Lenín Moreno

Lenin Moreno is married and has three daughters.

After the shooting incident that left him a paraplegic, he took to laughter therapy. Eventually he formed the foundation “Eventa” to promote humor and laughter as a way of healing oneself after a debilitating incident.

Lenín Voltaire Moreno Garcés was born on March 19, 1953, in Nuevo Rocafuerte, Orellana Province, Ecuador into a middle-class family. His father Servio Tulio Moreno was a professor who believed in helping the less privileged sections of the society. As an educator he worked hard to promote integration of the schools in their town so that indigenous children and mestizo children could learn together.

Lenin studied at the Instituto Nacional Mejia (Mejia National Institute), in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, before moving on to the Colegio Nacional Sebastian Benalcazar (Sebastian Benalcazar National School).

Later on he went to the Universidad Central del Ecuador (Central University of Ecuador), from where he earned a degree in public administration. He was a good student and had an innate interest in understanding the psychology of human beings. He was also a very principled young man.

In 1976 he became the Director of the Continental Professional Training Center. He was a hard working and ambitious man and soon established himself in a successful career.

Over the next few years he served as the Director of OMC Publigerencia Andina, sales manager of Satho and marketing manager of Zitro.

His success in the corporate sector fuelled his political ambitions and he soon moved to the public sector. During his initial years in the public sector he served in an administrative post with the Minister of Government.

Eventually he went on to work in the public tourism industry and during the course of his work founded the Chamber of Tourism of Pichincha, and served as the Executive Director of the National Federation of Tourism Chambers and Executive Director of the Chamber of Tourism of Pichincha.

In January 1998 he was shot in the back by gunmen who stole his car and money. He was grievously injured in the shooting and was paralyzed from the waist down. For several years he was bedridden and on the verge of depression. But being the resilient soul that he was, he turned to laughter therapy and gradually began to recover from the physical and mental trauma of the shooting.

The Government of Peru honored him with the Order of the Sun of Peru in the rank of Grand Cross while he was serving as the Vice President of Ecuador. First established in 1821, the award is the oldest civilian award in the Americas.

He has also received various Honoris Causa awards, notably from the Universidad de las Americas (University of the Americas), Universidad Tecnica del Norte del Ecuador (Technical University of Northern Ecuador) and the Universidad San Martin de Colombia (San Martin University of Colombia).

In 2012, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his “Ecuador sin barreras” (Ecuador without Barriers) projects, the Manuela Espejo Solidarity Mission, and the governmental policies he promoted for the betterment of the lives of people with disabilities. The award was ultimately given to The European Union.