The youngest president of Latin America faced History as he likes, with "short and thick" words. At his swearing-in before the National Assembly, moderate Daniel Noboa, 35, broke several records to make it clear that there is no time to lose in the face of "very difficult times" in a country with "violence, misery and marginalization."
Direct and with short messages, only 11 minutes, in the face of the endless harangues of the politicians of the Americas, Noboa opted for the New Ecuador that he wants to improve in an express presidency, of only a year and a half, marked by economic emergencies and the siege of drug trafficking.
"Many believe that youth is synonymous with naivety, for me it is synonymous with strength! I am very clear that to combat violence the country needs employment. Urgent reforms that must be addressed immediately," confirmed the president, who defines himself as a "moderate social democrat" and is supported by center-right forces.
A few meters from Noboa, staring at him, sat the former president Guillermo Lasso, who minutes before said goodbye to the Carondelet Palace. And in front of both, the congressmen, protagonists during the last two years of direct harassment of the government. In one of his last interviews, Lasso gave advice to his successor: beware of that "set of vipers."
Noboa needs the support of the National Assembly to declare a state of emergency and submit two economic and energy emergency decrees in the next few hours. The rains of recent days have mitigated the electrical blackouts in Quito, but the threat of drought already hangs over the new administration.
"The change that the country requires has a sense of urgency and we young people have the audacity to respond to it. I believe in the strength of youth," insisted Noboa, who has unreservedly committed to women and young people, the same ones who brought him to the presidency, in his cabinet, incomplete for now. The political country awaits the two key appointments, the Interior and Economy portfolios.
The agendas of the international leaders did not fit with the country's rush and only the neighboring Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, more comfortable abroad than at home, traveled to Quito to accompany Noboa. Of course, he arrived late, as almost always, with the ceremony already well underway and only a few minutes before Noboa took the floor.
Juan Fernández-Trigo, Secretary of State for Latin America, attended for Spain.
The one who could not miss Noboa's inauguration was the other Noboa, the life-size cardboard doll who starred in the electoral comeback in the last days before the runoff. Stationed a few meters from the Assembly, a group of young people had traveled for 12 hours from the province of Santa Elena to accompany Dumi, as they call the Noboa in the presidential suit and sash.
"Things are going to change, although the president has a very difficult time, but if he is supported by a good team he will achieve it," Rosana Terán, a Social Management student willing to lend a hand to the president along with everyone, predicted to EL MUNDO. his team from the Salinas Youth Network. "In our province he began his political career, as a deputy. And we, the young people, gave him the victory. Now it could be the beginning of his national political career, but also the end. We have a lot of hope and we feel that Noboa is the groom of Ecuador and the people, his bride," Terán concluded.
