Noboa has come into conflict with Vice President Veronica Abad over insurrection issues as the new general elections approach.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has been appointed interim vice president amid an ongoing dispute with the current occupant of the position.
Government Minister Jose de la Gasca announced the decision on Thursday, after Noboa’s administration accused Vice President Veronica Abad of an alleged disciplinary violation.
In her place, Noboa appointed Planning Minister Sariha Moya as interim vice president.
De la Gasca said Abad’s actions constituted “force majeure” — an exceptional circumstance that requires extraordinary action.
Abad served not only as Vice President, but also as Ecuador’s Ambassador to Israel. But according to de la Gasca, she refused an order to move to TĂĽrkiye due to security concerns amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Labor eventually suspended her from her position in November.
“To this day she has not shown up to perform her duties in Türkiye,” De La Gasca said Thursday in a press conference.
A court overturned Abad’s suspension in December, but Noboa appointed Moya to serve as interim vice president until January 22 or until Abad arrives in Turkey.
Abbad denied any wrongdoing. She and Noboa have had a tense relationship for months.
The dispute is just one of the challenges facing Noboa, who faces re-election in February.
Noboa, the youngest president in modern Ecuadorian history, was elected to office in October 2023 under unprecedented circumstances.
Facing the impeachment hearings, Noboa’s predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, invoked a never-before-used constitutional power: “muerte cruzada,” or “crossed death.”
Lasso allowed the National Assembly to be dissolved in exchange for ending his term early. Early elections were held to determine who would serve the remaining eighteen months of Lasso’s term.
Since taking office briefly, Noboa – heir to a banana industry fortune – has faced protests, including over a series of power outages that have disrupted the lives of millions of residents.
The ongoing drought has frustrated the hydroelectric system on which the country depends, and Noboa’s government has imposed power outages for much of the last quarter of 2024.
Ecuador’s economy is also struggling to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then there is the issue of crime.
Ecuador, once considered South America’s “island of peace”, has seen a rise in violent crime as drug trafficking gangs move into its territory, seeking to exploit routes to the Pacific Ocean from cocaine-producing regions in neighboring Peru and Colombia.
Noboa took a tough approach to crime in response, including expanding the powers of the police and military and increasing the severity of criminal penalties.
But these tactics have come under scrutiny in recent months, with critics decrying the military’s excesses and abuses of power.
Earlier this week, authorities announced that the burned bodies of four missing boys were found near a military base in the city of Tura.
Surveillance footage appears to show that they were captured by members of the military, and protesters have questioned the delay in starting the investigation.
The incident sparked anger and protests.
