Xavier Orellana reminded us that Henry Kissinger said, “There is a vacuum in global leadership, with a lack of statesmanship that has left a world misgoverned by populists and technocrats.” And no doubt we could modify it in a thousand ways to adapt it to the Ecuadorian case, but this is the reality: our leadership is in bad shape, especially politically! …But what is a leader? According to the RAE: “A person who manages or leads a political party, social organization or other community”. But there is much more to it: being a leader means helping others grow, supporting others to find common direction, being an example, being better to help everyone be better, creating hope.

Ecuador’s country risk exceeds 1800 points and remains unstoppable due to threats to impeach the president and mobilizations

And according to the general definition and behavior, our political leaders are obviously doing very badly. For example, what is Mr. Leonidas Iza’s role as a leader? I want to continue my tweet from a few days ago: “Mr. Iza, can you just say NO to the 14 points? To the Constitution, to the government, to dialogues. Only mobilizations and threats. Is there a YES for the country? Is your only offer Andean communism, impoverishing except for the leaders, and support for illegal mining? Can you be a positive leader? Who says no, just destroys, doesn’t give solutions, isn’t an example, isn’t a leader. And now (and so many more times) comes the National Assembly, which has just put to a vote a report that undoubtedly a sum of absurdities, conjectures, assumptions with the sole aim of finding some loophole to remove President Guillermo. Lasso, and so they will look everywhere for mechanisms, legal or illegal, all aimed at their petty needs. are they building? Are they an example ?They are not leaders at all. And in this the correístas are masters, in systematically putting their ambitions before the progress of the country. Teachers, but not leaders. The Government also has its own, seeking among other negative decisions and personal quarrels Lilliputian dimensions, what does it contribute?, what is it an example of?, how does it seriously attack corruption, so rooted in our state apparatus for What kind of hope and motivation does it create among Ecuadorians? Almost nothing… And no doubt the academic and economic elites who do not have a political role, but do have one. Obviously, they help to solve many problems of the daily life of Ecuadorians, but where do they look for spaces for dialogue? To meet others? For an attack on hopelessness? To face the structural problems, but avoiding only the arrogance of the vision?

The National Assembly exerts pressure if there are reasons to bring the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, to a political trial under Article 129 of the Constitution

And probably many of us, and I am the most among them, do not fulfill the best leadership role in their immediate environment.

The country’s leaders are trapped in a systematic blockade. And of course the key question is: who takes the first step to overcome it, who pushes and motivates others? WHO? … I don’t have an answer, but I hope we find it.

Note. Many thanks to Mr. Carlos Cabezas, who pointed out the error in last Saturday’s article. I wrote: “…the Fed continues to raise interest rates dramatically (45% in December)”. Of course, it is 4.5% instead of 45%. (OR)