The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration focused on the implementation of left-wing policies.
103 Facts About Rafael Correa
2.
Rafael Correa won the presidency in the 2006 general election on a platform criticizing the established political elites.
3.
Rafael Correa oversaw the introduction of a new constitution, being re-elected in 2009 and again in the 2013 general election.
4.
Rafael Correa's presidency was part of the Latin American pink tide, a turn toward leftist governments in the region, allying himself with Hugo Chavez's Venezuela and bringing Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009.
5.
Rafael Correa, who lived in Belgium at the time, denied the allegations regarding the kidnapping.
6.
Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison.
7.
Correa's father was Rafael Correa Icaza, born in the Province of Los Rios, Ecuador,.
8.
Rafael Correa had three siblings; Fabricio Correa, Pierina Correa and Bernardita Correa.
9.
When Rafael Correa was five, his father was arrested and imprisoned for three years after attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into the United States.
10.
Rafael Correa was 18 when he was told about his father's actions.
11.
Rafael Correa then obtained a scholarship to study at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil, a private higher education institution in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he obtained an undergraduate degree in economics in 1987.
12.
Rafael Correa then secured a scholarship to study economics further at UCLouvain in Belgium, where he met Anne Malherbe Gosselin, whom he married and has three children with.
13.
Rafael Correa later received a Master of Arts in Economics from UCLouvain in June 1991.
14.
Rafael Correa was able to afford a university education with the aid of funding grants.
15.
Rafael Correa continued his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned a Master of Science in economics in May 1999, and a PhD in economics in October 2001.
16.
Rafael Correa was highly critical of this dollarisation policy, arguing against it in various academic publications that he produced at the time.
17.
Between 1992 and 1993, during the presidency of Sixto Duran Ballen, Rafael Correa was a director at the Ministry of Education and Culture in Ecuador, tasked with administrative oversight and supervision of improvement programs for the national educational system.
18.
On 20 April 2005, Rafael Correa was appointed to the position of Minister of Economy and Finance in the government of President Alfredo Palacio, having previously advised Palacio before his ascension to the presidency.
19.
Rafael Correa established himself as both a political maverick and a staunch critic of economic liberalization.
20.
Rafael Correa claimed in his resignation letter that the sale was done with full presidential authorization, but cited lack of support from the president as a factor in his decision to resign.
21.
Rafael Correa wrote that Chang showed that it was Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, and not Friedrich List who was the first to present a systematic argument defending industrial protectionism.
22.
Rafael Correa decided to campaign for the presidency in the 2006 presidential election, although at the time he was a largely unknown figure among the Ecuadorean public.
23.
Rafael Correa established a political vehicle, the PAIS Alliance, which united a disparate group of leftist organizations.
24.
Rafael Correa presented this as a process necessary to overthrow the established political elites, whom he termed the partidocracia, and redistribute political power.
25.
On 31 July 2006, Alianza PAIS signed a Programmatic Political Agreement with the Communist Party of Ecuador when Rafael Correa was postulated for candidate for president.
26.
On economic policy, Rafael Correa called for reform of the petroleum industry, including an increase in the percentage of petroleum revenues spent on social programs for the Ecuadorian poor, following the reforms of the Hydrocarbons Law promoted by former Economy and Finance Minister Diego Borja.
27.
Rafael Correa accused foreign petroleum companies operating in Ecuador of failing to meet existing environmental and investment regulations.
28.
Rafael Correa proposed strategies for reducing the burden of Ecuador's foreign debt service through compulsory debt restructuring.
29.
Rafael Correa indicated that his top priority would be spending on social programs rather than servicing Ecuador's debt.
30.
On foreign policy, Rafael Correa stressed Ecuador's aversion to becoming involved in Colombia's domestic conflict.
31.
In October 2006, Rafael Correa added that he would "pursue and capture" FARC members if they entered Ecuador.
32.
Rafael Correa condemned their kidnappings, violations of human rights and bombings.
33.
Rafael Correa learned Quichua in his youth during a year he spent volunteering in a remote highland town.
34.
The situation led to a run-off election, in which Rafael Correa portrayed Noboa as an exploitative oligarch and Noboa portrayed Rafael Correa as a dangerous leftist with strong links to Venezuela.
35.
Rafael Correa was officially declared President on 4 December 2006 by the electoral court.
36.
Rafael Correa was sworn in on 15 January 2007 as the 56th president of Ecuador, the seventh to occupy the post since the legislature removed President Abdala Bucaram 10 years earlier in the midst of a debt crisis that had devastated the country.
