The country’s largest Indigenous federation, a powerful movement credited with toppling three previous Ecuadoran presidents, has vowed to launch mass protests in response. As of Wednesday morning, legislators were unable to enter the National Assembly, which was blocked by the military and police.
Lasso is applying a constitutional mechanism known as a “muerte cruzada” — mutual death — due to the “grave political crisis and social unrest” in the country, according to his decree.
It’s a drastic step, allowing him to shutter the legislature while setting him on a path to give up office in about six months. He can, however, run as a candidate in the election.
“A political crisis is being faced, as there is uncertainty about the ability of state bodies to perform their functions properly,” he said in a statement.
The move, a presidential order, is effective immediately and does not require court approval. The decree, just days before lawmakers were expected to vote on whether to remove him, gives Lasso a final political lifeline. He had previously said he would apply the muerte cruzada if the votes appeared to be stacked against him.
Lasso, a 67-year-old former banker, was elected in April 2021 on a free-market platform, defeating a protege of Rafael Correa, the leftist who was Ecuador’s longest-serving democratic president and continues to be a powerful force in the country’s politics. But Lasso took office as the country was struggling to recover economically from the pandemic and as drug traffickers were gaining control in many cities.
Gangs, many working with Mexican cartels, have since sent a wave of violent crime to the country’s prisons and its streets. In Esmeraldas and Guayaquil, neighborhoods have been terrorized by car bombs, explosives and killings, wreaking levels of violence never before seen in a historically peaceful Ecuador.
Seen by many Ecuadorans as out of touch with the population, Lasso’s approval rating dropped to 17 percent in recent months. He has also struggled with frequent illness and has been unable to push forward much of his legislation. Of the seven bills he has introduced, only three have been approved.
A day before Lasso spoke to the national assembly during the start of his impeachment trial, the mayor of Duran, a town outside Guayaquil, suffered an attempted murder.
Lasso, who was headed toward an impeachment trial over embezzlement accusations, is the first president to face such proceedings since the country’s return to democracy in 1979. He denied wrongdoing, accusing lawmakers of inventing unfounded allegations against him for political reasons.
Four lawmakers had filed a petition for impeachment with Ecuador’s constitutional court, accusing the president of improperly handling state contracts for oil transportation with a private company. They say his decisions led to the loss of millions of dollars in public funds, and that he was aware of it.
The legislative oversight commission concluded last week that there was no evidence to show that Lasso knew about the contracts and that he did not promote signing a new deal with the private company. The commission recommended against impeaching him.
