Latin América
Ecuador Prioritizes Employment, Health Care, and Education
By Carlos Quintanilla
The Government of Ecuador has announced the reduction of unemployment during recent years to five percent, the lowest rate of Rafael Correa’s Administration. In 2010, over a quarter of a million jobs were created, demonstrating the country’s economic recovery.
Additionally, the Ecuadorian Department of Planning and Development says that the first five years of Civil Revolution show promising results in the reduction of poverty which has fallen by five percent in the last four years, overall, and eight percent in rural areas. These changes have brought about greater equality and a much more integrated and united society.
The Government has also made enormous advances in Health and Education, according to Correa’s Health Ministry. “Since the middle of last year, a huge army of doctors, dentists, obstetricians, psychologists, pharmacists, and nurses, travel all over the country helping people, especially in rural areas,” assures Correa.
The President signed the new Intercultural Education Law which provides options for young people to choose what they want to study after they finish high school.
A recent World Bank report disclosed that Ecuador has a population of 13 million, growing at a rate of 1.4 percent per year. One out of every four Ecuadorians is between 15 and 29 years old.
Correa, born April 6, 1963, is an economist and a former Finance Minister. In December 2008, he declared Ecuador’s National debt illegitimate because it was contracted by corrupt and despotic prior regimes. Correa is serving his second term in office which ends August 10, 2013.
The Ecuadorian President brought his country into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, a political, social and economic project that was created by Hugo Chavez’s initiative. According to Correa, being part of that Alliance is the most “important thing that has happened to Ecuador and its people”.
Carlos Quintanilla produces and hosts KPFK’s Spanish Language News Program “Noticiero Pacífica,” which is broadcast over 90.7 FM on Wednesdays at 10:30 PM. Noticiero Pacífica is the only independent news program in the Los Angeles area focusing on Latin American issues. P. O. Box 761475, Los Angeles, CA 90076. E-mail: notipaci@hotmail.com
