Noboa sworn in as Ecuador's president while nation on edge
Daniel Noboa, an inexperienced politician and heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, was sworn in Thursday as Ecuador's president, a role that citizens are demanding he uses to restore the public safety that drug cartels and other criminal organizations robbed them of at the decade's start.
Noboa's term will run only through May 2025, which is what remains of former President Guillermo Lasso's tenure. Lasso cut his term short when he dissolved the National Assembly in May as lawmakers pursued impeachment proceedings against him.
The head of the country's newly elected legislature, Henry Kronfle, placed the presidential sash on Noboa during a ceremony in Quito, the capital.
In a brief speech, Noboa said his government's main objective is to “reduce violence and make progress a habit.” He acknowledged that it is “a hard and difficult task” to tackle in the short term he will serve.
“I am not anti anything, I am pro everything,” he said. “Let us join forces... let us leave the old political schemes and concentrate on solving the big problems that afflict Ecuador.”
Under Lasso's watch, violent deaths in Ecuador soared, reaching a record 4,600 in 2022, which was double the number from the year before. Killings, kidnappings, robberies and other criminal activities became part of Ecuadorians'
everyday life,.
The assassination of presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio as he left a campaign rally in August underscored the country's fragile security situation.
Noboa's only experience in government was as a member of National Assembly that Lasso dissolved. He is inheriting a weakened economy and serious fiscal challenges as well as the leadership of a country mired by violent crime,
“The economy and security are indivisible issues; it is an important front on which President Noboa must work,” Andrés Briones, an analyst and professor at Casa Grande University in Guayaquil, Ecuador, said. Noboa's government will have to “undertake tax reforms to encourage growth and the revitalization of the economy.”
But any actions he wishes to take to address Ecuador's crucial issues will first require him to negotiate with the National Assembly, where his party lacks enough seats to govern on its own.
The spike in violence is tied to the trafficking of cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. Mexican, Colombian and Balkan cartels have set down roots in Ecuador and operate with assistance from local criminal gangs.
Noboa has made a range of proposals to improve security, from using barges to house inmates to getting police more gear. While those ideas helped him get elected on Oct. 15, he now faces the challenge of leading a population frightened to the point of opting to stay home as much as possible.