The proper-wing president highlighted anti-crime operations and financial progress, whereas critics warned of abuses.
Revealed On 24 Might 2026
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has used his State of the Union speech to tout his United States-backed crime-fighting methods in addition to enhancements to the economic system.
Addressing the Nationwide Meeting within the capital Quito on Sunday, Noboa cited the extradition of a dozen crime bosses to the US and the seizure of virtually 300 tonnes of medication as examples of what he described as his decisive and efficient strategy.
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“We’ll search them out, discover them and extradite them,” Noboa stated of wished criminals. He additionally asserted that the South American nation can’t develop “if households stay in concern”.
Organised crime is the main concern amongst Ecuadorians this decade, after a spike in homicides in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2021, Ecuador has struggled to comprise drug violence as rival cartels associate with native gangs to battle for management of routes and coastal ports used to smuggle cocaine. The nation is wedged between Colombia and Peru, the world’s high cocaine producing international locations.
Final yr, Ecuador recorded its highest murder fee in many years, with roughly 50 murders for each 100,000 residents, based on the Ministry of the Inside.
In response, Noboa, who was reelected final yr to a four-year time period, has used a state of exception to permit the army to implement quite a lot of crime-fighting methods, together with joint patrols with cops and property searches with out warrants.
Earlier this yr, Ecuador’s army additionally carried out an operation with US forces in opposition to a coaching camp allegedly utilized by Colombian drug traffickers, attacking the location with drones, helicopters and boats.
Noboa’s strategy, nevertheless, has come underneath criticism from civil society teams, who say his iron-fisted strategies have failed to scale back crime whereas placing civilians at risk.
Glaedys Gonzalez, an analyst for the Andean area on the Worldwide Disaster Group, stated on Sunday that Noboa might have been optimistic in his speech concerning the nation’s safety.
“Progress on violence is way from being achieved,” Gonzalez stated. “It’s evident that the scenario in Ecuador has reached unprecedented ranges.”
Sunday’s speech additionally promoted Ecuador’s financial progress, with Noboa telling lawmakers that poverty dropped from 26 % to 21.4 % in 2025. Excessive poverty, he added, went down from 10.4 % to eight.4 %.
Noboa was first elected in 2023 throughout a snap election triggered when then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the Nationwide Meeting and shortened his personal time period.
