Former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa
Former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa
It seems the University of Illinois can’t be embarrassed into taking back the “Exceptional Achievement” award it gave to left-wing strongman Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, and 2001 graduate from U of I with a Ph.D. in Economics.
Last year, Correa reportedly sought asylum in Belgium, where he has been living with his family since 2017, to avoid kidnapping and embezzlement charges back home. He has been accused of using state funds in a 2012 attempt to kidnap lawmaker Fernando Balda from Colombia. Balda was saved when the Colombian police intervened.
All the way back in 2010, 1996 U of I graduate Matt Lloyd, now with the U.S. State Department, said he was disgusted with his alma mater for giving Correa its “International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement” in 2009.
“Let me explain why,” Lloyd wrote in a commentary that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. “Correa is a dictator who idolizes Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. In fact, he has been quoted as saying he preferred ‘a thousand times’ to be a friend of Fidel Castro and Chavez than be an ally of the United States.”
Lloyd went on writing that Correa is allied with FARC, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
“FARC has been known to kidnap and kill Americans, the latest instance happening as recently as 2003,” he wrote. “This group is also helping fund Correa and his dictatorial regime in elections.”
Then in 2014, J.D. Gordon, retired Navy Commander and former Pentagon spokesman, wrote in The Hill that Correa took control of the legislature and the judiciary under so-called “reforms,” which allowed him to “routinely punish political opponents and maintain an iron grip on power.”
He dismantled freedom of the press, Gordon wrote, calling the media his “worst enemy” and “ink assassins,” waging a campaign to shutter private media companies and at times even arrest its leaders.
On the foreign policy front, Correa openly courted Iran, and under him, Ecuador appeared on an international governmental list for money laundering.
“It is ironic that Correa’s formative political years in Illinois and his tough Chicago-style politics are now being used against both the U.S., and simultaneously to repress his own people,” Gordon wrote.
But he's still recognized by the University of Illinois for "Exceptional Achievement."
Alerts Sign-up