QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa swept to a re-election victory on Sunday that allows him to strengthen state control over the OPEC nation’s economy and gives a timely boost to Latin America’s alliance of socialist leaders.

Correa won 58 percent of the votes compared with 24 percent for runner-up Guillermo Lasso, according to preliminary results released by the electoral authority based on almost 30 percent of the votes counted.

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, one of Latin America’s most outspoken leftist leaders, is almost certain to win re-election on Sunday thanks to heavy state spending that has benefited the poor.

The pugnacious and combative U.S.-trained economist has won strong support by using windfall oil earnings to give cash handouts to some 2 million people and expand access to healthcare and education.

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, one of Latin America’s most outspoken leftist leaders, is almost certain to win re-election on Sunday thanks to heavy state spending that has benefited the poor.

The pugnacious and combative U.S.-trained economist has won strong support by using windfall oil earnings to give cash handouts to some 2 million people and expand access to healthcare and education.

QUITO, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa
held his first Cabinet meetings more than 35 years before he was
elected.

As an 8-year-old boy in the bustling port city of Guayaquil,
according to his brother, he would play head of state with his
friends who gathered around him to serve as ersatz ministers
taking his orders.

QUITO, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Leftist Ecuadorean President Rafael
Correa has maintained a huge lead over his nearest opposition
rival in the run-up to the Feb. 17 elections, recent polls show.

Correa’s popularity has remained above 50 percent throughout
his six years in office, buoyed by his personal charisma as well
as his government’s heavy spending on hospitals, roads and
schools.

QUITO (Reuters) – Two supporters of Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa were killed on Monday and four more suffered stab wounds during a campaign rally almost two weeks before a presidential election that the leftist leader is expected to win comfortably.

“Crazy person stabs seven AP people while they were waiting for the President. Two have been killed,” Correa said in his Twitter account, referring to supporters of the ruling Alianza Pais political movement, known as AP.

QUITO (Reuters) – Two supporters of Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa were killed on Monday and four more suffered stab wounds during a campaign rally almost two weeks before a presidential election that the leftist leader is expected to win comfortably.

“Crazy person stabs seven AP people while they were waiting for the President. Two have been killed,” Correa said in his Twitter account, referring to supporters of the ruling Alianza Pais political movement, known as AP.

ZUMBAHUA, Ecuador, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Once a forgotten
cluster of mud houses amid windswept peaks, the Ecuadorean
village of Zumbahua today boasts a state-of-the-art schoolhouse
with large projection touch screens, Internet access in every
classroom and lessons in three languages.

Indigenous Kichwa Indians who once stuffed savings under
their mattresses now have a bank in town and a free Internet
cafe – all paid for by the state.

QUITO, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Ecuador will launch a licensing
round on Wednesday for 13 oil blocks in unspoiled Amazon areas
despite opposition from indigenous groups that fear damage to
their ancestral lands.

Ecuador, OPEC’s smallest member, is upbeat that it will
attract investments worth at least $1 billion in oil exploration
projects for the 13 blocks, as well as three more that have been
assigned to state-run oil company Petroamazonas.

QUITO (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is suffering from a chronic lung ailment that could worsen at any time and is being checked regularly by doctors, the Andean country’s ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday.

Assange, 41, whose website angered the United States by releasing thousands of secret diplomatic cables, has been holed up inside Ecuador’s embassy in London since June to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations. Assange has denied any wrongdoing.