Observations on Correa’s win in Ecuador,

miamiherald.com reported…………Many people are surprised by Rafael Correa’s sweeping victory in Sunday’s Ecuadorean presidential election, despite his government’s massive corruption scandals and his record of repression against the media and political opponents. But if you look closer, it shouldn’t be surprising at all.
On the contrary, it would have been amazing if the result had been any different.
That’s what I concluded after talking a few days after the elections with former Ecuadoran president Osvaldo Hurtado, who has just published a new book entitled Dictatorships of the XXIst Century. The book’s title mocks Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Correa and other autocratic presidents’ claims that they are building a “Socialism of the XXIst Century.” I asked Hurtado how Correa had won with 57 percent of the vote, even after several much-publicized corruption scandals.
In case you missed the recent headlines from Ecuador, Correa’s cousin Pedro Delgado resigned as head of the Central Bank Dec. 19 after press reports that he had lied about having an economics degree. More importantly, Delgado allegedly used a government agency created by Correa to give loans to government friends for projects that never materialized. Read Article