“Trying to be happy in this country became a crime.” Ecuador regretted yesterday, in the mouth of Paola Cabezasformer governor of the coastal province of Esmeraldas, the murder of Jonathan Sanchez, The moth, one of its most beloved comedians, national joke champion in other times. Sánchez was shot to death by hitmen while he was driving his vehicle through the streets of the capital of Esmeraldas, another of the red spots of violence that plagues the Andean country.
In such a state of national clamor, sweetened by the victory of the soccer team during its visit to Bolivia, the electoral campaign was closed marked by the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, the investigative journalist who tried to become President to change his country from within. The organized crime that besieges Ecuador did not allow it.
The centrist Daniel Noboa, candidate and founder of the National Democratic Alliance (ADN), made the most of his youth, 35 years old, to lead a marathon of caravans in different parts of the country, protected with the bulletproof vest that made him famous. His rival, the correísta Luisa Gonzalez, took advantage of the support of the mayor and the prefect of Guayas to concentrate his forces in Guayaquil, the historical bastion of his political boss and the Social Christians. Despite trailing in the polls, the former president Rafael Correa, who directs the campaign from abroad, trusts in the political and administrative power of the Citizen Revolution to overcome and recover power, an essential step for the triumphant return to his country. To deny rumors of distance between the two, which is not real, González once again noted that his main advisor is the great leader of his party.
The first stop of the rush Noboa’s final match was held in Cuenca, capital of the mountains, where the “moderate social democrat”, as he defined himself, tried to reinforce his partial victories in the first round despite the fact that the radical indigenous leader, Leonidas Iza, has called on the militants of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie) to vote “against the right.” An ally of Correa, Iza has postponed his presidential candidacy until 2025 due to the conflict that has arisen within the Pachakutik party.
The marathon later took him to his fiefdom, Guayaquil, where surveys assure you overtaking about Gonzalez, winner in the first round. On this occasion she shared the spotlight with the hundreds of thousands of her “twins,” cardboard dolls with her life-size image that appeared everywhere.