Democracy Dialogues: Ecuador's Defining Choice
Democracy Dialogues: Ecuador's Defining Choice
Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez of Aurora MacroStrategy speaks on escalating crime, the 2025 presidential runoff, and the race's global implications.
Speakers:
- Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez, Founding Partner, Aurora MacroStrategy
- Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas
As Ecuador approaches a pivotal presidential runoff, the country is enduring one of the most challenging periods in its history. "Ecuador is facing a proxy war between Mexican and Albanian cartels," says geopolitical risk consultant Daniel Lansberg-Rodríguez in a wide-ranging Democracy Dialogues conversation with AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth on the nation's crisis.
The country's 2025 general elections are poised to have profound implications for the nation's trajectory. The presidential race between Daniel Noboa and Luisa González is serving as a referendum on security, the economy, and sovereignty.
Lansberg-Rodríguez sheds light on the growing electoral influence of two demographics: indigenous voters and the diaspora. “This may be the first time Ecuador’s diaspora decides a national election,” he says, pointing to the bloc's razor-thin margins and increasing political engagement.
The conversation examines how Ecuador’s strategic geography impacts the shifting global political landscape, as well as what’s at stake for the country’s relations with the United States. Lansberg-Rodríguez and Farnsworth also cover whether China’s economic influence could expand if González's correísta coalition returns to power.
Democracy Dialogues is a series of conversations on the state of democracy in the Americas. Hosted by Eric Farnsworth, these one-on-one interviews with leading democracy practitioners explore the most difficult issues of regional democratic governance with an eye toward pragmatic, deeply-considered solutions. Previous guests have included Guatemala's President Bernardo Arévalo, Colombia's then-President Ivan Duque, Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and elected President Edmundo González, NBA Basketball Star Enes Kanter Freedom, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Cuba Decide founder Rosa Maria Paya, founder and editor of Nicaragua's Confidential Carlos Fernando Chamorro, and numerous others.
Follow the conversation: #DemocracyDialogues | @ASCOA
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