Guillermo Lasso’s battle against populism in Ecuador

AFTER HIS surprising victory in Ecuador’s election in April, Guillermo Lasso, a conservative self-made banker, confounded sceptics yet again by getting his presidency off to a flying start. He fulfilled a campaign promise to vaccinate half the population in his first 100 days (57% are now fully jabbed). His approval rating soared to over 70%. But the past fortnight has been difficult. A fight among gangs inside a prison ended with 119 inmates dead. The board of the National Assembly sent back without debate Mr Lasso’s key initiative, a bill to raise taxes and loosen restrictions on labour. And then the president was named as the controller of a number of offshore companies in a global trove of documents dubbed the Pandora Papers.

Last week Mr Lasso sat down with Bello in the unassuming presidential palace in the whitewashed colonial heart of Quito. He was unabashed by the setbacks to his plans. “I presented myself as I am and the Ecuadorean people voted for me,” he said. “They realised that we needed a change and that we couldn’t continue with this totalitarian, populist model that has impoverished Ecuadorean citizens.”