Biography
Ivonne Baki was born on 23 February 1951 in Guayaquil to Fred Juez and Anan Abuchacra,both Lebanese immigrants to Ecuador. [3] At 17,Ivonne married Lebanese millionaire Sami A-Baki,took his surname,and moved to his residence in Lebanon. The couple would be present in the country for much of the Lebanese Civil War. [4] In 1982,Ivonne Baki moved to Paris and studied the arts at the Sorbonne. [3] Later,she would study Public administration at Harvard University. [5]
Beginnings in diplomacy
Baki began her political career as Ecuador's consul to Beirut in 1981. From 1992 to 1998,she was an honorary consul in Boston,Massachusetts in the United States of America. [4]
In 1995,Baki and Roger Fisher received a request from the President Sixto Durán Ballén to participate in the peace deliberations of the Cenepa War between Ecuador and Peru. Both accepted and agreed to cooperate,moving to Ecuador and were involved in the process that led to the Brasilia Presidential Act in 1998. [5] In the same year,Jamil Mahuad,the new president of Ecuador,appointed Baki the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the United States of America, [6] the first woman appointed to this office. [5] In this position,Baki played a key role in achieving favorable trade agreements with the United States. [6]
In 2000,Baki founded the Galapagos Conservancy,after an oil spill took place in the Galapagos Islands,with the aid of American tycoon Donald Trump,whom she had met and befriended during a diplomatic trip to the United States. [7] During the 2002 Ecuadorian general election,Baki made a failed attempt for the Presidency of Ecuador as head of META. [8]
Ministry of Industries and Productivity
On 15 January 2003,Baki was appointed Minister of Industries and Productivity [ es ] by President Lucio Gutiérrez,yet again becoming the first woman to occupy that office. [9] While holding this office,Baki also managed to have Miss Universe 2004 hosted in Quito,Ecuador thanks to her friendship to Donald Trump,owner of the company that organized the event. In response to criticism levied at her over the high cost of the event,Baki said that the money was "an investment" and not an expense and that it would provide an "excellent opportunity to promote the country [Ecuador] abroad." [10] Another landmark of Baki's running of the Ministry was her attempt to establish a Free Trade Agreement with the United States,which was widely criticized by indigenous groups,who held demonstrations against Baki's ministry. [6]
Later political activity
During the 2006 legislative election [ es ],Baki was elected to the Andean Parliament to represent the Patriotic Society Party. [11] Once her membership of the Andean Parliament began,the Ecuadorian delegation proposed as a candidate for the Presidency of the Parliament for the 2007–2009 term. [5]
At the beginning of 2010,she was elected head of the team negotiating Yasuní-ITT Initiative by President Rafael Correa with the objective of raising 3,600 million dollars from the international community in exchange for the cessation of exploiting of approximately 846 million barrels of oil underneath Yasuni National Park. [12] The project could not achieve these goals and was dissolved mid-2013. [13]
In February 2020,Baki was confirmed as Ambassador to the United States by President Lenín Moreno. [1]
Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez was an Ecuadorian political figure and architect. He served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 1978. In 1951, he co-founded a political party, the Social Christian Party. In 1991, he left the Social Christian Party and formed a new conservative group, the Republican Union Party (PUR), before running for president for the third time in 1992.
Yasuní National Park is a protected area comprising roughly 10,000 km2 between the Napo and Curaray Rivers in Pastaza and Orellana Provinces within Amazonian Ecuador. The national park lies within the Napo moist forests ecoregion and is primarily rain forest. The park is about 250 km from Quito and was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve along with the adjacent Waorani Ethnic Reserve in 1989. It is within the ancestral territory of the Huaorani indigenous people. Yasuní is also home to two uncontacted indigenous tribes, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane. Many indigenous people use the riverways within the park as a main mode of travel. Several waterways in the area are tributaries that lead into the Amazon River, including blackwater rivers high in tannins boasting vastly different floral composition than the main riverways. The spine-covered palm, Bactrisriparia, and aquatic plant Montrichardia linifera typically line the edges of these slow moving rivers, often referred to as Igapós.
Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as President of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Correa is a democratic socialist and his administration focused on the implementation of left-wing policies. Internationally, he served as president pro tempore of the UNASUR.
