Government: Ecuador’s new president sets age record

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Government
Ecuador’s new president sets age record

Daniel Noboa (M), newly sworn in President of Ecuador, waves from a balcony of the presidential palace. photo

© Carlos Noriega/AP/dpa

Daniel Noboa is 35 years old and is officially the youngest democratically elected head of state in Ecuador’s history. Can he get the South American country’s problems under control?

The new Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa is now officially the youngest democratically elected head of state in the history of the South American country. The 35-year-old took his oath of office in the capital Quito on Thursday. “Many are trying to pigeonhole the new government into old political or ideological boxes, but we are focused on change and the future,” said the son of banana tycoon Álvaro Noboa, who himself ran for president five times. Daniel Noboa will only hold his office until May 2025 – until the end of the actually planned term of office for the prematurely outgoing President Guillermo Lasso.

Many Ecuadorians see the security situation as the biggest problem in the country. The murder rate of around 25 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the history of the Andean country and one of the highest in Latin America. Shortly before the first round of elections, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who promised to fight against corruption, was shot after a campaign event.

Multiple gangs with ties to powerful Mexican cartels are fighting for control of drug trafficking routes. Ecuador is a major transit country for cocaine from South America that is smuggled to the United States and Europe.

dpa

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