Is Correa Following Chavez and Morales With His Last Referendum?

by Bob Stone
(Costa Rica)

I am pained about the referendum recently held because some of the items on it seem to point to a move such as Chavez pulled on Venezuela while he was coming to power, more control of the judicial system, requirement to report assets, more control of the media, etc.

Having recently visited Ecuador and found it to be a beautiful and inviting country, and having thought of investing in property prior to the referendum, we feel we must wait to see the outcome of these sections of the referendum or whether the people will allow Correa to take absolute control of Ecuador away from the people as Chavez and Morales have done in Venezuela and Bolivia.

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Hi Bob.

We have some concerns as well about where Ecuador could be heading. Emphasis on "could," as there's nothing yet to show that he'll abuse anything that could affect expats directly.

The reporting of assets could become an issue, if Ecuador ever develops a system to find those assets. As yet, there's just about no way that Ecuador will ever know about our assets outside the country. And it has no clout like the US does to make other countries hand over that info.

Besides, I think Correa probably knows that a fair number of expats will likely leave with any liquid assets they can get out of the country.

So, right now, it's a waiting game for anyone wanting to buy. The other alternative, if you have retirement income, is to obtain a retirement visa. As long as you have verifiable retirement income, you don't have to plunk down any amount of money here. Just rent.

Jeff