook.
Ecuador is in the midst of a controversial constitutional reform expected to be voted on October 2008. But recent regional tensions with Colombia, a government takeover of several media outlets, and a ministerial shake-up have decreased popular support to approve the measure.
With tensions running high between some Andean countries, AS/COA convened a roundtable on economic, political, and security issues affecting the region. The discussion included a keynote speech by Ecuador's Minister of the Government and Police Fernando Bustamante.
President Rafael Correa appoints a new head of state-owned Petroecuador after official figures show a slowdown in crude oil production. The move comes after Ecuador proposed to cut windfall taxes for private firms and signed a refinery agreement with Venezuela.
Leaders from the European Union and Latin America gathered in Lima for a biennial summit, focusing on trade, inequality, and climate change as rising food prices threaten to exacerbate poverty.
In an AS/COA Online interview, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza describes the role of the agency in negotiating recent border tensions between Ecuador and Colombia, autonomy and recall votes in Bolivia, and U.S.-Cuba relations. "[T]he OAS has to prove itself as the main forum for political dialogue in the Americas," said Insulza.
