QUITO (AP) — The government minister and a presidential adviser became the first casualties in the cabinet of President Guillermo Lasso, as a consequence of the electoral defeat on Sunday when the public also rejected a referendum raised by the executive. Hours later, the third resignation of the government leadership was also confirmed with the departure of the legal secretary of the presidency.
Minister Francisco Jiménez, considered one of the key pieces of the Lasso government and the main negotiator with the indigenous people, confirmed his resignation on his Twitter account, in which he attached the farewell letter. He expressed that Ecuador is a country “where political adversaries always wait crouched down to deal a blow” and assured that the relationship with the Assembly will never be easy.
Jiménez was the official who was in charge of seeking agreements with the Legislature, which has been dominated by the opposition since the beginning of the administration and which keeps the president in a virtual paralysis by having rejected almost all the projects sent by Lasso.
The ad honorem government advisor Aparicio Caicedo, one of the most loyal collaborators of the president since before he even came to power, also confirmed his departure on Twitter and assured that he will continue to support the project of a free and prosperous country, “but from another trench ”.
Hours later, the legal secretary of the presidency, Fabián Pozo, published his resignation on social networks. The person in charge of giving legal form to the government’s proposals so that they adhere to the current regulatory framework assured that “Ecuador has already changed” and that these reforms “will allow the next generations to live in a better country”, which will be recognized “by the history”.
To the first three resignations confirmed and made public, new names from the closest environment of the president could be added, who has called a ceremony for the “inauguration of new authorities” for the afternoon. Speculation skyrocketed on Thursday about the renewal at the top of the government and also extended to the governors of the most important or strategic provinces of Ecuador, where the pro-government electoral proposal also took a hit at the polls.
Voters gave their confidence in the three provinces with the greatest political and population weight to the opposition candidates sponsored by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), whose movement has a majority in the Assembly.
In Sunday’s elections, the Citizen Revolution, a left-wing movement, won important victories such as the mayoralty of Quito, Guayaquil and the prefectures of the provinces of Guayas, Manabí and Pichincha, among others.
In the central highlands, another opposition party, Pachakutik, also won. This group is the political arm of the indigenous people, who in June of last year virtually paralyzed the country for almost three weeks and cornered the government to force it to accept almost all their demands, the main one being the reduction in the price of gasoline.
Last Sunday, Ecuadorians also overwhelmingly rejected a popular consultation promoted by the executive at the polls, to which Lasso reacted earlier this week, arguing that he had received the message from the citizens.
Three of the eight questions in the popular consultation were related to security, the main concern of Ecuadorians, there were also questions seeking constitutional reforms, and about ecological issues.
