Guillaume Long

Guillaume Jean Sebastien Long (born 22 February 1977) is a former Ecuadorian politician and academic of French-British origin, who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador and Human Mobility, in the government of Rafael Correa. He was previously the Minister of Culture and Heritage, and Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent. Long later became Ecuador's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, before resigning in January 2018 over strong disagreements with President Moreno.

Guillaume Long
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
3 March 2016 – 24 May 2017
PresidentRafael Correa
Preceded byRicardo Patiño
Succeeded byMaría Fernanda Espinosa
Minister of Culture and Heritage
In office
25 March 2015 – March 2016
PresidentRafael Correa
Preceded byFrancisco Borja Cevallos
Succeeded byAna Rodríguez Ludeña
Coordinating Minister of Knowledge and Human Talent
In office
6 May 2013 – 2015
PresidentRafael Correa
Preceded byAugusto Espinoza
Succeeded byAndrés Araúz
Personal details
Born (1977-02-22) 22 February 1977
Créteil, France
Political partyPAIS Alliance
Spouse(s)Lola Macdonald Allen
ChildrenAmbar Allen, Ernesto Long, Olivia Long.
Alma materUniversity of London

Early life and education

Long was born in Créteil, a suburb of Paris, France, in 1977, to a French mother and a British father.[1] He completed his studies at the University of London, where he earned a PhD at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, a Masters in Political Science and a Bachelor in History at the School of Oriental and African Studies.[2] Long first went to Latin America at the age of 18 and spent some extended time traveling in Central America before arriving in Ecuador in 1996.[3][4]

Political career
Guillaume Long with Mark Weisbrot (left) and Eric LeCompte (right)

After completing his PhD, Long taught history and international relations in several Ecuadorian universities.[5] His political career started when he became advisor to the National Secretary of Planning and Development René Ramírez Gallegos. Long also became a member of the Academic Board of the Instituto de Altos Estudios Nacionales (IAEN; English: Institute of Higher National Studies), and later became its dean.[6]

In September 2011, President Correa appointed Long as a member of the "Consejo de Evaluación, Acreditación y Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Superior" (CEAACES). The members of the CEAACES eventually elected Long as their president. His task, as mandated by the new Constitution and by the Law of Higher Education, was to guarantee a minimal degree of quality in Ecuador's universities and to close down those establishments, often referred to as garage universities, considered too precarious to offer higher education degrees. Some of them were seen as incurring in the outright sale of degrees or not upholding the most elementary academic standards expected from an institution of higher education. In April 2012, Long announced the closure of 14 sub-standard universities, in a polemic decision that meant that almost 10% of the total student population was affected. Students whose universities were closed down were later enrolled on a scheme to be reinserted in the remainder of Ecuador's higher education institutions.[7][8]

On 6 May 2013, Long was named Coordinating Minister for Knowledge and Human Talent. His role was to oversee the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, as well as a number of public research institutes and other state entities.[9] From this post, Long was one of the key promoters of the creation of four high standard universities in Ecuador: Ikiam located in the Amazon and essentially focused on life sciences; Yachay University, a university located at the heart of a science, technology and innovation cluster; Unae, a large-scale teacher's training university for primary and secondary teachers; and Uniartes, a university for the arts located in the historic center of Guayaquil.[10]

On 25 March 2015, Correa appointed Long as Minister of Culture and Heritage, a post he held until March 2016. Long dedicated much of this his efforts as Minister of Culture to passing a new and long overdue Law of Culture mandated by the 2008 Constitution.[11][12][13]

Between May 2014 and March 2016, Long was chairman of the International Relations Committee of PAIS Alliance, a socialist political movement led by Correa.[14] He was the chief organizers of two conferences (ELAP I and ELAP II) that brought to Quito leftist political parties and movements from Latin America and to world. The chosen date was 30 September, the anniversary of the failed police uprising/coup against Correa in 2010.

