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Ecuadorian voters are preparing to put their belts for a new president for the second time in 18 months during the extraordinary security crisis in the country.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboh, the son of a banana tycoon, was elected in 2023 to fulfill the term of his predecessor Gallermo Laso, who resigned, dissolved the Congress, and had new elections to avoid the motion. Was given
On Sunday, voters will decide whether Noboh’s country is to stick to the course against the crime epidemic or to get an alternative voice in his political rival Louisa Gonzalez.
Here you need to know:
Noboh, a 37 -year -old businessman, was a Dark Horse candidate for the 2023 elections, defeating Gonzlez in the second round of the same year. He tried to “distinguish himself as”Center left“During the 2023 campaign, but he has adopted a tough approach to fighting the crime during his short first period.
Noboh has chaired a series of crisis in his term. They have announced several emergency states, deployed military units to tackle the activities of the group in the streets of the country, and last year a new maximum security jail after avoiding the custody of a notorious criminal leader The construction was started.
“I declared a war against terrorists,” Noba Told CNN’s Christine Amanpur immediately of his election. After. “These are not traditional groups. They are terrorist groups. They are extremely organized, structural, armed forces that terrorize the entire areas and have controlled our nation’s prisons in the past few years.
Last year, he surprised Latin American leaders when he broke diplomatic principles and ordered an extraordinary operation to arrest George Glass, a former vice president of Ecuador from the Mexican embassy in Queto. The glass, which was twice convicted of corruption, was seeking political asylum from Mexico when the raid was conducted.
Noboh, born in the United States, continued close ties with the United States, which were cultivated under Laso. The president has confirmed Two military cooperation agreements With the US military during his first term. He has also advocated for re -establishing from the United States A military base Help the drug business in Ecuador.
He even attended the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in January and later announced the tax on Mexican goods and followed it after Trump’s lead.
I ncumbent is also president Is called It is aimed at eliminating the Ecuador’s “uncontrollable” by increasing the value -added tax increase in public infrastructure, and aims to increase the value added tax.
Noba will face Sunday against left -wing politician Gonzlez and 14 other candidates. Unless a candidate draws more than 50 % of the vote, or the margin between the two most famous candidates is not wide than 10 %, the election will proceed in the second phase in April.
Noboh’s main rival Gonzlez is a close acknowledgment of former leftist President Rafael Korea, who is still a dominant figure in Ecuadorian politics. During the 2023 campaign, Korea supported the Gonzale’s run from exile in Belgium. In 2020, the former president was sentenced to eight years in prison for his absence, which he repeatedly denied.
Running “Live the Ecuador“Gonzlez has promised to deal with the drug business vigorously like Noba. This is the reasoning that the government should Eliminate SNAI, Which manages the country’s prisons, and invests in facial -recognized technology to prevent the law. She also wants to re -establish the Ministry of Justice, which Ecuador Shutter In 2018 to reduce public spending.
Noboh’s first term Ecuador has seen a massive blackout, and both candidates have promised to increase the supply of alternative energy sources.
Gonzalez ‘ Plan Winds and solar energy demands investment in private sector, while Noba’s administration recently Passed a law Withdraw from the private use of both types of energy by Congress. Gonzlez insists that the government should Straight Manage the hydro -electric plants associated with its drought, which supply About 80 % Ecuador’s electricity.
Most of the campaign of Gonzalez depends on the old memories for the Korean era, Analysts say. Although CNN NSpol, in an January interview on Gonzalez, Korea’s Protiga is widely considered. Insisted That she will be a governing, and not her exile political ally.
Gonzlez said, “I am the president of my party,” I am going to guide my campaign – this is my official plan, and my plans for the public. So who will rule? It will be Louisa.
According to security experts and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, Ecuador has become the center of cocaine smuggling. Report. Although Ecuador has historically avoided cocaine trade, it is located between Peru, Peru and Colombia’s two largest drug manufacture hotspot. The UN says the ports of Ecuador are now an important way for South America’s cocaine to move to North America and Europe.
This new position in international drug trade has led to a long security crisis. According to, between 2021 and 2023 Human Rights WatchEcuador’s massacre rate is more than three times, though the government has Said In 2024, the murder decreased by 16.5 %.
Criminal organizations and local groups have engaged in corruption and extortion, abolished prisons, and killed several politicians.
During the last election, presidential candidate and anti -corruption activist Fernando Villasinio was shot dead a few days before the first vote. Five people were later imprisoned for the murder, prosecuting two of them being a member of the notorious Los Lobos gang.
Along with the crime, Al -Nano Weather’s trend is drought Disabled Ecuador’s hydroelectric power plants and the country were put into energy crisis. For the protection of electricity, the government has planned several power cuts, which extends for 14 hours. Although the deduction ended in December, there is still an energy loss.
Ecuador will usually buy electricity from its neighbor Columbia, but a long regional drought has weakened the electric grid throughout the region.
Blackout has come together with a serious economic situation in the country. A global bank Study Since October 2024, it was noted that more than half of the country’s jobs are informal and unorganized by the government, which left a significant amount of tax revenue from Ecuador’s treasury.
According to an editorial written by Isabel Cheribuga, A specialist in Latin America At the Neutral Think Tank Atlantic Council, the next president will have an irreparable task to “tamper with the responsibility of the economy”.
