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
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
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U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
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