The once-peaceful South American country of Ecuador is now plagued by gang-related violence, so its young president Daniel Noboa is set to borrow the playbook by El Salvador’s very popular president, Nayib Bukele, and implement measures to promote a crackdown on crime.
For that, Noboa called a referendum to approve a set of policies to tackle the criminal gangs that are behind the wave of violence.
Time reported:
“An official quick count showed that Ecuadorians overwhelmingly voted “yes” to all nine questions focused on tightening security measures, rejecting only two proposals on more controversial economic measures.
The quick count was announced by the head of the Electoral National Council, Diana Atamaint. It confirmed a private exit poll released hours before that indicated a resounding victory and sign of support for President Daniel Noboa, the scion of a wealthy banana exporting family.”
The voters heavily supported measures such as deploying the army in the fight against the gangs, facilitate extraditing accused criminals and longer prison sentences for convicted drug traffickers.
“Ecuador was traditionally one of South America’s most peaceful countries, but it has been rocked in recent years by a wave of violence, much of it spilling over from neighboring Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine. Last year, the country’s homicide rate shot up to 40 deaths per 100,000 people, one of the highest in the region.
Noboa has rallied popular support by confronting the gangs head on. That task became more urgent in January when masked gunmen, some on orders from imprisoned drug traffickers, terrorized residents and took control of a television station while it was live on the air in an unprecedented show of force.”
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The president declared an ‘internal armed conflict’, and used emergency powers to deploy the army in pursuit of about 20 gangs he classified as ‘terrorists’.
13 million Ecuadorians voted in the referendum, massively approving the extension of those emergency powers.
“Noboa, ahead of the final tally, celebrated the results. ‘We’ve defended the country’, he said in a message posted on social media. ‘Now we will have more tools to fight against the delinquent and restore peace to Ecuador’s families’.”
Noboa was elected after conservative Guillermo Lasso resigned under allegations of corruption.
He was elected in a violent campaign that saw one of his top rivals brazenly assassinated while campaigning.
The post Voters Approve New Security Measures in Ecuador Referendum, Handing President Daniel Noboa a Landslide Victory in His War Against Criminal Gangs appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.