Rafael Correa | |
---|---|
President of Ecuador | |
Assumed office 15 January 2007 |
|
Vice President |
Lenín Moreno Jorge Glas |
Preceded by | Alfredo Palacio |
President pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations | |
In office 10 August 2009 – 26 November 2010 |
|
Preceded by | Rafael Palacios |
Succeeded by | Bharrat Jagdeo |
President pro tempore of CELAC | |
In office 28 January 2015 – 28 January 2016 |
|
Preceded by | Luis Guillermo Solís |
Succeeded by | Danilo Medina |
Chairman of the PAIS Alliance | |
Assumed office 3 April 2006 |
|
Preceded by | Position established |
Minister of Finance | |
In office 20 April 2005 – 9 August 2005 |
|
President | Alfredo Palacio |
Preceded by | Mauricio Yepez |
Succeeded by | Magdalena Barreiro |
Personal details | |
Born |
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado 6 April 1963 Guayaquil, Ecuador |
Political party | PAIS Alliance |
Spouse(s) | Anne Malherbe Gosselin |
Children | Sofía Anne Dominique Rafael Miguel |
Residence | Carondelet Palace |
Alma mater |
Catholic University of Guayaquil Catholic University of Louvain University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Website | Official website |
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel βiˈsente koˈre.a ðelˈɣaðo]; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who has served as President of Ecuador since 2007. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration has focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations.
Born to a lower middle-class mestizo family in Guayaquil, Correa studied economics at the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, the Université catholique de Louvain, and the University of Illinois, where he received his PhD.
Returning to Ecuador, in 2005 he became the Minister for the Economy in President Alfredo Palacio's government, successfully lobbying Congress for increased spending on health and education projects. Correa won the presidency in the 2006 general election on a platform criticizing the established political elites.
Taking office in January 2007, he sought to move away from Ecuador's neoliberal economic model by reducing the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate and announced that the country would default on over $3 billion worth of bonds; he pledged to fight creditors in international courts and succeeded in reducing the price of outstanding bonds by more than 60%. He oversaw the introduction of a new constitution, and was re-elected in 2009. Correa was re-elected in the 2013 general election.