Ecuador: Lasso anticipates referendum decision

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Guillermo Lasso said Tuesday that formal procedures will begin in late April to promote a referendum aimed at reforms to Ecuador’s constitution.

In an interview broadcast from the Carondelet Palace – the seat of government – the president stressed that the changes would aim to strengthen the political system and governance.

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He added that Ecuadorians will be consulted on a proposed law on investment and job creation that was recently rejected by the legislature.

Lasso defends this initiative as a pillar of his government’s plan to reactivate the economy, attract US$30 billion in internal and external private investment over the next three years and, most importantly, create thousands of jobs.

Under Ecuadorian law, constitutional amendments can be made through referendums, but on the condition that they do not lead to a change in the structure of the state.

Lasso said the government has the right to put the investment law “to a referendum so that the people decide its future and not, with honorable exceptions, a few (deputies) who are in favor of the government. (Assembly members) who are only there to look after their personal wealth” and not to work for the good of the people and the country, he added.

He stressed that since he took office last May 24 – when he said he found an underfunded and practically paralyzed country – he has made investments of about US$5 billion “despite the fact that there is no investment law and the Assembly gentlemen have turned their backs on Ecuador.”

He stressed that he intends to govern through decrees and reforms of the regulations, without much collaboration with the opposition-dominated Assembly, which has systematically rejected the initiatives of the executive.