As Foreign Minister

On 3 March 2016, Long became Ecuador's new Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility. His time at the helm of Ecuador's foreign policy was marked by the 16 April 2016 earthquake and the channeling of the international aid and relief efforts.[15][16][17]

It was also marked by the crisis of UNASUR and CELAC and the regional divisions and tensions over Venezuela, with Long recurrently insisting on the need for dialogue and clashing over this issue with OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro at the 45th session of the OAS General Assembly in June 2016.[18][19]

Long played an important role in the establishment of peace talks between the Colombian Government and the ELN guerrillas in Quito, Ecuador, and in the humanitarian steps that were taken in 2016 and 2017 to pave the way for the start of the formal negotiations on 7 February 2017, including the release of ELN prisoners from Colombian jails and of several people held in captivity by the ELN.[20][21]

Long played a leading role in seeking regional consensus in Latin America to demand that the United States put an end to the Wet feet, dry feet policy that favored and incentivized Cuban migration, affecting both the security and human rights of the migrants and the stability of transit countries.[22][23]

During Long's term, Ecuador was elected Chair of the Group of 77 for the first time in its history.[24] Long made the most of the scandal of the Panama Papers and Correa's calling for a referendum over barring civil servants from holding assets in tax havens, and made the struggle against tax evasion a cornerstone of Ecuador's foreign policy and a core theme during his term as foreign minister. Long recurrently pressed this matter whether at the helm of the G77 or in other multilateral fora.

In November 2016, during Long's term as Foreign Minister, President Xi Jinping visited Ecuador in the first State-visit of a President of the People's Republic of China to the South American country. This was a high-profile visit and it further consolidated the close relations between China and Ecuador fostered during Correa's presidency[25]

During Long's time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the case of Julian Assange gained renewed global prominence. In December 2016, Assange was finally questioned in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London by Ecuadorian and Swedish prosecutors. In May 2017, the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny announced that she was dropping the case against Assange.[26] This was hailed as a great victory for Assange and bolstered Ecuador's international position and its justification of its granting of the political asylum. Long had been active in international circles pressing for a denouement to the Assange issue, including a letter to his Swedish counterpart in which he argued that the delays of the Swedish prosecution and absence of charges amounted to a miscarriage of justice.[27][28][29][30] In November 2016, Long also oversaw the cutting off of Assange's internet connection during the US presidential elections. Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued that it refused to meddle in other countries' internal affairs particularly in times of elections, but that this measure bore no relations with the asylum.[31][32]

Long was also in charge of Ecuador's oil negotiations within OPEC and represented Ecuador at the OPEC meetings in Algiers on 29 September 2016 and Vienna on 30 November 2016, and the 10 December 2016 OPEC-non OPEC meeting in Vienna that resulted in the commitment to cut oil production by just under 1.8 million barrels a day.[33][34][35][36]

After the election of Donald Trump in the United States, and the threat of an increase in the deportations of Ecuadorians, Long also implemented a "contingency plan" in support of Ecuadorian migrants.[37]

Ambassador to the UN

The new President of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, named Long the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in Geneva. Long's stint at the head of the diplomatic mission is mostly marked by his leadership of the working group on the elaboration of a treaty on transnational corporations and human rights, a subject on which he is actively involved.[38]

In January 2018, Long resigned from his position in a public letter to Moreno, in which he denounces the new government unconstitutional measures and its betrayal of the ideals and program of the Citizen's Revolution on which the new government was elected.[39]

Criticism

Long was heavily criticized, notably by former Ecuadorian foreign ministers, for being the first non-Ecuadorian-born Foreign Minister.[40][41]

During the unrest in Venezuela throughout 2016 and in the first half of 2017, there was recurrent criticism that Long was not being hard enough on the Maduro Government and should take a more forceful stance in line with most other Latin American countries in the region outside of ALBA.[42] This issue played an important role in Ecuadorian domestic politics. In one of his weekly editorials, former Foreign Minister Francisco Carrión claimed that Long had said that "one breathes happiness" in Venezuela. Long denounced this as a lie and pushed Carrión to prove these had been his words. Unable to do so, Carrión was eventually forced to apologize on Twitter.[43] During the elections of 2017, Long said that there was an attempt to influence the population "with the argument that Ecuador is going to become like Venezuela. (…) Well no, Ecuador is not Venezuela". This declaration was the Ecuadorian Government's clearest attempt thus far to distance itself from the Venezuelan crisis.[44]

Business sectors but also certain factions within Correa's government complained that Long, along with other senior officials in the Correa administration, opposed the free trade agreement between Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, and the European Union, which Ecuador finally adhered to in December 2016. He and others were considered to be the "enemy within".[45][46]