37.
Rafael Correa's inauguration was attended by most regional leaders, as well as the Iranian president and the Spanish Crown Prince.
38.
Rafael Correa adopted a confrontational approach to both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
39.
Rafael Correa's administration stated that the new government would not sign an agreement which allowed the International Monetary Fund to monitor its economic plan.
40.
Rafael Correa said Ecuador wanted no further relationship with the fund.
41.
Rafael Correa referred to the allegations as a conspiracy from a powerful banker.
42.
On 26 July 2007, Rafael Correa replaced finance minister Patino, due to Patino's appearance in a video recording, apparently discussing the market manipulation.
43.
Rafael Correa has criticized the neoliberal policies of previous presidents, particularly former president Mahuad's adoption of the US dollar as Ecuador's domestic currency in 2000 to combat the country's inflation.
44.
Rafael Correa has characterized American dollarisation as a "technical error" which has effectively eliminated Ecuador's ability to set its own currency and exchange policy.
45.
However, Rafael Correa has acknowledged that it would be politically and economically impossible to abandon that policy now.
46.
Rafael Correa adopted a confrontational approach to the governments of both the United States and neighboring Colombia.
47.
Rafael Correa refused to renew the base's lease when it expired in 2009 and the constitution was changed to ban foreign military bases being established in Ecuador.
48.
Rafael Correa claimed that some of the bodies had been found to be shot from behind.
49.
Rafael Correa announced that he was summoning his ambassador in Colombia for consultations.
50.
Rafael Correa withdrew his government's ambassador in Bogota, Colombia, and ordered troops to the country's border following the 2008 Andean diplomatic crisis in early March 2008.
51.
On 3 March 2008, Colombia's police said that documents found in a camp in Ecuador where Colombian troops killed Raul Reyes, a top guerrilla boss, showed ties between the FARC rebels and Rafael Correa, including contacts about political proposals and local military commanders.
52.
However, after this date was set, the "statutes" for the referendum were modified by Rafael Correa to allow more powers to the constituent assembly.
53.
Rafael Correa backed the electoral tribunal while stating that the removal of the 57 congressmen was constitutional.
54.
President Rafael Correa has stated that Ecuador's first option is to maintain the crude oil in the subsoil.
55.
Rafael Correa overturned a ban on the sale of shark fins, which are popular in Asia, but stipulated that the fins can only be sold if the sharks are caught accidentally and by artisan fishermen.
56.
Rafael Correa did not say how authorities would determine whether the shark had been caught accidentally or deliberately.
57.
On 3 August 2007, Rafael Correa ordered the deportation of Sean O'Hearn-Gimenez, director of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, saying that he would not allow "gringuitos" to tell Ecuadorians what to do or to pursue local fishermen.
58.
Rafael Correa later rescinded the extradition order because O'Hearn-Gimenez was married to an Ecuadorian woman.
59.
Rafael Correa was the first Ecuadorian President to serve a second consecutive term since the 19th century.
60.
Rafael Correa won by a large margin over the other seven candidates, taking 52 per cent of the vote to the 28 per cent of Lucio Gutierrez, his nearest rival.
61.
Rafael Correa's party won the largest legislative block in the National Assembly, although not a majority.
62.
Rafael Correa was sworn into the Presidency on 10 August 2009, the same day as Ecuador's bicentennial.
63.
Rafael Correa's speech took place in front of several South American dignitaries, such as the president of Argentina Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Bolivian President Evo Morales, Cuban President Raul Castro, and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
64.
Rafael Correa used the opportunity to promise a continuation of his "socialist revolution", his plans to end poverty and to go on "stamping out the structural causes of poverty".
65.
Rafael Correa said the actions of the media were opposing his government.
66.
Rafael Correa cited a constitutional article that prohibited the blocking of roads.
67.
Rafael Correa announced that on Monday 26 July 2010 Ecuador would enact reforms to a hydrocarbons law that aims to expropriate foreign-company operations unless they sign service contracts increasing state control of the industry.
68.
Rafael Correa reminded oil companies that if they did not abide by the state's policies, they would have their fields nationalized and would be forced from the country.
69.
Rafael Correa was a signatory to The UNASUR Constitutive Treaty of the Union of South American Nations on 15 July 2009.
70.
On 10 August 2009 Rafael Correa hosted the Heads of Government of South America in Quito, as he took over the one year Pro Tempore Presidency of UNASUR.
71.
Rafael Correa announced on 3 April 2010 that he would propose to UNASUR the creation of a united front against transnationals like the American Chevron, which he accused of attempting to destroy his country.
