Ecuador Votes In Shadow Of Drug Violence

Quito, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Apr, 2025) Ecuador's cartel-fighting president faces a tough reelection runoff Sunday, with voters set to give their verdict on "iron fist" security policies that have so far failed to quell drug-fuelled bloodshed.

Daniel Noboa was elected two years ago as a fresh-faced, business-friendly 35-year-old who promised to make his once-tranquil Andean nation "smile" again.

Since then, Ecuador has been ravaged by record murder rates and rampant extortion, as cartels fight to control the flood of cocaine coursing through Ecuador's ports to markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Against this grim backdrop, Noboa faces a tough runoff against charismatic leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez, who is vying to become the country's first woman president.

The sporty, tattooed single mother won over hordes of first round voters by promising to tackle poverty, ease the rising cost of living and improve public services.

In contrast, Noboa has made tackling the drug trade his top priority, declaring a state of emergency, putting the military on the streets and even inviting a notorious US mercenary boss to help out.

He frequently appears in a bulletproof vest, leading spectacular military operations.

But voters appear increasingly frustrated by the lack of results.

In January and February, there were more than 1,500 homicides, the bloodiest start to a year on record.

"It's all blood, gunshots, kidnappings, extortionists. You can't live like this" Raquel Garcia, a 23-year-old Quito resident with no stable job, told AFP.

February's first round of voting was razor-tight, with Noboa beating Gonzalez by a margin of 0.17 percent -- not enough to avoid a runoff.

Since then Noboa has doubled down on his tough-on-crime brand, launching a series of high-profile security raids and calling for the United States and other nations to deploy special forces to Ecuador.

He has also tapped controversial ex-Blackwater boss Erik Prince as an advisor, despite Prince's ties with abuses in Iraq.

On Saturday, a polo-shirted Prince led an operation involving 650 police and military on the streets of Ecuador's gang-riddled and largest city, Guayaquil.

The election will also be an old-fashioned battle between the right and left, with Ecuador's economic malaise and fiscal troubles weighing on voters.

"Insecurity, economic crisis, lack of employment, and corruption" are at the top of voters' minds, according to analyst Mauricio Alarcon.

A decade of spending without oil boom income has left public debt at about 57 percent of GDP, according to the IMF.

Oil production has not topped 500,000 barrels a day since 2020 due to underinvestment.

Unemployment and underemployment total nearly 23 percent and a quarter of the country lives in poverty.

"There's a lack of work, investment. Companies have slowed down their investments because the country doesn't offer guarantees. Security is terrible," said 53-year-old welder Miguel Angel Carvajal.

The presidential candidates offer very different solutions for what ails the country.

Noboa -- the scion of a billionaire banana magnate -- puts his faith in the markets and trade, while Gonzalez seeks more generous state aid for the poor.

She is seen as a protege of exiled former president Rafael Correa, a vocal opponent of the United States who fled to Belgium after being convicted of corruption. He denies the charges.