Lawfare and character assassination against Lenín Moreno for defeating the dictatorship in Ecuador

By: Carlos Sánchez Berzaín - 10/05/2026

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The transnational organized crime system under Cuba's control suffered its most serious defeat in Ecuador when President Lenin Moreno abandoned the Castro-Chavista model and began restoring the essential elements of democracy. For this reason, he was the target of attacks, coups, and aggression, but he completed his term with free elections. Since then, the dismantling of Correism—the Ecuadorian version of 21st-century socialism—has not ceased, but its criminal apparatus, which remains in power, has unleashed judicial persecution and character assassination against Lenin Moreno and his family.

Moreno came to the presidency of Ecuador as a leftist accepted by Rafael Correa, was his vice president from 2007 to 2013 and belonged to the structure of the government of Alianza País, the Ecuadorian expression of 21st century socialism. His image with greater popularity in the regime forced the dictator who was no longer eligible for reelection to make him the presidential candidate for the 2017-2021 period, despite Correa's interest in supporting Jorge Glas whom he put as vice president.

After being elected president in the second round, he assumed the presidency of Ecuador from May 24, 2017, to May 24, 2021. During his presidency, he modified his stance regarding Correa's regime and its system of "electoral dictatorship," implementing drastic changes to restore essential elements of democracy and dismantle the narco-state. This was considered a shift toward the center and neoliberal economic policies, with significant changes in domestic and international policy.

With Moreno's break from Correa and Castro-Chavismo, press freedom, which had been annihilated under Correa's regime, returned to Ecuador. This included cases such as the collapse of the newspaper El Universo, the murders of journalists Emilio Palacio, Christian Zurita, Jorge Ortiz, Juan Carlos Calderón, Diego Oquendo, and others, the assassination of Fausto Valdiviezo, the confiscation of television channels, the suppression of the president's weekly addresses, and more. Political prisoners were able to obtain their freedom, with notable cases such as Galo Lara, the ten prisoners of Luluncoto, Fernando Balda, and others. Political persecution and exile, orchestrated from the presidency, ceased, including cases like those of Fernando Villavicencio, Clever Jiménez, Assemblywoman Lourdes Tibán, those convicted for applauding, and the cartoonist Bonil, who was prosecuted, among others.

Under Correa's regime, human rights were violated using the justice system as an instrument, with prosecutors and judges acting as executioners and hitmen, an extension of Cuba and Venezuela in the same model imposed in those dictatorships and in those of Nicaragua with Daniel Ortega and Murillo, and Bolivia with Evo Morales and Arce.

Correa turned Ecuador into a narco-state by expelling the DEA, closing the Manta anti-narcotics base, and expelling the US ambassador and ending US cooperation, while similar actions were being taken in Venezuela and Bolivia. Moreno reinstated the fight against drug trafficking, cooperation with the United States, and took notable measures such as the expulsion of Julián Asage from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.

Lenin Moreno made progress in restoring fundamental rights, the rule of law, and the separation and independence of powers, but without dismantling the Correa-era judicial and intelligence apparatus. He restored guarantees of freedom of political association and held free national elections, which resulted in the 2021 election of Guillermo Lasso, his 2017 opponent. In this environment, investigations and convictions of Rafael Correa, Jorge Glas, and others, who now have final and enforceable sentences, became possible.

The dismantling of the narco-state into which 21st-century socialism, with its operator Correa, transformed Ecuador—a process begun by Lenin Moreno—is not yet complete. The organized crime system not only attempted to overthrow Moreno in October 2019, but also attacked him in every way imaginable, to the point that he ended his term with the lowest approval rating the country has ever recorded. Generally, statesmanlike measures are unpopular, and Moreno's role was to take essential but unpopular steps.

From 2021, when Moreno left the presidency of Ecuador, to the present, the attack by 21st-century socialism on Ecuador's restored—but not yet consolidated—democracy has been constant, persistent, and criminal. This includes the "mutual dissolution" that forced President Lasso to resort to, the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, the interference of the para-dictatorial governments of Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, and the ongoing aggression from Cuba, as well as the drug trafficking and transnational organized crime operations that President Noboa is now combating. These are all manifestations of the criminal group that still controls territory, has infiltrated institutions, has part of the justice system, and continues to operate in politics.

In this scenario in Ecuador, democracy has yet to fully consolidate, and the organized crime that once held absolute power still maintains significant influence and refuses to die. Lenin Moreno, the restorer of democracy, is the victim of judicial persecution and a character assassination, reminiscent of the worst days of 21st-century socialism. He has returned to his homeland to defend himself and may become the target of revenge from the very system he began to dismantle.

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