As Noboa licks his wounds following referendum defeat, internal squabble threatens the Correistas

If President Daniel Noboa lost his political mojo in last week’s referendum defeat, leaders of the Correista movement, which should have benefited from the outcome, are suddenly at each other’s throats.

Guayas Province Prefect Marcela Aguiñaga drizzles lemon juice over Cotopaxi Prefect Lourdes Tibán’s encebollado at lunch last week. Inset: former president Rafael Correa.

Noboa, who had gone silent following the November 16 defeat, reappeared in person and on social media Sunday following a four-day trip to Florida for undisclosed reasons. His only executive action in the last week was a reshuffle of the ministerial cabinet, which political analysts say had little significance politically.

Meanwhile, following a brief celebration of Noboa’s defeat, the Citizens Revolution is engaging in a nasty internal fight with party founder Rafael Correa at the center. The point of contention is party member and Guayas Province Prefect Marcela Aguiñaga.

Since February’s presidential election, Aguiñaga has criticized Citizens Revolution leadership, especially the “devotion” to the former president, a fugitive living in Belgium. She has accused Correa of being responsible for the Citizens Revolution’s last two presidential election defeats, “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

The most recent controversy centers on Aguiñaga’s friendship with Cotopaxi Province Prefect Lourdes Tibán, a long-time critic of Correa. The two recently exchanged visits for the purpose of “sharing ideas about governance” of their respective provinces, according to Aguiñaga.

Correa and Citizens Revolution party leader Luisa González, who lost to Noboa in the February election, wants Aguiñaga expelled from the party. Aguiñaga, on the other hand, says she plans to run for reelection on the party ticket in next year’s election, claiming she supports the original “principles and ideas” of Correismo and that it is González and Correa himself who have abandoned those principles.

On Sunday, Correa insisted that the Aguiñaga-Tibán relationship was sufficient grounds for expelling Aguiñaga. “She [Aguiñaga] has exhibited disloyalty for months but the alliance with Tibán crosses the red line,” he said.

Referring to Tibán, Correa called her an “abject little woman” who has defamed the Citizens Revolution movement. “It is intolerable for member of our party to have an association with her.”

Inflaming the conflict, Tibán has taken the opportunity to repeat old attacks on Correismo, referring again to González as “René the frog” as she had before the February election.” She called Correa the “fugitive mafioso.”