QUITO.- The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboaadmitted that the start of his mandate has been a “roller coaster” with “hard” moments and largely marked by the open “war” against unsafetyalthough he also stated that “encouraging” data is already beginning to be seen.
Noboa maintained that his mandate began “practically in war” and what was initially going to be a first phase “totally focused on job creation” has been converted; to the point that, today, Ecuador lives formally immersed in an “armed conflict.”
“We had to adapt,” he said during the Spain-Ecuador business meeting at the CEOE headquarters, taking into account, however, that “returning hope” to the population also implies that institutions, public officials and companies recover it. both national and foreign.
“To say that difficult days are not going to come is impossible, but that hope exists and is maintained is essential to make a real change in a country that has everything but was poorly cared for,” he emphasized, in the presence of Spanish authorities such as the minister of Economy, Carlos Body.
According to Noboa, the last few weeks have been “a roller coaster,” but there are already some “encouraging” figures. In this sense, he stated that the violent deaths fell in three weeks from 38 homicides daily to three: “it means that we are doing something well,” he said.
The president pointed out that it is this indicator that really marks how security evolves and not that of drug seizures, as in “past governments,” and he took the opportunity to vindicate operations such as the one that recently allowed the seizure of 22.7 tons of cocaine.
He added that the drug problem “is not just a problem in Ecuador, it is a global problem.” In the Ecuadorian case, the fight is against a group of “narcoterrorists” that they have “40,000 heavily armed soldiers” and manage a market of more than 60,000 million dollars a year in product, “an outrage” in the words of Noboa.
The president also vindicated the changes made to the leadership of the Armed Forces and the Police, for which he would have been called “crazy.” “It was not easy, there were countless threats,” he acknowledged, satisfied with having purged officials who are now even implicated in corruption cases.
According to Noboa, thanks to this purge, the image of the Police and the Armed Forces shot up to 83% and 95%, respectively. Also, improved public perception of the Governmentsince the president assumes that citizens now believe that “things are being done well.”
“We are in war”
The fight against armed gangs led the president to review his economic agenda, for example with VAT increases. These are, Noboa said, “temporary special contributions” that respond to the situation – “we are at war, we need money,” he stated.
However, he clarified that a “differentiated” VAT is contemplated, with a lower tax for products that generate employment within the chain, such as construction materials. “Nobody buys construction material to keep in warehouses,” he said in an ironic tone.
In general terms, Noboa proposed “rewarding those who do things well”, for example by favoring in fiscal terms companies that promote youth employment, under the premise that “the more people you employ, the lower the payment.”
The Ecuadorian president hopes to unite politicians, businessmen and, especially, citizens to this cause, who “have decided to change things once and for all” in the South American country. “Before we were the ugly duckling,” said Noboa, who aspires to turn Ecuador into a role model.
Source: With information from Europa Press
