The need to move towards “worldwide de-dollarization” was highlighted on September 30 at the IX meeting of the Puebla Group, a political and academic forum attended by representatives of the Latin American and Southern European political left, including several representatives of Correismo, including former President Rafael Correa himself.

The spokesman for this initiative was former Colombian President Ernesto Samper, who believed that “dollarization is a secret hegemonic weapon that was somehow used to make globalization have an owner, that globalization is a game of losers and winners.”

Samper justified the idea of ​​de-dollarization by saying: “Only when we succeed in de-dollarizing the world will we be able to talk about creating a new space for global understanding.”

He also argued that the importance of de-dollarization is a premise highlighted by the current president of Brazil, Ignacio Lula da Silva.

The statements were made in the company of several main participants of the event. On his right was the former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa.

According to Albert Acosta Burne, editor Weekly analysis, what Samper said is very much in line with what the countries belonging to the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) are looking for, those who are fighting against the hegemony of the US and therefore trying to make the world uses fewer dollars. They even want countries to trade in other currencies and propose that the dollar no longer be used as a reserve currency. They also suggest that transactions do not go through American banks. It is interesting, according to him, that some governments that are authoritarian agree on such concepts; This is primarily because they perceive the risk of sanctions by the USA and in this way they could avoid the said sanctions, mostly economic.

For Acosta, the goal of de-dollarization of the world economy is counterproductive to the stability of Ecuador’s dollarized economy. At the same time, he indicated that there is no doubt that the position of Correismo, whose representatives are Luisa González and Andrés Arauz, is support for dedollarization. “They are full support, no doubt (…). They are participants and architects of de-dollarization,” he said. He also indicated that Arauz has already explained in the international media that he is part of the advisory group that will try to create a regional currency, and he even said that it must be done this year.

When asked why they assure that they will defend dollarization in Ecuador, he said that they cannot say anything else because they know that the voters do not want dedollarization. However, at the same time, they are working on a strategy to de-dollarize the world. “It is not in line with the strengthening of dollarization,” he said.

The question of the risk of de-dollarization and the need to strengthen dollarization in Ecuador is part of the campaign for the presidential elections that will be defined on October 15. For this reason, a few days ago, even before they were familiar with the criteria of the Puebla Group, the Economic Forum, which consists of Ecuadorian economists (among others, Fernando Larrea, Fernando Mosquera, Luis Luna) published its manifesto Dollarization: state policy.

In this they propose that dollarization must be a state policy that governments must respect, maintain and strengthen. “Dollarization in the country has become a legacy of the economic culture of the society, which is manifested through the wages” of the workers in the country, they state.

The economic forum requested that a consultation be held with the citizens in order to define the need for its maintenance and that there is no risk that any government will try to change it. In their manifesto, the forum’s economists pointed out that both former president Rafael Correa, in the past, and current vice-presidential candidate Andrés Arauz, recently, made statements against dollarization.

They even remember that at the time of Correato, the regional currency Sucre was promoted, and that Arauz currently explained how the creation of the “Ecuador” was carried out. For the Economic Forum, eventual de-dollarization would affect the country, as it would experience an inflationary process, indicators would deteriorate—such as country risk—and social security would be even more affected.