Valeska Alexandra Saab Gómez is an Ecuadorian charity worker, model, and beauty pageant titleholder.
The Yasuní-ITT Initiative was a project that attempted to keep over a billion barrels of oil in the ground under the Yasuni National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The initiative was launched in 2007 by Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa and offered a perpetual suspension of oil extraction from the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil field (ITT) in return for $3.6 billion from the international community.
Olga Mercedes Álava Vargas is an Ecuadorian model, social, lifestyle entrepreneur, environmentalist and beauty queen. She became the first delegate from Ecuador to win the Miss Earth pageant.
Although China's economic influence is growing rapidly throughout Latin America, it is perhaps most evident in Ecuador where it enjoys a near-monopoly of crude exports. Critics of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa say that the Chinese influence has gone too far and threatens national sovereignty while indigenous peoples' rights and biodiversity could be severely harmed because of Ecuador's oil commitments to China.
Pete Oxford is a British-born conservation photographer based in Quito, Ecuador. Originally trained as a marine biologist, he and his wife, South African-born Reneé Bish, now work as a professional photographic team focusing primarily on wildlife and indigenous cultures.
Alicia Cawiya or Cahuiya is the vice-president of the Huaorani Nation of Ecuador and one of the leaders of the movement against oil exploitation in her region. In 2013, she made a speech in Ecuador's parliament to protect the Amazon basin from oil companies.
Esperanza Guadalupe Llori Abarca is an Ecuadorian politician who was prefect of Orellana Province. She is a member of the Pachakutik Plurinational Unity Movement. She served as President of the National Assembly of Ecuador from May 2021 to May 2022.
Carmen Irina Cabezas Rodríguez is an Ecuadorian politician and educator. She was the secretary of the "Toda Una Vida" plan.
Juana María Vallejo Klaere is an Ecuadorian television producer and politician. She was elected Governor of Guayas Province in 2018.
Wilma Josefina Salgado Tamayo is an Ecuadorian politician and economist.
Cristina Eugenia Reyes Hidalgo is an Ecuadorian poet, lawyer, and politician. She is currently a member of the National Assembly for the Social Christian Party and part of the Legislative Administration Council., and is currently the President of the Andean Parliament, since July 14, 2023.
Eva Irene de los Ángeles García Fabre, is an Ecuadorian businesswoman, diplomat, and politician, currently serving as her country's ambassador to Peru.
Snap general elections were held in Ecuador on 20 August 2023 to vote for President of Ecuador, members of the National Assembly and two referendums. Elections followed the invocation of muerte cruzada, which dissolved the National Assembly on 17 May 2023. A run-off election was held on 15 October 2023 to elect the President after candidates were unable to reach the threshold needed to win in the first round. Incumbent president Guillermo Lasso was eligible for a second term, but he announced on 18 May that he would not stand for re-election.
Silvia Betzabeth Salgado Andrade is an Ecuadorian politician. She has been a socialist leader, a member of the National Assembly and from 2013 a member of the Andean Parliament.
Anita Carolina Rivas Párraga is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician. She was the mayor of Puerto Francisco de Orellana from 2005 to 2019. In 2009 she visited the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Spain to propose that oil in her area could remain unexploited if compensation could be found and Yasuni National Park's habitat would be preserved. The eventual support delivered was less than 0.5 per cent of the money requested. The oil revenue that was delivered was spent on items including the supply of toilets and drinking water.
Maria Augusta Calle is an Ecuadorian journalist, politician and ambassador. She has been a member of the National Assembly representing the Province of Pichincha for the Alianza PAIS movement. She was the head of operations in Ecuador for the Venezuelan government television propaganda network Telesur. In 2017 she was appointed Ecuador's ambassador to Cuba.
A referendum on banning oil exploitation in the Yasuní National Park was held in Ecuador on 20 August 2023 alongside general elections. If the proposal was accepted, a progressive withdrawal of all activities related to oil extraction would occur within one year from the announcement of the official results, and the state would not be able to take action intending to initiate new contracts to continue oil exploration in the block. The referendum was a popular initiative demanded by indigenous communities for more than ten years before being finally validated by the Constitutional Court in May 2023.
