 On April 7th, Ecuador's National Court of Justice sentenced former President Rafael Correa to 8 years in prison on bribery and corruption charges. Correa has also been barred from electoral politics for 25 years. The court convicted Correa, former Vice President Jorge Glass and 18 other former ministers and government officials on charges of accepting approximately 8 billion US dollars in bribe from private companies in exchange for public contracts between 2012 and 2016. President Correa rejected the charges and denounced a sentence as a form of political persecution intended to prevent him and his allies from running in the presidential election schedule for next year. He said in a tweet, this was what they were looking for, manipulating justice to achieve what they could never get at the polls. So what is this case? The Bribes 2012-2016 case, formally known as the Arroz Verde or Green Rice Case, originated in April 2019 after two digital news portals published a report on corruption cases in Ecuador. The news reports alleges that Pamela Martinez, Correa's former advisor, had received an email with a document that supposedly had information on illegal contributions from various national and international companies. These include the Brazilian Odebrecht and Engineering Giant and were received by Correa's party, the Alliance Space Movement, AP. In August 2019, Attorney General Diana Salazar accused Correa of leading the corruption scheme and using the funds to finance the electoral campaigns and other political events of the AP. In a tweet, the former president said that justice was taken by political power and described the case as absolutely grotesque because the existence of the Bribes has not been verified much less his participation. He also mentioned the piling up of dead bodies of the victims of COVID-19 in the city of Guayaquil and criticized the government's priorities in the time of this health emergency. We have dead bodies on the streets, but they hold a hearing to disqualify me for the next election he tweeted. Who is Rafael Correa? Correa, who was Ecuador's president from 2007 to 2017, has strong popular support in the country. His rule was characterized by large-scale social welfare programs and public infrastructure projects. During his term, Ecuador experienced an economic boom and poverty and inequality declined significantly across the country. Correa, in his decade of government, reduced poverty in Ecuador by 21%. He completely restructured the country's taxation system. The collective money was distributed to impoverished families through social policies. Rafael Correa, along with other progressive Latin American leaders, played a pivotal role in the creation of CELAC, ALBA, UNASUR, and other organizations. The current Ecuadorian president, Lenin Moreno, who was Correa's vice president from 2007 to 13, promised to continue his legacy in the 2017 presidential election. However, after winning, Moreno drastically shifted his political stance, distancing himself from Correa's left-wing policies and pushing forward neoliberal policies domestically and aligning Ecuador's foreign policy with U.S. interests. In December 2018, a fresh wave of protests began in Ecuador. Thousands mobilized across the country against Moreno's package of neoliberal and austerity measures and the US$4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Social movements and organizations have condemned Moreno for his subservient attitude to the United States and for serving its imperialist interests in the region. Former president Correa has been a constant victim of political persecution under Moreno's presidency. In July 2018, the court ordered a preventive detention of Correa, accusing him of being complicit in the failed kidnapping of right-wing opposition leader Fernando Balda. In August 2019, preventive detention was once again ordered against him in his corruption case. Several political leaders from across Latin America have condemned the judicial decision motivated by the right-wing and imperialist politics of Moreno and have expressed his solidarity with the progressive leader. Former Bolivian president Evo Morales expressed his solidarity. My complete solidarity with Comrade Rafael Correa, who is the victim of incessant political persecution. The Ecuadorian people know how much you have done for them and the great homeland. Until victory always, tweeting Morales. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez also extended his support. Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Colombian opposition leader Gustavo Petro, former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, former secretary general of UNASUR Ernesto Sampere, former Paraguayan president Fernando Nugo, and former Argentine foreign minister Jorge Tariana, among others, also denounced a court's verdict. Correa, who is currently residing in Brussels with his family, has two opportunities to appeal the conviction.