On 7 February, the people of Ecuador exercised their constitutional right to elect a new President, Vice president, and National Assembly. The results were clear: a major first-round victory for Andrés Arauz, Carlos Rabascall, and their Unión por la Esperanza (UNES).

Now, a backlash against democracy is underway. Reactionary forces — both inside Ecuador and across the hemisphere — are leading a dirty and dishonest campaign to remove Arauz, delay the elections, and prevent the formation of a progressive, indigenous, and feminist bloc.

Inside of Ecuador, the electoral authorities attempted an unprecedented vote "recount" that threatened to derail the democratic process. Let us be clear: There was no legal basis for this "recount", and no evidence of fraud to justify it. We have seen the consequences of baseless claims of fraud in the coup against Evo Morales in November 2019. And we say to the CNE, the OAS, and to the US State Department: We are watching.

Now, the Office of the Prosecutor is escalating efforts to dismiss the first-round results. Against clear Constitutional rules, the Prosecutor's office has called to seize "all digital content from the database that administers the electoral system." We are ringing the alarm: the government of Lenín Moreno is preparing a coup against democracy.

The attack on Ecuador's democracy is not only coming from inside the country. Last month, the Colombian magazine Semana circulated an absurd and malicious rumor that the Progressive International facilitated a loan between the guerrilla forces of the ELN in Colombia and the campaign of presidential candidate Andrés Arauz. These ridiculous rumors were easily debunked by a range of experts and dismissed by the Progressive International.

Nonetheless, the Duque government in Colombia continues to spread this lie. On 13 February, the Attorney General of Colombia traveled to Ecuador to pass along "secret" information that could be used in a legal case to disqualify Arauz from the presidential election.

Ecuador has a long tradition of "legal warfare" against its progressive forces. The absurd lie about the ELN is simply the latest lawfare tactic to prevent them from coming to power.

They will not succeed. The illegal "recount" and the absurd "loan" reflect the desperation of reactionary forces across Latin America. They know that their time is over. They know that they can only hold onto power by illegal means. And they know that the peoples of the world are ready to reclaim their democracies for peace and prosperity.

Their fear is our strength. Now, more than ever, we must unite in defense of our fragile democracies. We must bring together progressive, feminist, ecologist, and indigenous forces to defeat the reactionary right. Together, we can dismantle this "lawfare" regime, and restore popular sovereignty in Ecuador and around the world.

Signatories:

Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta

Cabinet Minister, Argentina

Celso Amorim

Former Foreign Minister of Brazil

Alicia Castro

Former Ambassador of Argentina and Trade Union leader

Noam Chomsky

Laureate Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona

Yanis Varoufakis

Member of the Hellenic Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn

Member of Parliament, UK

Sevim Dagdelen

Member of German Bundestag

Jean-Luc Melénchon

MP and Leader of France Insoumise

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Wang Hui

Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing

Christian Rodriguez

Relations internationales, France Insoumise

Nick Estes

Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico

Srećko Horvat

Co-Founder, DiEM25

ACAF

(Asamblea de Ciudadanos Argentinos en Francia) France

Giorgio Jackson

Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile

Ertuğrul Kürkçü

Honorary President of the Peoples’ Democratic Party

Scott Ludlam

Former Senator, Australia

John McDonnell

Member of Parliament for Hayes and Harlington

Vijay Prashad

Director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

Aruna Roy

Founder-Member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)

Pierre Sane

Founder & President, Imagine Africa

Andrea Alvarez

Actual decana de la Facultad de Periodismo Universidad de La Plata, Argentina Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado (ATE) Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Mónica Bianchi

Legisladora CABA (MC) Consejo Consultivo de la Discapacidad, Argentina

Heinz Bierbaum

Presidente del Partido de la Izquierda Europea

Hebe de Bonafini Presidenta Asociación

Atilio Boron

Politólogo y catedrático, Argentina

Amado Boudou

Exvicepresidente, Argentina

Eric Calcagno

Senador Nacional (MC) Exembajador en Francia, Argentina

Guillermo Carmona

Diputado Nacional (MC), Expresidente de la comisión de relaciones exteriores del congreso de la nación Argentina

Antonio Cartañá

Escribano. Exombudsman Central de Trabajadores argentinos de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires Argentina

Jorge Cholvis

Constitucionalista, Argentina

Verónica Azpiroz Cleñan

Politóloga Comunidad Mapuche Epu Lafken Tejido de Profesionales Indígenas, Argentina

Rita Cortese

Actriz, Argentina

Luis D’ Elia

Presidente del Partido MILES por Tierra Techo y Trabajo, Argentina Espacio Puebla Argentina

Fernando Esteche

Docente universitario Secretario General Patria Para Todos, Argentina

Aníbal Fernández

Exjefe de Gabinete, Argentina La Comisión de Política Exterior Soberana y la Comisión de DDHH del Instituto Patria Argentina

Frente Patria Grande

Argentina

Frente Patria Misiones

Argentina

James K. Galbraith

Economist

Juan Grabois

Argentina

Heike Hänsel

Member of German Bundestag, Vice Chairwoman of Die Linke parliamentary group and member of Foreign Affairs Committee

Liga Argentina por los Derechos Humanos

Argentina

Madres de Plaza de Mayo

Argentina

El Manifiesto Argentino

Argentina

Nelly Minyerski

Abogada, Argentina

Maite Mola

Vice-Presidenta primera del Partido de la Izquierda Europea, responsable de las Relaciones Internacionales

MOPASSOL

Movimiento por la Paz, la Soberanía y la Solidaridad entre los Pueblos, Argentina

Edgardo Mocca

Periodista, Argentina

Juan Carlos Monedero

Director del Instituto 25 M, España

Victor Hugo Morales

Periodista

Movimiento Arraigo

Argentina

Oscar Nocetti

CEP Cooperativa Eléctrica de Comunicación de Santa Rosa La Pampa, Argentina

Felipe Pigna

Historiador, Argentina

Gerardo Pisarello Member of the Congress of Deputies

Hector Recalde Diputado Nacional (MC) Abogado laboralista, Argentina

Anton Gomez Reino External deputy España, Podemos

Carlos Rozanski Abogado. Exjuez Camara Federal Argentina

Florencia Saintout Legisladora de la provincia de Buenos Aires. Exdecana de la Facultad de Periodismo UNLP, Argentina

Milagro Sala Exdiputada Parlasur, dirigente social de la organización Tupac Amaru, presa política, Argentina

Fernanda Vallejos

Diputada Nacional, Argentina

Horacio Verbitsky

Periodista, Argentina

Idoia Villanueva

MEP and International Relations, Podemos

Slavoj Žižek

Slovenian philosopher

Andrej Hunko

Member of the German parliament, member of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, regular election observer for OSCE and COE parliamentary assemblies