Yaku Pérez, after the elections in Ecuador: “The people are tired of a populist left”

After the second electoral round in Ecuador which gave the victory to Guillermo Lasso, the next president of the country, RFI exclusively interviewed the left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Pérez, who obtained the third place in the first round, with only 0.35 % less vote than Lasso and was around to enter the ballot.

The general elections in Ecuador allowed the conservative Guillermo Lasso to accede to the presidency of the country in his fight with the correista Andrés Arauz, even if the figure of a third man, Yaku Pérez, should not be forgotten.

The indigenous leader who was third by a narrow margin in the first round and who appealed in vain to the contentious electoral tribunal to examine the votes, was the key man for Lasso to take the presidency in what was his third candidacy.

Pérez, a 52-year-old lawyer, a declared opposing the Lasso and consummate anti-governmentist, placed third in the first round of February 7 with 19.39% of the vote, against 32.72% of the winner of the day, the left-wing economist Arauz, and 19.74% of the former right-wing banker Lasso .

-What is your personal analysis of the presidential election in Ecuador?

– Considering in the history there is a zero vote, which was usually 10% and now it is 17%, and we ran a campaign without spending a single penny, I think this is an election that gives the country and to the new president in you must listen to us. As we were no longer on the ballot, we no longer had much enthusiasm. Many have said, including The New York Times, that the winning candidate in the first round does not appear on the second round ballot. That says a lot. We are outraged by the fraud. But this is history and what we need to do is wish the newly elected president success. We will continue on our shore of peaceful resistance, in defense of water, ecology, community rights and freedoms.

-Where do you think the votes you got in the first round went?

– If we read the results, they would have gone to candidate Lasso. We are winning in 13 of the 24 provinces. [Ganamos] throughout the Ecuadorian Amazon. Yes [en la segunda vuelta] in the mountains and in the Amazon, Mr. Lasso wins. Perhaps the people are already tired of violence, of extractivism, of this populist left, which is not a real and genuine left which is with the workers, with the teachers, with the indigenous class, with the open class, with whom we have been vilified. , persecuted, criminalized. It is only before the international face that progressivism appears. It is a left which is in fact camouflaged. It is a left that appears as a right that has received the support of a billionaire like Isidro Romero for the candidacy of the correísmo.

– What do you expect from Guillermo Lasso at the head of the country in the years to come?

– I wish you good luck. If he governs well, we will be happy. But I doubt it. When Lasso said he was going to open the ballot boxes to make the votes transparent [NdlR: luego de la primera vuelta para aclarar dudas si Pérez o Lasso habían obtenido el segundo] then he broke that promise, distrust came over us. I think this party today [por su elección] It will turn in six months, maybe less, into disappointment, frustration. Time will absolve us, it is the best judge. It takes time, but it’s foolproof.

– What will be your role in the opposition?

– [Haré] what the voters say, what my people say, what Pacha Mamita says. I have no obsession with a candidacy. If it’s good, if not, nothing happens. From my space, the legal profession, the academy, the farm i.e. food, water, I will continue to contribute to the country and raise awareness that we need to take care of the planet. If we don’t want to die of toast because of global warming.

– Are you retiring from politics?

– I am neither retired, nor retired, nor active in electoral politics. It’s not an obsession on my part. If people ask me to be a candidate, then I will set up all my contingents for the good of the country.

Originally posted by RFI

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