See also

References
  1. Barreto, Dimitri (3 March 2016). "El canciller Guillaume Long nació en París, tiene cédula ecuatoriana y es crítico de la derecha y de EE.UU" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  2. "Guillaume Long un convencido de que hay que lograr calidad académica en la educación superior" (in Spanish). 20 March 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  3. à 18h05, Le 3 mars 2015 (3 March 2015). "International : Guillaume Long, le conquistador de l'Ã?quateur". Le Parisien (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  4. "Guillaume Long : "Monter un coup d'État contre Rafael Correa, c'est un suicide"". Society (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  5. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/2/guillaume-long-es-el-nuevo-ministro-de-cultura
  6. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/informacion-general/1/presidente-correa-nombra-a-guillaume-long-como-rector-del-iaen
  7. http://www.ecuadorinmediato.com/Noticias/news_user_view/guillaume_long_fue_electo_como_presidente_del_ceaaces--156797
  8. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/sociedad/4/catorce-universidades-categoria-e-fueron-suspendidas-definitivamente
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Asamblea Nacional recibe expedientes de creación de 4 universidades" (in Spanish). 14 August 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  11. "¿Se detienen los cambios ministeriales con la llegada de Long a Cultura?". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  12. "Guillaume Long: 'La Ley de Cultura es una de las grandes deudas'". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  13. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/columnistas/1/el-lento-largo-y-sinuoso-camino-de-la-ley-de-cultura
  14. "Long pasó de asesor a Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores en 7 años". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  15. "Socorristas de 20 países ayudan en búsqueda de sobrevivientes en Manabí". El Universo (in Spanish). 20 April 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  16. "Canciller de Ecuador y secretario de Unasur visitan zona afectada por sismo". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  17. "Las donaciones pasan por el filtro de Cancillería". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  18. http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/mundo/america-latina/article87089467.html
  19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. Redacción (2 February 2017). "La liberación de Odín Sánchez destraba la negociación de paz con el ELN en Colombia". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  21. "ELN libera a ocho secuestrados en Colombia". Noticieros Televisa (in Spanish). 9 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  22. The Editorial Board (31 August 2016). "Opinion | Neighbors Question Cuba Migration Policy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  23. "State Dept. brushes aside Latin American complaints about Cuba policy". Washington Examiner. 30 August 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  24. "Ecuador asume presidencia del G-77 con reto de 'luchar' y 'escuchar' al Sur". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  25. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-11/19/c_135842875.htm
  26. Calamur, Krishnadev (19 May 2017). "Swedish Prosecutor Drops Case Against Julian Assange". The Atlantic. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  27. "Julian Assange: "Ha sido una victoria importante para mí"". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 19 May 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  28. Addley, Esther; Siddique, Haroon; Travis, Alan (20 May 2017). "Julian Assange defiant after Swedes drop investigation: 'The war has just begun'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  29. AFP. "Suecia archiva investigación sobre Assange". El Economista. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  30. "Reino Unido debe facilitar salida de Assange: canciller ecuatoriano". www.milenio.com. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  31. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ecuador-cuts-off-internet-access-for-wikileaks-founder-assange/2016/10/18/277281f6-95ac-11e6-9b7c-57290af48a49_story.html
  32. "Ecuador reconoce que ha cortado internet a Assange para que no interfiera en las elecciones de EEUU". ELMUNDO (in Spanish). 19 October 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  33. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2016-11-30/ecuador-foreign-minister-long-on-opec-output-deal
  34. https://www.ft.com/content/98f3bf56-b6e6-11e6-ba85-95d1533d9a62?mhq5j=e1
  35. "OPEC chief visits Ecuador". www.efe.com. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  36. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/economia/8/autoridades-de-ecuador-recibieron-a-secretario-general-de-la-opep
  37. "Ecuador activa un plan consular en defensa de sus residentes en Estados Unidos". www.efe.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  38. ""Profit should not be an end in itself"". Alliance Sud. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  39. "Guillaume Long renuncia a la representación ante la ONU en Ginebra". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  40. ""El caso de Long es único en el mundo": José Ayala Lasso". Plan V (in Spanish). 26 September 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  41. "El canciller Guillaume Long nació en París, tiene cédula ecuatoriana y es crítico de la derecha y de EE.UU". El Comercio. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  42. "Críticas a la postura de Ecuador sobre situación de Ve". Ecuavisa (in Spanish). 31 March 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  43. http://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/politica/2/guillaume-long-acepta-disculpa-de-articulista-de-el-comercio
  44. http://www.el-nacional.com/noticias/latinoamerica/gobierno-rafael-correa-dice-que-ecuador-venezuela_88349
  45. "Guillaume Long cuestiona en Londres tratados de libre comercio". El Universo (in Spanish). 21 June 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  46. http://www.expreso.ec/economia/la-dura-lucha-contra-un-enemigo-interno-DN807612
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