Luisa González, presidential candidate for Correismo (“Civil Revolution”), assured in an interview that “Venezuela has better living conditions” than Ecuador.

He said that Venezuelan migrants “are fleeing back to Venezuela because it is safer than Ecuador (…). Venezuelans are fleeing Ecuador, they are terrified of Ecuador. They are going to Venezuela. Do you know why? Because Venezuela now has better living conditions than Ecuador”, in an interview with CRO 920 AM.

It is not true that Venezuelans are returning to Venezuela in large numbers. According to the data of the Interdepartmental Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants (R4V), 7.7 million emigrants left the country, i.e. ONE QUARTER of the population. In the last three years, the number of Venezuelans abroad has increased, especially in Colombia and Peru. In Ecuador, according to the same source, the number of Venezuelans grew from 385,000 in January 2020 to 475,000 in August 2023.

Luisa González assures that ‘Venezuela has better living conditions than Ecuador’

Regarding the issue of insecurity, the homicide rate per 100,000 population was 40.4 in Venezuela and 25.9 in Ecuador in 2022.

There are numerous factors that affect the quality of life. Venezuelan GDP per capita is estimated at $3,459 in 2022 (in 2012 it was $12,688, a 75% drop in ten years). Ecuador’s GDP per capita was 6,462 dollars in 2022, or almost twice as much as in Venezuela.

(…) the homicide rate per 100,000 inhabitants was 40.4 in Venezuela and 25.9 in Ecuador in 2022.

The poverty rate in Venezuela, according to official data, is 50%, but according to a survey of living conditions by the Andrés Bello Catholic University, poverty reached 81.5% of the population in 2022 (after reaching 94.5% in 2020), and extreme poverty 53 .3% (reaching 76%). Only 63% of the population between the ages of 3 and 24 have access to education.

In Ecuador, the poverty rate was 27% in June 2023, while extreme poverty was 10.8% on the same date. Poverty reached a high of 33% in December 2020, and extreme poverty reached 15.4%. The poverty rate fell by 16% between June 2021 and June 2023.

These are the economic proposals of the government plan of candidate Luisa González

The minimum wage in Venezuela was $4 per month in August 2023, which is lower than that of Haiti and Cuba. In Ecuador, the minimum wage is 450 USD, although the average income is 300 USD. The minimum wage in Ecuador is 112 times higher than that in Venezuela.

Annual inflation in Ecuador was 2.56% in August 2023, while it reached 422% in Venezuela on the same date (ie, 164 times more).

Inflation is low in Ecuador mainly due to dollarization. Luisa González’s associate, Andrés Arauz, has shown his interest in introducing the “Ecuador”, a parallel currency to the dollar without any support.

This is where Daniel Noboa and Luisa González stand a little more than a month before the second round, according to two surveys of voting intentions

In the case of Zimbabwe, which introduced the zimdollar in 2019, the exchange rate was raised from 1 zimdollar to 1 USD in 2019 to 1,000 for 1 USD in the official market and 2,000 for 1 USD in the parallel market. Dedollarization would be the fastest way for Ecuador to reach the Venezuelan standard of living that Luisa González longs for. (OR)