Ecuadorians voted Sunday to give their new president more powers to combat the scourge of drug-related gang violence in the country, officials said, backing his tough stance on security and providing an early glimpse at how he might fare in his pursuit of recovery. election next year.
President Daniel Noboa, the 36-year-old heir to a banana empire, took office in November after an election season focused on violence, which has risen to levels not seen in decades. In January, he declared an “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military to “neutralize” the country’s gangs. This allowed soldiers to patrol Ecuador’s streets and prisons, many of which are under gang control.
On Sunday, Ecuadorians voted in a referendum to enshrine the increased military presence into law and extend prison sentences for certain crimes linked to organized crime, among other security measures. As about 20 percent of the votes were counted on Sunday evening, Ecuador’s election authority said the trend towards approval of the security measures was “irreversible”, although voters rejected other proposals in the vote.
Mr Noboa claimed victory on social media. “I apologize for having achieved a triumph that I cannot help but celebrate,” he wrote on X.
A tidal wave of violence from international criminal groups and local gangs has turned Ecuador, a country of 17 million people, into a major player in the global drug trade. Tens of thousands of Ecuadorians have fled to the US-Mexico border.
Experts saw Sunday’s voting results as an indicator of how strongly the public supported 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 had “high expectations” that the crime problem “will be solved.”
Mr. Noboa, who is expected to seek a second term in February, has high approval ratings, although they have fallen recently. He became president after his predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, facing impeachment on embezzlement charges, called for early elections; Mr. Noboa will serve until May 2025, the remainder of Mr. Lasso’s term.
Some human rights groups have criticized Noboa’s anti-crime tactics as going too far, saying they have led to abuse in prisons and on the streets. Still, most Ecuadorians appear willing to accept Noboa’s strategy if they think it will make them safer, analysts said.
“Noboa is now one of the most popular presidents in the region,” said Glaeldys González, who researches Ecuador for the International Crisis Group. “He is taking advantage of the popularity he currently has to catapult himself into the presidential elections.”
Mr. Noboa’s deployment of the military was followed by a decline in violence and a precarious sense of security, but stability did not last. During the Easter holidays this month, 137 murders took place in Ecuador, and kidnappings and extortions have increased.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Noboa took the extraordinary step of arresting an Ecuadorian politician who had taken refuge at the Mexican embassy in Quito, in what experts called a violation of an international treaty on the sanctity of diplomatic posts. The move, which drew condemnation across the region, sent a message in line with Mr Noboa’s heavy-handed approach to violence and bribery.
Mr. Noboa said he sent police officers to the embassy to arrest Jorge Glas, a former vice president convicted of corruption, saying Mexico had abused immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission. Mr Noboa said Mr Glas was not entitled to protection because he was a convicted criminal.
Taken together, the raid and the deployment of the army were intended to demonstrate Mr. Noboa’s tough stance on crime and impunity, political analysts say. Although polls show Noboa’s approval rating has fallen in recent months, it remains high at 67 percent.
According to the country’s electoral authority, turnout was 72 percent on Sunday. Analysts believed this was low, in a country where voting is compulsory and turnout is typically above 80 percent.
Just as voters headed to the polls, they got another reminder of the wave of violence as authorities announced that the head of a prison in Manabí, a coastal province that has become a center for transnational crime, had been killed.
Some proposals from Noboa’s government that were not related to security were voted down on Sunday. Ecuadorians voted against a proposal that would have legalized hourly work contracts, which are currently banned. Unions say employers can use them to undermine workers’ rights and essentially pay lower salaries than the law requires. A proposal that would have allowed international arbitration of trade disputes was also voted down.
But analysts said the overall result provided a robust mandate for Mr Noboa. Ms. González said it would “help the government argue that it needs more time in power to continue with these changes and these reforms in its overall fight against organized crime.”
The results of the referendum are binding and the National Assembly has 60 days to translate them into law.
Some analysts said the referendum result had more to do with Noboa’s popularity than whether the security measures were likely to be effective.
“We are not voting for the question; we prefer to vote for who asked the question,” said Fernando Carrión, who studies violence and drug trafficking at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, a regional research and analysis group.
He added that measures such as increasing prison sentences would likely worsen the problems of overcrowding and violence in prisons.
Despite the tumultuous weeks leading up to the vote, some voters said they were undeterred.
“I am going to vote ‘yes’ in this referendum because I am convinced that this is the only way Ecuador can bring about change, and that we can all have a better future,” said Susana Chejín, 62, a resident of the southern part of Ecuador. city of Loja.
“He is making good changes for the country, to fight crime and drug trafficking,” she said of Mr. Noboa.
Others said they felt the referendum questions were not enough to address the country’s insecurity.
“We are still in the vicious circle of focusing on the symptoms and not the causes,” said Juan Diego Del Pozo, 31, a photographer in Quito. “No question aims to solve structural problems such as inequality. My vote will be a resounding ‘no’ on every question.”
Thalie Ponce contributed reporting from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and José María Leon Cabrera from Quito, Ecuador.