Guayaquil, November 27 (RHC)-- Former Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has warned of a “counterrevolution” brewing within the coalition PAIS Alliance (AP).

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday in the Pacific port city of Guayaquil shortly after his return to Ecuador from Belgium, he said his aim is to help restore broad popular contact like at the start of the Citizens' Revolution 10 years ago, which bolstered his presidency from 2007 to 2017.

Correa gave his first press conference joined by AP´s Executive Secretary Gabriela Rivadeneira and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ricardo Patiño. He described his return as a means to strengthen the AP as well as denounce “counterrevolution” elements operating within the leftist movement and political party.

There's a "counterrevolution within our own bowels," he said from the movement's headquarters in Guayaquil, whose leadership is now under dispute with the current President Lenin Moreno.

The former head of state reiterated that he will be present at the VII PAIS Alliance Convention, which is scheduled to begin on Dec. 3 in the coastal city of Esmeraldas, where the movement's leadership must be ratified.

Correa stressed that the restructuring of the political group is vital. “Here is the true PAIS Alliance, always full of optimism, joy, conviction," he said. "We do not want the Citizens' Revolution to be part of the past, we are part of the future, we will continue to build this revolution for the common good, for justice."

Correa's return was caused by an open rupture with Moreno, whom he has accused of having backed policies of Ecuador's right-wing opposition.

“This is not a fight among buddies, this is a profoundly ideological conflict,” he told Associated Press, going on to say that Moreno's “betrayal has shown how weak the country still is and how easy they can take us back to the past.”