The Fall Of Ecuador's Oil Empire

A 2005 to 2015 oil boom under the stewardship of leftist President Rafael Correa pulled Ecuador, one of South America’s poorest countries, out of poverty. After securing greater government control of the hydrocarbon sector, which led to substantially higher oil rents boosting Quito’s coffers, Correa spent lavishly on social programs such as health and education. This saw millions of people lifted from poverty in the tiny Andean country of less than twenty million, which at the end of the twentieth century had been gutted by a devastating…