72.
Rafael Correa announced another lawsuit this time against an editorial writer and the directors of El Universo newspaper.
73.
Rafael Correa filed a lawsuit against Juan Carlos Calderon and Christian Zurita, investigative journalists and authors of the book "Gran Hermano".
74.
Rafael Correa insisted that if the authors of the book admitted wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness he would pardon them.
75.
Rafael Correa said he would drop his case against the authors of "Gran Hermano".
76.
The Washington Post reported in July 2011 that, according to a report for the National Endowment for Democracy, the government had controlled one radio station when Mr Rafael Correa became president in 2007, but that by the time of the report it owned five television channels, four radio stations, two newspapers and four magazines.
77.
Rafael Correa announced a constitutional referendum, which took place on 7 May 2011.
78.
Rafael Correa pointed out that China gives credits to Ecuador at 7.0 percent, but the credits are to finance projects with 23 or 25 percent of profitability, that is extremely good business, when referring to two thousand million dollars which will be dedicated to public investment initiatives.
79.
Rafael Correa discarded the idea that Ecuador is delivered to or have mortgaged its petroleum to China.
80.
Rafael Correa who participated of the act of possession of the new domestic magistrates, said that the administration of justice is an imperium of the state and at the same time, it is a public service, it expressed his total back to the new judges of the National Court of Justice.
81.
Rafael Correa condemned the action and accused them of being hypocrites for having allied with the extreme right, of seeking to exploit mining for themselves and of trying to destabilize his government, urging his followers to mobilize against them.
82.
Rafael Correa established the National Interagency Strategy for Family Planning and the Prevention of Teen Pregnancies in 2011.
83.
Rafael Correa alleged that the United States attempted to meddle in the country's affairs during his presidency, saying that a representative from the American Central Intelligence Agency requested a meeting with him at the start of his administration and that the accounts of senior state officials had been hacked.
84.
Rafael Correa was reelected president, winning by a large margin in the first round of the presidential election.
85.
In November 2013, Rafael Correa's government said that the United States Agency for International Development was supporting the opposition and asked it to end its activities in Ecuador.
86.
Rafael Correa led "No" campaign the during the 2018 Ecuadorian referendum and popular consultation.
87.
Since 2018, Rafael Correa has hosted the weekly political talk show, Conversation with Rafael Correa, on RT Spanish.
88.
Rafael Correa, who lived in Belgium at the time, denied the allegations regarding the kidnapping.
89.
Rafael Correa maintained his support for Australian activist Julian Assange throughout his post-presidential life.
90.
On 11 April 2019, Rafael Correa's successor withdrew Assange's asylum and invited Scotland Yard into its embassy to arrest Assange.
91.
Rafael Correa has criticized several newspapers as El Universo, El Comercio, Diario Hoy, Diario Expreso, La Hora, calling them "news mafias" for criticising the ruling of the Electoral Tribunal depriving 57 opposition legislators of their seats in Congress.
92.
Rafael Correa argued that the press had remained silent about the holdups that had occurred in state-owned enterprises like Pacifictel and the Ecuadorian Customs Administration.
93.
On 10 May 2007, Rafael Correa filed a lawsuit against Francisco Vivanco Riofrio of the board of directors of the Quito-based La Hora newspaper, over an editorial published in the paper on 9 March.
94.
The editorial, titled "Official Vandalism", said that Rafael Correa intended to rule Ecuador "with turmoil, rocks and sticks".
95.
Rafael Correa decided to create Ecuador TV, the first state-owned channel in the country, with the announced intention of producing television with better quality standards than the private channels.
96.
Rafael Correa has revealed the real identities of a number of his social media-based critics which has led to the individuals concerned being harassed.
97.
On 1 May 2015, Rafael Correa stopped his motorcade in downtown Quito to berate 17-year-old teenager Luis Carrera, after he spotted Carrera gave the middle finger gesture at Rafael Correa.
98.
President Rafael Correa responded by offering a multimillion-dollar donation for human rights training in the United States.
99.
President Rafael Correa said that, although he respected the decision of the London consul Fidel Narvaez to issue it, the document was invalid.
100.
The judge alerted Interpol because Rafael Correa was living in Belgium at the time with his wife, who was a Belgian native.
101.
Rafael Correa is Catholic, and while President, kept a photograph of the Pope on his desk.
102.
Rafael Correa describes himself as an advocate of "socialism of the 21st century".
103.
On 23 May 2013, Rafael Correa reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.