International
Daniel Noboa, a ‘millennial’ president, unpredictable and with a heavy hand
Daniel Noboa, the youngest president of Latin America and the democratic history of Ecuador, seeks at the age of 37 to be re-elected for a full term (2025-2029), after fourteen months of government marked by the “hard hand” against organized crime and by controversial and unpredictable actions for his adversaries, who denounce a “dictatorial attitude”.
At the age of 35, he gave the surprise by winning the extraordinary elections of 2023 and assuming a leading country in homicide rate in Latin America and with a fiscal deficit of almost 5 billion dollars. Without hesitation, he declared a “war” on organized crime, which has been tarnished in terms of human rights, and implemented unpopular economic reforms to balance public accounts.
He did not tremble his pulse to make decisions even sometimes outside the law, as the Constitutional Court has ruled in several controversies, such as irregularly promulgating by decree a rule that had previously been denied by the National Assembly (Parliament).
Thus, last April he ordered the police assault on the Mexican Embassy to arrest former Correísta vice president Jorge Glas, who had received diplomatic asylum by declaring himself politically persecuted for the convictions and processes for corruption that he has accumulated since 2017 in Ecuador.
This led to a serious crisis with Mexico, whose government unsuccessfully asked for the delivery of Glas, currently in prison to serve a pending prison sentence.
Far from doing something to ease the tension, Noboa recently announced that it will impose tariffs of 27% on Mexico.
Another controversial episode is his particular confrontation with his vice president Verónica Abad, who has accused him of harassment to force her to resign. Abad and the Government have counterclaimed for alleged political gender violence, which can even be punished with dismissal from office.
In his pulse with Abad, Noboa has made it clear that he is a “terrible enemy to have” – as he said of himself during a public act – and has found ways to keep her away from office.
First he sent her to Israel as ambassador, then the Government suspended her from office, which was annulled by the Justice, and then appointed by decree a “vice president in charge” to delegate the Presidency during the election campaign, something recently declared unconstitutional by the constitutional court.
With his first wife, Gabriela Goldbaum, from whom he is divorced, he is judicially confronted for the custody of his firstborn and before being president he confronted the Spanish insurer Mapfre for an alleged leak of bank data in his divorce process.
His detractors call him capricious and speak of dictatorial attitudes, but he has also demonstrated political cunning to apply, without social revolts, measures that made other Governments stagger, such as the increase in VAT and the reduction of gasoline subsidies.
Noboa is a man of few words. His speeches last a few minutes and he hardly lavishes himself in interviews with the media.
As a ‘millennial’ (born between the early 1980s and early 2000s), he speaks mainly through social networks. His style of communication has misseted more than one.
With pieces that last seconds and phrases as short as they are sharp, he has often left politicians whom he cass in “old Ecuador” and links with corruption or drug politics without a response capacity.
Raised in a house where politics was breathed, he trained in prestigious foreign institutions and was focused on family businesses before making the leap to the political arena as an assemblyman in 2021.
Daniel Noboa was born in Miami (United States), just like, as a ruler, Furio, his third child and the second of his marriage to the ‘influencer’ and nutritionist Lavinia Valbonesi, with whom he shares a taste for sport. On social networks he shows off his gym routines and wears recent tattoos of the phoenix, as his safety program for the country is called.
He usually dresses in youthful fashion but imposing style, with jeans, shirts, leather jacket and polarized sunglasses, and he is not afraid to be the target of memes when combining a formal suit with imposing Prada platform shoes, as he did in his investiture.
His distance from the protocol was evident when he received the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, in the Galapagos Islands with a white shirt and bermuda shorts in a shing color.
International
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll from recent rains and floods across several central states has risen to 66, while the federal government has activated air bridges and prioritized assistance in 191 isolated communities.
“Unfortunately, 66 people have died, and 75 remain missing,” the president said during her morning press conference. She added that the official death toll will be updated later in a new report.
As of Tuesday, authorities had reported 64 fatalities. Sheinbaum also announced the creation of a public information center to centralize official data on the deceased, missing persons, damaged homes, and cut-off communities.
According to the president, the number of missing persons has decreased thanks to coordination with state authorities.
“Through calls to phone line 079, 103 people who had been reported missing have now been located,” she explained.
Priority Municipalities
The president noted that the federal government has classified 191 communities as ‘priority’, a designation based mainly on the percentage of homes affected.
International
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Ecuadorian authorities are investigating two explosions that occurred early Wednesday, one on a road in the southern part of the country and another under a bridge in Guayas province. These incidents follow the car bomb explosion in the coastal city of Guayaquil, also in Guayas, which occurred the day before and left one person dead and 30 injured.
Press reports indicate that one person was injured and several vehicles were damaged in the explosion on the Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje road in the south.
“Besides yesterday’s explosion in Guayaquil, we have received reports of explosives placed on bridges along the Guayaquil-Machala and Machala-Cuenca routes to disrupt traffic,” said Roberto Luque, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT).
On his X social media account, Luque reported that authorities have been deployed to the sites to assess the damage and determine the current condition of the structures.
“What they haven’t achieved with their call for a strike, some are trying to achieve through terrorism,” he stated, referring to the 24 days of protests organized by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) against rising diesel prices and other demands.
The protests, called at a national level, have Imbabura province as their epicenter. Roadblocks have also been reported in the northern part of Pichincha province, whose capital is Quito, while activities in the rest of the country continue normally.
International
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Ecuador’s Armed Forces carried out an operation on Monday — including airstrikes — against illegal mining in the town of Buenos Aires, in the country’s north, Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reported.
The mountainous, gold-rich area has been a hotspot for illegal mining since 2017, located in the Andean province of Imbabura.
In 2019, former president Lenín Moreno deployed around 2,400 soldiers to the region in an attempt to curb the illegal activity. “The operation began with mortar fire, followed by gunfire and bombing runs by Supertucano aircraft,” Loffredo said in a video released by the Defense Ministry.
He added that the operation would continue on Tuesday with patrols across the area to locate possible members of “irregular armed groups that may have crossed from the Colombian border.”
The Armed Forces stated on X that the intervention focused on the “complete elimination of multiple illegal mining tunnels” in the areas known as Mina Nueva and Mina Vieja.
The operation coincided with the deployment of a military and police convoy into Imbabura, which has been the epicenter of protests against President Daniel Noboa since September 22, following his decision to scrap the diesel subsidy.
Mexican government prioritizes 191 communities after deadly floods
New road and bridge explosions raise alarm amid indigenous protests in Ecuador
Armed forces target illegal mines in Northern Ecuador with bombing raids
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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