Eduardo González
The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, highlighted yesterday that his Government has managed to considerably reduce violence in “less than two weeks” despite the climate of “war” that his country has experienced since the beginning of his mandate, which has forced the Ecuadorian authorities to “fight against an Army of drug traffickers that has 40,000 heavily armed soldiers.”
“We have started with a government at war because we had a very serious insecurity problem that many people kept silent out of fear, but that was terrorizing Ecuadorian families,” declared Noboa during his speech at the Spain-Ecuador Business Meeting, held at the headquarters. of the CEOE in Madrid.
After a first phase “totally focused on job creation,” the Government encountered an “armed conflict” that has forced it to adapt “to be able to combat this problem” and to “restore hope” to the population, institutions, public officials and “companies, both national and foreign,” he explained.
“We are fighting against an army of drug traffickers that has 40,000 heavily armed soldiers, that has modern weapons, in many cases better than those of Ecuador’s own security forces, and that manages a market of nearly 2,000 tons of cocaine, more of 60,000 million dollars a year in product,” he said.
“The issue of security has been a roller coaster every day, but we are already seeing encouraging numbers, because we have managed, in less than two weeks, to go down from 38 daily homicides to six,” thanks to the “hard work” of the Forces. Armed and Police, he continued. Thanks to this, he stated, “small and medium-sized businesses feel calmer and people are safer.”
In addition, he explained, his Government began its mandate “by changing the leadership of the Armed Forces and the Police.” “All my advisors told me that I was completely crazy, that this couldn’t be done, that they were going to kill me,” but we have changed the leadership of the Armed Forces and we have relieved five of the eight highest-ranking police generals.,” in addition to addressing “the ‘metastasis case’, the largest corruption case in the history of Ecuador, in which officials from the legislative, judicial and past governments were involved,” he assured.
“It was not easy, there were countless threats to me and my family, and to ministers and their families,” but, thanks to this “purging,” popular approval of the Police has gone, in three weeks, from 45 to 83 percent. percent and that of the Armed Forces from 67 to 95 percent. Citizens believe that “things are being done well,” according to Noboa, who assured that “more than 80 percent” of the population “approves of the Government’s new management.”
From an economic point of view, the fight against violence has also conditioned Noboa’s agenda. An example of this, he explained, is the increase in VAT through the “Temporary Special Contributions Law.” “We are at war, we need money,” he warned. However, he specified, it is a “differentiated VAT”, since it is increased on some products and reduced on “products that generate employment within the chain”, such as construction materials.
Likewise, he mentioned some of his main economic initiatives, such as the Youth Employment Law, which includes important tax deductions (“the more people you employ, the lower the tax you pay”), equality in access to financing or the Energy Law, that “values energy efficiency.” According to the president, thanks to these measures and the fight against violence, Ecuador “has lowered the country’s risk by more than 300 points in one month.”
Carlos Cuerpo
At the same event, the Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, expressed his confidence that “the situation in Ecuador will soon return to normal” and was “convinced that, with the government led by President Noboa, “The relations between Spain and Ecuador will continue to be deep and fruitful.”
Likewise, he explained that there are currently in Ecuador “more than 120 Spanish companies that create more than 20,000 direct jobs” and that “Spain is the second international investor in Ecuador and, of course, the first in the EU”, in sectors such as telecommunications, hydrocarbons, energy and manufacturing industries. Regarding bilateral trade, he recalled that, in the first eleven months of 2023, more than 300,000 million dollars were invoiced and that Spain is “Ecuador’s eighth global client.”
Cuerpo also highlighted the opportunities offered by Ecuador’s multi-party agreement with the EU and the participation of leading Spanish companies in the awarding of contracts with Ecuadorian public administrations, which allow “the Ecuadorian population to take advantage of the experience, the transfer of knowledge and the technology of Spanish companies”.
Garamendi and Bonet
For his part, the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, expressed his “support and gratitude” to Noboa “for his courage in the face of this very complicated situation and his firmness in defense of human values” and assured that Spanish companies are in favor of “rule of law, freedom and democracy.” Likewise, he recalled that “intense work is already being done in collaboration with the Ibero-American General Secretariat and the National Federation of Chambers of Industry of Ecuador in the organization of the XV Ibero-American Business Meeting, which will be held at the end of this year in Cuenca, in Ecuador. ”
In addition, the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, praised the “leadership” of the Noboa Government in the development strategy for the New Ecuador 2024-2025 and highlighted “the determination” with which they have put themselves into action. necessary reforms are underway for the reactivation and sustainability of the country, such as the economic efficiency law, the organic law on energy competitiveness or the tax reform, incorporated in the organic law to confront the internal armed conflict.
