Susana Madera
Quito, (EFE).- The first major measure of the government led by the elected President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, will be to call a referendum on economic and security issues in order to free the country from the “darkness” in which Vice President-elect Verónica Abad expected in an interview with EFE.
“The first step is the popular consultation, which will undoubtedly lead us to implement what we have put on the table for Ecuadorians at this moment: employment and security,” he said.
With the consultation they want to convene in the first hundred days of government, they want to “restore institutionality”, increase punishments, segment prisons, have faceless judges and independent juries, which requires reforms in the criminal code.
Noboa’s first measure
In economic terms, he pointed out that efforts are being made to reduce taxes in some sectors, such as construction, and to promote tax issues in order to attract investments to the country.
Daniel Noboa speaks to the press alongside his wife Lavinia Valbonesi after winning the 2023 presidential election. EFE/Mauricio Torres
In addition, they will opt for legal decrees because – he said – “there is no time to lose”, since Noboa will rule until May 24, 2025, when the government of President Guillermo Lasso would have ended if he did Last but not least, May would have dissolved Parliament and forced extraordinary elections through the so-called “crossed death”, with which he shortened his mandate. “Ecuador lives in darkness”
Regarding the country that the new government will receive, Abad stressed that the situation is “extremely critical.”
“Ecuador lives in darkness”
“We know that Ecuador lives in darkness, it is not for nothing that we have suffered a ‘crucifying death’, we have experienced a level of political violence that has never been seen in the history of the country,” he said of the situation in the Country where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated on August 9th.
He attributed Noboa’s victory over Correísta Luisa González to the fact that “Ecuador cries out for peace and unity.” “If we Ecuadorians do not reconcile,” he said, “we will not be able, for example, to combat drug trafficking, which is one of the most worrying problems at the moment.” Dialogue with everyone
Abad repeated Noboa’s words that in the National Assembly – where Correism will have a majority – they will talk to everyone because “that’s what politics is about.”
“We have a clear problem: How do we get Ecuador out of violence, out of poverty, and these issues are being discussed, they need to be discussed, they need to be discussed at the table.”
Lasso invoked “crossed death” and argued with the constant blockages to his work in the National Assembly, with a majority opposition, with Correism at the top.
However, his critics attributed the unprecedented measure to Lasso’s ability to be removed from office at the end of a political trial over alleged embezzlement, which he denies.
On the subject of dialogues, the Vice President will, among other social issues, also take care of expanding contacts with migrants in Ecuador, one of the tasks for which Noboa is grateful.
“If we have millions of Ecuadorians abroad, that means that it affects thousands of families in Ecuador, and that affects both the economic and violence issues,” he commented, pointing out that a social fabric is again must be built.
Noboa says he represents the “new generation”
Noboa, 35 years old and far from any confrontation, claims to represent the “new generation” because of his different way of doing politics.
“I think it is time to abandon all these bad ways of doing politics,” with attacks, insults and lies, “like what our opponents have done,” Abad said in an interview with EFE.
He argued that with the National Democratic Action Alliance (ADN), which supports Noboa, they have shown that “the new Ecuador is possible,” with freedom and development.
Open to the world
“When we talk about freedom and democracy, it means that first of all we respect every country, we respect how each country lives its laws and of course what they live with. “If it is comfortable for us as Ecuadorians to sit at the table to improve the lives of Ecuadorians, we will do it without a doubt,” he said of international relations.
However, as for Venezuela and Nicaragua, he considered that they lived “a completely fictitious democracy,” which is why he believed that the people of these countries who were “crying out for freedom” should be supported.
In foreign policy, Lasso leaves the trade agreements with China, Costa Rica and South Korea in process, which must be subject to analysis and approval by the Constitutional Court and Parliament, but Abad asserted that “they need to be reviewed again.”