Ecuador's Noboa touts law and order progress as he seeks reelection

4/2/2025 19:28

Drug-related violence that has rocked Ecuador in recent years is once again the biggest issue for many voters in Sunday's presidential election, with

President Daniel Noboa touting some success but rivals saying more needs to be done.



Noboa, the heir to a banana business fortune, won office in snap elections in 2023 on promises to fight the crime explosion. He has used presidential decrees to deploy the military on the streets and within prisons and beef up security at ports, declaring 22 criminal organizations terrorist groups. Sentences

for drug crimes and terrorism have become longer.



The result, he says, is a 15% reduction in violent deaths in 2024, a drastic fall in deaths in prisons - where once-common riots have become rare - and the capture of major gang leaders.