海角大神

Last April, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa took his weekly radio show "Enlace Cuidadano" on the road to the Italian city of Genoa. He wasn't there for the salami.

Instead he implored Genoa's Ecuadorean expatriate population - the largest in Italy - to come home. "Our government of the Citizens鈥� Revolution, is your government, the government of migrants," he emphatically told them.

There are almost 100,000 Ecuadoreans residing in Italy, and Spain and the United States are home to nearly 500,000 Ecuadoreans each.聽But pushed by the ongoing economic weakness in Europe聽and unemployment in the US, and pulled by booming social spending in Ecuador, a growing number of migrants are returning to their home country.

Since taking office in 2007, Mr. Correa has reached out fervently to聽Ecuadoreans living abroad.聽Those living in the diaspora can now vote in presidential and national assembly elections.

A key part of Correa's pitch is Plan Bienvenido a聽Casa: Por un聽Regreso聽Voluntario,聽Digno y聽Sostenible or, "Welcome Home: For a Voluntary, Dignified and Sustainable Return." Return migrants can repatriate their belongings duty-free, qualify for business loans from the state, and receive employment assistance during the first few months back.

鈥淓cuador has been experiencing growing rates of return migration for about five years now,鈥� says Gioconda Herrera, a sociologist focused on international migration at Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Sede Ecuador. 鈥淭he 2008 economic crisis affected the two countries where most Ecuadoreans live abroad. Many people have since come back looking for stable work. But deportations have also increased this trend.鈥�

Ms. Herrera says most migrants left the country in the 1980s and 鈥�90s, during a period of high inflation and a banking crisis that wiped out many families鈥� savings. Middle-class students and professionals from the two largest cities, Quito and Guayaquil, left for Europe and the US seeking work or advanced degrees. But working-class Ecuadoreans from rural counties in the north and south also left during this period, often with the help of smugglers who would charge them thousands of dollars to take them illegally across the US-Mexico border. Stricter immigration enforcement over the past five years has meant more deportations of undocumented Ecuadoreans from the US.

Deportations have fluctuated聽聽since 2008, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, DC think tank.

'Here to stay'

Leonor Jurado, is part of a new generation of professional Ecuadoreans who have come home. She spent almost 17 years living in Missouri, where she earned a master鈥檚 degree in Fine Arts.

鈥淚 would read the news about all the positive social changes going on in聽Ecuador聽under Correa, and about the need for professionals to teach at the university level,鈥� says Ms. Jurado. 鈥淏y 2012 I was feeling disillusioned with the economic situation in the US, and I realized that finding a stable job as a college professor was an almost impossible mission.鈥�

Earlier this year, Jurado packed her belongings and moved back to Quito. It took her less than two months to find a teaching job at Universidad de las Am茅ricas, one of Ecuador鈥檚 top private universities.

鈥淚 have a well-paid, stable job now,鈥� she says on the eve of the six-month anniversary of her return. 鈥淚鈥檓 still processing a lot of the changes in my daily life, but I鈥檓 here to stay now.鈥�

Regardless of their circumstances abroad, Correa has聽encouraged the diaspora to return home. His so-called 鈥淐itizens鈥� Revolution鈥� emphasizes the value of human capital; of the skills and education that many Ecuadoreans may have acquired abroad that could be of use to the country鈥檚 top industries,聽like agriculture, oil exploitation, government, and educational institutions.

"Without human talent Ecuador won't advance," Correa said in a 2012 speech聽aggressively promoting his program that encourages return migration and promotes scholarships for Ecuadoreans abroad. "We lack the minimum critical mass of top-flight professionals needed to spur the country's development.鈥�

Correa鈥檚 invested in brain gain, paying as much as $250,000聽per each undergraduate and graduate student鈥檚 education, so long as they聽pass聽a qualifying exam to get an advanced degree abroad and pledge to come work at home.聽In the past two years, an average of 2,000 Ecuadoreans have benefitted from this program, which requires them to return upon graduation to work for a government or academic institution for at least two years.

Jurado says that now that she's in Quito, she hears of other young and professionals who are coming back in search of good jobs.聽

鈥淓cuador is amid a聽process of a lot of growth and modernization,鈥� she says.聽鈥淢any young people here are living on credit and on excessive consumption, like they do in the States. Still, I believe that in Ecuador, I'll have a better quality of life.鈥�

鈥� Reporting from Ecuador was made possible by a fellowship from the聽.