Letter from South America: Outlier Ecuador offers alternative path

The country has been working to attract renewed upstream foreign investment since quitting Opec

Ecuador may remain one of the few right-wing governments left in South America by the end of 2022. Elections are looming in Colombia and Brazil, where leftist candidates lead in the polls, and the political landscape is changing significantly in the region—which will no doubt affect hydrocarbons policies. Already, the frontrunner for the Colombian presidency has called for an ‘anti-oil’ bloc to be created by aligned South American governments, an exercise akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face for commodity export-dependent economies. But all signs now point to the fact that Ecuador will forge a different path, at least in the near term. The surprise victory of Guillermo Lasso, a