Ecuador's new president pledges to create jobs and end violence

On November 24, Ecuador's new President Daniel Noboa pledged to implement measures to reduce violence between drug trafficking gangs and create more jobs for the country's people through urgent reforms.

Speaking at his inauguration ceremony before the National Assembly in the capital Quito, President Noboa affirmed: "To end the violence, we need to deal with unemployment. I will present urgent reforms to the National Assembly."

Mr. Noboa believes that new policies need to be introduced that will yield different results in order to defeat the common enemy of the country, which is violence and popular discontent.

The reform package includes reforms on job creation, with many provisions to encourage recruitment, especially of young workers.

The reform program includes reducing value-added tax on construction materials. Another reform focuses on the country's electricity sector.

Ecuador is facing scheduled rolling power outages because the El Nino weather phenomenon is causing drought, depleting the reservoirs of hydroelectric plants.

In the fight against criminal gangs, Mr. Noboa pledged to create a new intelligence unit, providing more "tactical weapons" to security forces.

According to a report by an organization that monitors organized crime in Ecuador, since the beginning of the year, more than 7,000 people have died due to violence in this South American country.

Mr Noboa will only be in power for 17 months, completing the term of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso.

According to analysts, Mr. Noboa will face challenges in effectively handling the above mentioned economic and social issues during his short term in power.

In the majority of the Cabinet members announced late on November 23, Mr. Noboa did not appoint anyone to the position of minister of economy and finance.

Located between Colombia and Peru - two countries considered to be the world's largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador has become a "highway" for gangs to transport and traffic drugs to many places.

Violence between drug gangs has increased in recent years, and this, combined with economic hardship since the COVID-19 pandemic, has fueled a wave of migration among the country’s people.