Ecuador’s Noboa Seeks Deeper Military Involvement to Fight Crime

  • Noboa to hold referendum early March to meet campaign offer
  • Ninth referendum since 2006 to go ahead in first week of March

Daniel Noboa

Photographer: Andres Yepez/Bloomberg
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Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa wants voters to approve measures to revamp the government’s response to a surge in crime after the nation suffered its bloodiest year ever in 2023.

“It’s possible to combat crime, to have a judicial system that responds with harsher and firmer sentences, and, above all, to create new jobs for Ecuador,” Noboa, 36, said in a video message Wednesday summarizing the referendum that he’d promised during last year’s presidential campaign.