“We are going to lift the Homeland that they brought to its knees”, says Luisa González in Quito

“We know how to lift this homeland that they brought to its knees, we know how to rebuild Ecuador, because we have experience, knowledge, capacity and team,” said lawyer Luisa González, candidate of the Citizen Revolution movement for the presidency of Ecuador, on Wednesday night. (16), at the end of the campaign in Quito, in the Solanda neighborhood, in the south of the capital.

According to Luisa, “we have already done much of what the other candidates propose in the decade in which the Citizen Revolution (2007-2017) won. Everything they propose is what they themselves have destroyed”.

Acclaimed by the crowd, the candidate defended that “this is the moment to take back control of the country, to take it back from a neoliberal right that destroyed it and took away our rights. We are going to give back the dreams that were stolen from us to our children, to our elderly, to men and women who need jobs, health, to young people who need opportunities, education and investment”. In the 2017 campaign, Luisa explained, “nobody asked for roads, because there were first-rate roads, we were the second country in terms of road network in Latin America, for example. We used to say that we were from Ecuador with pride and today we are known for the death statistics”.

Read too: Unionist and citizen revolution activist murdered in Ecuador

“They say ‘safety comes first,’ but that’s not all. We are going to work on security, of course, cleaning up the public force, as soon as this corrupt government that allowed itself to be infiltrated by the mafia, drug trafficking and organized crime is gone. And we are also going to strengthen the public force, also give them dignity, as it is not possible for a police officer to sleep on the floor, as there is not even a mattress for him to rest on; to go out patrolling in wrecked vehicles”. “We will have a refined public force to guarantee our lives. And we have to work with Justice so that there is no impunity, so that everyone who has committed a crime feels the weight of the State and the law and goes to jail. This way we will take back control of the country”, he pointed out.

But it is not just about security, Luisa pondered, “we need to think about the children who need to go to school, about our young people who do not have access to education, scholarships, who need places in universities, a job program ”. “All this has to be done at the same time. I am going to take immediate measures: we are going to declare a security emergency and also a health emergency, we are going to put medicines in hospitals, we are going to return doctors to their jobs, because we are going to guarantee the lives of our people. It’s not possible for a mother to die in our arms because we don’t have the money to buy a prescription. The State has to work, people cannot die at the hospital doors, ”she added.

Luiza condemned the repeated call for violence: “We are going to allow the carrying of weapons, they say. And then they convert security into a privilege, because who can buy weapons? Besides, who wants more violence? Beware, talking only about weapons, dear Ecuadorians, is thinking about a future in which, instead of building universities, instead of extending the subway, we are going to build cemeteries and prisons. This is not the Ecuador we deserve! This is not the Ecuador we want! This is not the Ecuador we are going to live in.”

Read too: Debate shows strength of left-wing candidate in Ecuador election

“I ask you, women of my country. There are seven candidates for vice-presidency of Republic Seven. Where are? When did you see them visiting the country, meeting with unions, with women? When did you see her? Never! These gentlemen despise women, made invisible as we have been in these six years. Is this what you want for your daughters? For your sisters?” he asked.

Arauz calls for the fight for good living

Candidate for vice president, economist Andrés Arauz, began his speech by saluting “the beautiful, brave and firm militancy of the Citizen Revolution movement, which is a project that is born from the depths of the struggle of our people”. “We must never forget why we are here, which is to fight and conquer the much-desired Good Life”, stressed the former Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent in Rafael Correa’s government.

Arauz recalled that, since 1999, the country has been plunged into a deep crisis. “A crisis followed by a terrible increase in poverty, forced migration and the destruction of our society”, he condemned.

Read too: Ecuador declares state of exception and holds elections for the 20th

According to the leader, it was together with the citizenry, with the social organizations that “broad alliances were built, forming a historic bloc with this popular force of women, students, professionals, workers, peasants and fishermen, of all those who had been excluded”. Thus, he recalled, “we traveled the homeland and when they said that we were going to be an insignificant force in 2006, the Ecuadorian people spoke forcefully and demonstrated that dignity could be achieved”.

Defending the legacy of former president Rafael Correa, Arauz emphasized that he was not there “to respect the old party regime, daddy’s children, oligarchies and bankers that destroyed our country.” In order to move forward, he added, “it is necessary to give priority to the productive system, democratize the State, transform institutions and power relations in society”.

When the Citizens’ Revolution was in government, he recalled, “we started to stop tax evasion, saying that oil and natural resources belong to Ecuadorians and with these transformations we started to do what the people thought would never be done”. “We started to sow works all over the country: hospitals, hydroelectric plants, highways, ports and airports, educational units, children’s centers, we improved the conditions of workers, teachers, police and military”, he said.

