Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés[a] (Spanish pronunciation: [leˈnim bolˈtajɾe moˈɾeno ɣaɾˈses];[b] born 19 March 1953) is an Ecuadorian politician who served as the 46th president of Ecuador, from 2017 to 2021.

He was nominated as the candidate for Correa's PAIS Alliance, a social democratic[1] political party, in the 2017 presidential election and won a narrow victory in Ecuador's second round of voting on 2 April 2017.

[12] However, once in office, he attempted to implement this theory, which in practice translated to Lenin Moreno using state media, conferences, and even presidential address to the nation to tell inappropriate jokes—many of them highly offensive towards certain sectors of society containing elements of sexism and misogyny,[13][14][15] defense of child labor,[16][17][18] and even pedophilia.

[21] Moreno was nominated for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize by Celso Maldonado, Vice President of the People with Disabilities Commission of the Ecuadorian National Assembly.

Later in 2018, through a referendum,[27] Moreno reversed several key pieces of legislation passed by the Correa administration that targeted wealthy individuals and banks.

[35] The Ecuadorian state limits annual public expenditure increases to 3%, confines budget deficits to debt interest repayment, and promotes privatizations with extended subsidies.

[citation needed] Moreno announced in February 2019 that he had obtained a loan of more than $10 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, with which the previous government had broken off, "at rates below 5% on average and for terms of up to 30 years".

[36] In June 2019, Moreno's government faced protests from environmentalist, indigenous and self-described patriotic groups after he permitted the US military to use the airbase on Galápagos Islands.

In 2019, 10,000 public sector professionals were laid off, with the majority being healthcare workers,[45][46] as part of austerity measures imposed by Lenin Moreno and recommended by the International Monetary Fund.

[47][48] These deficiencies in the health system left the population vulnerable, leading to a critical situation where the deceased accumulated in the streets, highlighting the magnitude of the crisis in Ecuador.

This occurred while Ecuador was facing a severe national emergency with thousands of deaths due to the pandemic, and corpses were piling up in the streets of Guayaquil.

The penitentiary crisis was compounded by violence generated by gangs linked to international drug trafficking, primarily from Mexico and Colombia, competing for power both inside and outside the prisons.

Additionally, the investigation has linked Xavier Macías Carmigniani and María Auxiliadora Patiño, close friends of Moreno and his wife Rocío González, to the offshore company.

Two addresses associated with the transactions have also been identified: one corresponds to Xavier Macías Carmigniani's house in Guayaquil, and the other is related to the oil company Sertecpet, owned by Eduardo López, a friend of the Moreno Garcés brothers.

The Ina Papers case has generated significant political repercussions and social unrest in Ecuador, leading to requests for investigations and appearances before the National Assembly and the Office of the Attorney General of the Ecuadorian State.

As a result of the investigation, charges of bribery have been filed against Lenín Moreno, his wife Rocío González, his daughter Irina, his brothers Edwin and Guillermo, as well as 36 other individuals.

In February 2023, the Attorney General of the State, Diana Salazar, reported that the Ina Papers case had expanded and that relevant information had been obtained from Panama through international legal assistance.

Subsequently, in March 2023, the charges were formally presented in a hearing, where the Prosecution requested preventive detention for the suspects, citing the risk of flight.

[80] It was reported that ten of the implicated individuals, including Moreno, did not comply with the periodic appearances before the court, leading to a request for Interpol notification for their location and arrest.

The Ina Papers case continues to unfold, and it is expected that further investigations and legal proceedings will shed more light on the alleged corruption and bribery activities involving Lenín Moreno and his family.

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team had been investigating a meeting between former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and President Moreno in Quito in 2017.

Moreno talked with Manafort about removing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and his extradition to the United States.

[82] In August 2018, Ecuador withdrew from ALBA, a regional bloc led by Venezuela and Cuba, in a bid to further distance itself from that country's socialist state and to be more "independent" of organizations that are trying to impose "specific views" on Latin America's social and political issues.

According to the commander of the Bolivian Police, Colonel Jhonny Aguilera, statements from authorities in 2019 have been collected, confirming the undertaking of a trip on that date to introduce weaponry.

[100] The popularity of President Lenin Moreno had fallen to less than 4.8%[101] approval due to his poor administration, lack of achievements, and continuous corruption scandals.

Faced with this situation, it was revealed that Moreno bought followers on social media[102][103][104][105] to appear to have popular support, according to an investigation by The New York Times.

[108] On 22 February 2023, Ecuador's attorney general Diana Salazar asked for charges to be brought against Moreno and 36 others over alleged corruption over the construction of one of the country's largest hydroelectric plants, built between 2009 and 2018.

According to Ecuadorian Assembly members, when Lenín Moreno left office, only 7,000 pieces out of the original 11,200 remained in the museum located in the government palace.

[114] The estimated value of the missing museum pieces exceeds 2 million dollars and included objects received as gifts from foreign leaders to Ecuador, as well as other historical items from the country.

After completing a presidential term marked by corruption, violence, and the implementation of a series of neoliberal reforms in his country, Lenín Moreno became extremely unpopular among the Ecuadorian people and therefore did not seek reelection.