Ecuadorians voted Sunday to give their new president more powers to fight drug-related gang violence in the country, officials said, backing the country’s tough stance. on security and offered a glimpse of how he might execute his re-election bid. election next year.
President Daniel Noboa, the 36-year-old heir to the banana empire, took office in November after a focused election season violence, has increased to levels not seen in decades. In January, he declared “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military to “neutralize” gangs in the country. The move allows soldiers to patrol Ecuador’s streets and prisons, many of which have already arrived under gang control.
In a referendum on Sunday, Ecuadorians voted to legislate an increased military presence and extend prison sentences for certain crimes related to organized crime, among other measures. other security measures. With about 20% of votes counted Sunday night, Ecuador’s electoral authority declared that the trend toward approving security measures was “irreversible,” even though voters rejected the proposals other in the vote.
Mr. Noboa declared victory on social networks. “I apologize for shooting a victory that I couldn’t help but celebrate,” he said. wrote on X.
A wave of violence from international crime groups and local gangs has turned Ecuador, a country of 17 million people, into a key country in the global drug trade. Tens of thousands of Ecuadorians have fled to the US-Mexico border.
Experts see the results of Sunday’s vote as a sign of how strongly the public supports Mr. Noboa’s stance on crime. “What is clear is that people are saying ‘yes’ to the security model,” said Caroline Ávila, an Ecuadorian political analyst. She said voters also have “high expectations” that the crime problem “will be solved.”
Mr. Noboa, who is expected to run for a second term in February, has high approval ratings, although they have slipped recently. He became president after his predecessor Guillermo Lasso, face impeachment proceedings on allegations of embezzlement, calling for early elections; Mr. Noboa will remain in office until May 2025, the remainder of Mr. Lasso’s term.
Some human rights groups have criticized Mr. Noboa’s anti-crime tactics as going too far, saying they have led to abuses in prisons and on the streets. Most Ecuadorians seem willing to accept Mr. Noboa’s strategy if they think it makes them safer, analysts say.
“Noboa is now one of the most popular presidents in the region,” said Glaeldys González, who studies Ecuador for the International Crisis Group. “He is taking advantage of the popularity he now has to rush into the presidential election.”
Mr. Noboa’s military deployment led to a decline in violence and a precarious sense of security, but the stability did not last. During the Easter holiday this month, there were 137 murders in Ecuador, kidnappings and extortion has been increasing.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Noboa took an extraordinary step arrest of an Ecuadorian politician who took refuge at the Mexican Embassy in Quito, in what experts call a violation of international treaties on the sanctity of diplomatic missions. The move drew condemnation across the region, sending a message consistent with Mr. Noboa’s heavy-handed approach to violence and bribery.
Mr. Noboa said he sent police into the embassy to make an arrest Jorge Glas, a former vice president was convicted of corruption, because Mexico abused the immunities and privileges granted to diplomatic missions. Mr. Noboa said Mr. Glas was not entitled to protection because he was a convicted criminal.
Taken together, the raid and the military deployment served to demonstrate that Mr. Noboa was tough on crime and impunity, political analysts said. In spite of opinion poll that Mr. Noboa’s approval rating has dropped in recent months, but remains high, at 67%.
According to the country’s election authority, voter turnout on Sunday was 72%. Analysts say the rate is low in a country where voting is compulsory and voter turnout often exceeds 80%.
Just as voters prepared to go to the polls, they received another reminder of the increase in violence, when authorities announced that the head of a prison in Manabí, a coastal province that had become a crime center transnational crime, was killed.
Several proposals from Mr. Noboa’s government unrelated to security were voted down on Sunday. Ecuadorians voted against a bill that would legalize hourly labor contracts, which are currently banned. Labor unions say employers can use them to undermine workers’ rights and essentially pay wages below what the law requires. A proposal to allow commercial disputes to be arbitrated by international arbitration was also voted down.
But analysts said the overall results delivered a solid mandate for Mr. Noboa. Ms. González said that would “help the government argue that it needs more time in power to continue implementing these changes and these reforms in the common fight against organized crime.”
The results of the referendum are binding and parliament has 60 days to pass them into law.
Some analysts say the referendum result has more to do with Mr. Noboa’s reputation than whether security measures are effective.
“We are not voting on the question; rather, we vote for the person who asks the question,” said Fernando Carrión, who studies violence and drug trafficking at the Latin American Department of Social Sciences, a regional research and analysis group.
He added that measures such as increased prison sentences could worsen the problem of overcrowding and violence in prisons.
Despite the chaotic few weeks leading up to the vote, some voters said they were undeterred.
Susana Chejín, 62, a resident of the South, said: “I will vote ‘yes’ in this referendum because I believe it is the only way for Ecuador to have change and for all of us to We can all have a better future.” Loja city.
“He is making good changes for the country, to fight crime and drug trafficking,” she said of Mr. Noboa.
Others argue that the questions in the referendum are not enough to address the country’s insecurity.
“We are still in a vicious cycle of focusing on the symptoms and not the causes,” said Juan Diego Del Pozo, 31, a photographer in Quito. “None of the questions are aimed at addressing structural issues, such as inequality. My vote will be a resounding ‘no’ on every question.”
Thalie Ponce Contributing reports from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and José María León Cabrera from Quito, Ecuador.
