On Thursday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa spoke with CNN.
As mentioned by CNN
The Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa has faced three alleged assassination attempts in a month – the latest, as claimed, linked to gifts in the form of jam and chocolate soaked with toxic substances.
According to Noboa, relayed by Fernando del Rincon of CNN, the gifts contained “very high concentrations” of three chemical substances, and “it was virtually impossible” for them to be at such levels together – unless the gifts were substituted.
A few weeks earlier, a crowd throwing stones surrounded his car during a westward trip in Chanar Province; later, bullet traces were found on the vehicle. Several days earlier, according to Noboa, another group fired at his car with Molotov cocktails and homemade rockets.
Threat context and political consequences
“It wasn’t just sticks and stones. There were also homemade rockets, Molotov cocktails, projectiles that could kill you… and from a considerable height they threw stones at the windshield and the hood of the car,”
Although critics doubt the veracity of these statements due to the lack of public evidence, Noboa insists: the threat is real, and the level of violence is rising amid protests and political challenges facing the government.
Noboa, a 37-year-old scion of the banana republic, has begun a full term, promising a hard crackdown on the “narco-terrorists,” who, he says, have turned the country into one of the most crime-prone in the region. Since then his policy has become more hardline, provoking resistance from criminal groups and growing discontent over economic problems, including the reduction of diesel subsidies.
Ecuadorian experts note that support for Noboa may be waning: the opposition is strengthening among indigenous groups and civil activists due to government decisions and regulatory disputes. Also mentioned are plans for constitutional reform that would allow foreign troops to base themselves in Ecuador; a referendum on this issue is scheduled for next month. There is also talk of the possibility of hosting a U.S. naval base on the coast and joint operations with the United States. Noboa says he will respect the referendum result, but believes that the people support his security vision.
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