Topic: Rafael Correa

Rafael Correa Delgado born (April 6, 1963) is the President of the Republic of Ecuador and was the president pro tempore of the Union of South American Nations. An economist educated in Ecuador, Belgium and the United States, he was elected President in late 2006 and took office in January 2007. In December 2008, he declared Ecuador's national debt illegitimate because it was contracted by corrupt/despotic prior regimes. He then pledged to fight creditors in international courts, and succeeded in reducing the price of the debt letters and continued paying all the debt. He brought Ecuador into the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas in June 2009. His first term in office was due to end on January 15, 2011, but the new approved constitution written by the new National Assembly mandated general elections for April 26, 2009. In that election, Rafael Correa won in the first round with 51.9% of votes counted. It was the first time since 1979 in which a representative was elected without having to face a second round. Consequently, Correa began a new term in office due to end on August 10, 2013, which could be extended by reelection until 2017. To date, Correa’s administration has succeeded in reducing high levels of poverty, indigence, and unemployment.

A descendant of the Chilean politician Rafael Correa of Saa and Lazón, Rafael Correa was born in a middle class home in the center of Guayaquil. His father was Rafael Correa Icaza, born in the Province of Los Ríos, Ecuador, March 23, 1934 and deceased June 10, 1995; and his mother is Norma Delgado Rendón, born September 1, 1939.

His parents had three more children: Fabricio Correa, Pierina Correa; Bernardita Correa(+). He is married to Anne Malherbe, teacher of Belgian nationality born in 1969,cwho he met in 1990 at the Catholic University of Louvain. The couple have three children: Sofía, Anne Dominique and Rafael Miguel. Correa practices Roman Catholicism.