Dear Readers, We deeply regret having been offline for several days due to a technical issue that has now been resolved. 
By Evan Ellis
Dear Colleague,
With this email, I would like to share with you my new article in Spanish and English, remembering the legacy of Ecuadoran anti-Corruption crusader and Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio, brutally assassinated August 9th in Quito.
This work looks at the legacy of the corruption that he fought against, much of which arose from populist former Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa’s isolation of the country from Western partners, instead embracing PRC and its companies to fund and work his development projects in non-transparent ways that opened the door for a web of corruption and disastrous project results.
I argue that these Correa projects and their corruption that Fernando Villavicencio fought against stands as a cautionary of the broader risks in an economically imperiled Latin America skeptical of democracy, as populists embrace predatory Chinese business partners, open to confer “personal” benefits, in non-transparent ways.
This work also examines the implications of Fernando Villavicencio’s assassination for Ecuador’s August 20 Presidential election, and for the future of the region.
Link to the PDF : Fernando Villavicencio and the Self-Destructive Collaboration between China and Populist Regimes
evanellis.substack.com 08 15 2023
