Ecuador’s Vice President Verónica Abad has been accused of an attempted “coup” by the country’s own government after asking the electoral court to remove President Daniel Noboa from his post.
Abad had reported Noboa in a lawsuit for “political gender violence”.
The crisis began when Noboa sent Abad to support peace efforts between Israel and Hamas in Tel Aviv, where she has been based since last year.
According to the vice president’s lawsuit, Noboa unfairly sidelined Abad and undermined equal representation of women in his administration.
Noboa “reduced my participation as a woman in the political decisions of the state, trying to remove me completely from the public life of the country almost to the point of disappearing the institutional political figure of vice president,” according to the lawsuit.
His role has been a “punishment,” Abad added.
“I was practically banished to another country in the middle of a war, they took away the security I deserve,” the vice president reports in the complaint.
The alleged acts of “political gender-based violence” must end with the removal of Noboa and the others from their positions, a ban on holding public office for four years and a fine of 70 times the monthly minimum wage, according to Abad’s lawsuit.
In a statement, the government called the vice president’s prosecution a “clumsy attempt at destabilization that blatantly amounts to a clear coup attempt.”
Noboa, who is serving a 17-month term, has focused his administration on improving security and spiraling crime and announced this month that he will run for a full term in the February 2025 election.
Elections in Ecuador
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s National Democratic Action political movement officially confirmed him on Friday (9) as its candidate for a presidential election in February 2025, giving him the chance to win a first full four-year term in office.
Noboa, the 36-year-old son of Ecuador’s richest man, was elected in 2023 to serve a shortened 18-month term after his predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, called early elections to escape impeachment.
A descendant of a family of banana plantation owners, Noboa was elected on a promise to tackle Ecuador’s rising crime rate, which authorities blame on drug trafficking gangs.
Maria José Pinto, the government’s secretary for child malnutrition, was chosen to run as Noboa’s vice president.
Noboa has declared a series of states of emergency amid his anti-crime efforts, allowing soldiers to patrol streets and prisons.
Violent deaths in Ecuador in 2024 fell 19% through July compared to the same period the previous year, according to the government.
Revolucion Ciudadana, the political party of former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, chose on Saturday (10) former parliamentarian Luisa Gonzalez as its candidate for the 2025 presidential election.
“Nobody wants four more years of the same,” Gonzalez said after her selection as the RC candidate at the party’s convention in Guayaquil. “Today, it’s time for change.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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