Correa says he’ll be gone from politics for good when he leaves office in May

President Rafael Correa said Monday that he looks forward to leaving office when his term ends, May 24, and has no plans to return. “Yes, I’m going to withdraw from politics, hopefully forever,” he said Monday, speaking to an audience at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. “In politics as in life, no one is indispensable,” he added.

Correa speaking to Ecuadorian migrants in Madrid.

The president is in the final days of an international trip that took him first to the United Nations in New York, and then to Italy and Spain. Also on Monday, Correa met with Spanish king Felipe VI and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Speaking at Complutense, Correa said that Ecuador’s “citizens revolution” will have to continue under other leadership, saying he hoped to be succeeded by his former vice president, Lenin Moreno. “It is an election, of course, so it’s possible that someone else can win,” he said. “Ecuador will be fine in any case.”

Correa’s 10-year term is the longest of any democratically elected leader in Ecuador’s history.

He told the audience that he will move to Brussels after he leaves office and take a teaching position with a university. He and his Belgian-born wife, Anne Malerbe, own an apartment there.

As in previous comments,Correa did not absolutely, positively rule out a return to political life. “As I say, I would prefer to leave that behind me but no one can predict the future.”