Rafael Correa Quotes

The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed the British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange. Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget.

Don’t come lecturing us about liberty. You need a reality check. Don’t act like a spoiled rude child. Here you will only find dignity and sovereignty. Here we haven’t invaded anyone. Here we don’t torture like in Guantanamo. Here we don’t have drones killing alleged terrorist without any due trial, killing also the women and children of those supposed terrorists. So don’t come lecturing us about life, law, dignity, or liberty. You don’t have the moral right to do so. (In response to US ambaassador's criticism of Equador, saying that it's very important for the government to protect free press.) I am ready to put up a fight because I believe that better that constructing roads, hospitals, and schools is to construct the truth. Lies had destroyed Latin America. People lie too much, from the press, the politicians, and on the street.

We, the progressive and leftist presidents, are committed to the social movements which are the ones that are providing the leadership throughout all of this Latin America that is indigenous, mestiza [mixed], and of colour. This year, the majority of Latin American nations celebrate the 200th anniversary of our political independence from Spain. But, hopefully, we will also be able to celebrate the beginning of a consolidation process and the irreversible advancement towards our next and most definite independence, as one big nation--a nation of all and everyone.

We are building a conception of development that is different from that of the capitalist system, where we seek not to live better, to have competition, to have more every day, but to live well, to satisfy basic needs, where harmony with nature is sought, where we seek the indescribable life of cultures.

Ecuador: Correa quiere construir nuevo modelo de desarrollo (10 October 2007)

Diagonal : From a more global perspective, the change that is needed is much more radical and has to do with the architecture of global power of giant corporations and megabanks. Do you believe it is possible to democratize this capitalist system in which we now live? Do you believe that such a change is possible?

The global crisis we are experiencing is not a consequence of factors external to economic dynamics; On the contrary, since the 19th century, the cyclical crises that the world has experienced are inherent to the capitalist system, as a product of the construction of a speculative economy, of the divorce between value and price; and overproduction processes due to poor allocation of resources.

INTERVENCIÓN PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA, RAFAEL CORREA ANTE LA COMISIÓN LEGISLATIVA EN EL SEGUNDO AÑO DE GOBIERNO Quito, 15 de enero de 2009 (15 January 2009)

What's the difference between a Republican and a Democrat? There is a greater difference between what I think in the morning and what I think in the afternoon than between those two parties.