Unfortunately, that AP piece was itself a good example of how elites push for austerity.

Under the headline "Ecuador Deal Cancels Austerity Plan, Ends Indigenous Protest," the article claimed that former President Rafael Correa—in office from January 15, 2007, until May 24, 2017—left Ecuador "deeply in debt." AP's Michael Weissenstein and Gonzalo Solano said Ecuador's current president, Lenin Moreno, had agreed to work with indigenous leaders to "reduce Ecuador's unsustainable budget deficits and public debt."

In fact, Ecuador's government does not have a high debt load. The table below shows the Ecuadorian government's gross debt-to-GDP ratio compared to various other countries that (like Ecuador) cannot issue their own currency. (Ecuador adopted the dollar as its currency in 2000, after its entire financial sector collapsed after decades of imposing the right-wing economic policies that the IMF "recommends" to developing countries; the other countries in the table below are part of the Eurozone.)