“This is how we once again created a public health system fully stocked with medicines. We cannot forget this chapter of history. We did this because there were people who had a clear priority on what they had to do. The priority was our people and revolutionary clarity and lucidity”, highlighted Arauz.

Read too: Murder of Fernando Villavicencio and the main questions

In the face of these measures, the candidate clarified, we are facing “the betrayal and manipulation of the oligarchies, of those who are used to trying to brainwash our people, including today acts of terror, wanting to attack our democracy” . Regarding the recent assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio, Arauz clarified that it was a crime to change the result of the polls, since “he would present denunciations of wide repercussions”. “Of course we had a political rivalry and we had faced each other through the media, in the National Assembly, in Justice, at the polls, but always respecting the life of the opponent”, he pointed out.

For the economist, it is clear that the assassination is the result of the action of the most obscure forces with the intention of delaying the development of our country and the continent, “for this reason, unfortunately, they acted to sabotage the democratic process, they wanted to suspend the elections and when they meet the recordings of the Public Security Council of the State, we will see that, regrettably, they set up a plot with a transnational dimension”. Emphasizing the ability of the Citizen Revolution to carry out urgent transformations for the country, Arauz concluded: “And that is why we are here today. And that’s why you’re here too, not for one person or two, or for a couple. We stand for a series of ideas, principles and values. Because we believe in love for our country, because we know how to do it, because we’ve already done it”, he highlighted.

Rafael Correa is acclaimed by the crowd

Politically persecuted by the neoliberal regimes that took over the Carondelet Palace, former president Rafael Correa, who is in exile in Belgium, was acclaimed by the crowd when he appeared and spoke live on the screen, following the closing of the act. “What a sad moment the country is living. Horror moment. This is what the right creates, to prevent us from thinking, to confuse us. They knew we could win in the first round. So what did you do on August 9th? They murdered Fernando Villavicencio. I have not the slightest doubt that it was a plot, a plot to undermine the Citizens’ Revolution. We know who Villavicencio was. A bitter enemy that has attacked us for years. We respond with Justice, as a civilized country, as conflicts are resolved in a civilized society. But something happened and he is dead by the hand of assassins. It is evident and this is what the videos say”, explained the former president. And he emphasized that this is a plot with the complicity of the Police, “without excluding the participation of the CIA itself”.

As Correa recalled, “they took him to an empty van and those who know safety know that this is impossible, that there has to be at least one driver waiting, because he is a person to be protected. It’s a fundamental question, but the van was empty, because they knew they were going to shoot. They take him to an empty van when his armored car arrives moments later because his driver said he had mistaken the door. And instead of waiting a few seconds, they make him get into an unshielded van alone. The plot, the conspiracy, is all too evident. Villavicencio’s cell phone disappears, the wounded hitman, who could say many things, instead of being taken to a clinic, which was 100 meters away, he was taken to the attorney’s office so that he would die on the way and that way they could silence him.”

In Correa’s evaluation, Villavicencio, who was in fourth place, “was killed so that we could not win in the first round”. “Of course the police are involved. There can be so much ineptness, so much negligence, and many have confused it. They aroused hatred, aroused fears, but we have to overcome this hatred, face hatred with love. Do you want to convince us that it was us? That we are stupid? If we are winning, who does this death harm? Of course, it benefits the fascist right, those who want the current situation to continue, ”he concluded.

At the end of the act, to the sound of the song “O Povo Unido will never be won”, by the Chilean group Inti Ilimani, thousands of emotional people raised their hands making the number five, on the list of the Citizen Revolution, and shouted: “una sola vuelta” [um chamado a vencer no primeiro turno].

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Agência ComunicaSul is covering the presidential elections and the National Assembly of Ecuador thanks to the support of the following entities: Hora do Povo newspaper, Diálogos do Sul, Barão de Itararé, Portal Vermelho, Correio da Cidadania, Agência Saiba Mais, Intersindical, Central dos Trabalhadores and Workers of Brazil (CTB), Single Central of Workers of Paraná (CUT-PR); Association of Social Workers and Psychologists of the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (AASPTJ-SP), Federation of Workers in Credit Companies of Paraná (FETEC-PR), Unions of Workers in Water, Waste and Environment of the State of São Paulo (Sintaema-SP) and Santa Catarina (Sintaema-SC), Union of Workers in the Heavy Construction Industries of the State of Paraná (Sintrapav-PR), Union of Official Education Teachers of the State of São Paulo ( Apeoesp Sudeste-Center), Union of Writers in the State of São Paulo, Union of Workers in the Federal Judiciary Power of Santa Catarina (Sintrajusc-SC); Union of Workers in the Judiciary Power of the State of Santa Catarina (Sinjusc-SC), popular mandate of councilor Werner Rempel (Santa Maria-RS) and dozens of individual contributions.

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