The National Institute for Statistics and Census (INEC), in its Technical Bulletin no. 02-2023, when it talks about the multidimensional poverty rate in Ecuador, which includes the criteria of education, work and social security, health, water and food; and habitats, housing and a healthy environment, determines that in December 2022 this indicator reached 38.1% at the national level; that is, almost 4 out of 10 people are poor, a situation that worsens even more in the rural sector, where this figure reaches 70.1%; It is worth emphasizing that in the countryside 7 out of 10 individuals are trapped by the tentacles of poverty, which is expressed in the denial of rights: to mention only the field of education, lack of access to initial levels of education, secondary and higher education or leaving school for economic reasons.

In these extremely difficult conditions, in which entire families have lost almost everything, even hope, many of them decide on irregular migration, which not only seriously endangers the safety and lives of these citizens (including children), in the hands of those monsters called . coyotes, but they also have to deal with tightening regulations put in place by the international community, such as the United States, to curb the waves of people pushing to enter their territory and reach—who knows, one day—it American dream. What, for example, is happening now on the US-Mexico border, apart from being chaotic, threatens to lead to a humanitarian crisis with unpredictable consequences.

In general, the poor have to face an international order dominated by ideological fundamentalisms of various tones, the dictatorship of the market and globalization which, paradoxically, allows them to circulate without obstacles or discrimination only financial capital.

If we add up the income from remittances in the last three years, we arrive at a total of 12,443.72 million dollars…

However, there are also migrants, many pejoratively known as wetbacks, who move the production apparatus of industrialized countries and remit, with all the difficulties this entails, savings for their families. In our case, during 2022 the flow of remittances exceeded the amount reached in 2021 by 8.73%, when entering the country – for this reason – 4,743.54 million dollars. This means that it is again the poor, disinherited from the system, expelled from their homeland, who maintain a good part of the internal consumption of the economy and the durability of the dollarization itself.

If we include the income from remittances in the last three years, it is a total of 12,443.72 million dollars, or five times more than the direct foreign investments received in the same period. As we can see, the promotion of an investment shock to create new jobs remained only pre-election bids overshadowed by the sluggish economy and conditioned by high country risk.

Coordinated and agreed work of the Government, state institutions, private companies and civil society is needed with the aim of establishing a minimum program agenda that stimulates the domestic economy and offers real employment opportunities to the population. (OR)