President Rafael Correa giving a speech in Guayaquil to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the Citizens' Revolution. Photo: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador Flickr.
“We are celebrating nine years of reborn hope, of fulfilled promises and of homeland for all,” Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told crowds at an event marking the ninth anniversary of the start of the country's “Citizen's Revolution”.
Correa was speaking at a celebration in the coastal city of Guayaquil on January 15 to mark nine years since he was inaugarated as president, having won the 2006 elections on a pro-poor platform.
Correa recalled with emotion the “beautiful electoral campaign of 2006”, when his PAIS Alliance party came out of nowhere, having polled only 5-7%, to defeat “the richest man of the country”.
The Citizen's Revolution is Correa's popular political movement, that has transformed by social and economic policies that prioritise equality, social inclusion, public services, and stronger economic growth.
Under Correa, more than 1 million people have been lifted out of poverty and the minimum wage has doubled. Health spending per person has doubled and hundreds of thousands can access social security for the first time. Ecuador now has one of the highest levels of public investment in education and the number of indigenous people graduating with degrees has doubled.
The president especially thanked the country's youth in his speech. He also thanked the country's Afro-Ecuadoran and Indigenous communities for believing in the government and its project, as well as the migrants “who make homeland in every corner of the world”.
“Everything was worth it,” Correa said, adding that there were “sometimes errors, but always with good intentions for our people”.
A revolution is a constant process, he said. This was why his government has introduced the a new package of constitutional amendments – new being debated across the country.
The fight against poverty and inequality never ends, Correa recalled, and “each victory must be the beginning of a new challenge”.
[Compiled from teleSUR English.]
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