Noboa ‘blacklists’ mayors of Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, calling them ‘blackmailers and criminals’

Government Minister Nataly Morillo said Thursday that President Daniel Noboa will not meet with the mayors of Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, considering them “rude and disrespectful and involved in acts of blackmail.” In an interview on digital news program Un coffee con JJ, Morillo claimed that the mayors of the country’s three largest cities “do not comply with the necessary conditions to sit at the same table as the president.”

Government Minister Nataly Morillo

None of mayors, Achiles Alvarez of Guayaquil, Cristian Zamora of Cuenca, and Pabel Muñoz of Quito, are members of Noboa’s National Democratic Action party. Alvarez and Muñoz represent Citizens Revolution while Zamora is a member of the Democratic Left.

When asked by interviewer JJ why Noboa would ignore the representatives of more than a third of the country’s population, Morillo said the government would “work with those citizens through direct, alternative channels.”

When pressed on specific conflicts with the mayors, Morillo blamed Alvarez for “committing irregularities related to fuel traffic” and Muñoz for “doubtful hiring practices” and for “illegal management of contracts” with the National Procurement Service.

In the case of Zamora, Morillo claimed the mayor showed “disrespect and a poor attitude” regarding an investigation by National Comptroller’s office of the municipal purchase of an armored vehicle.

She added: “We are not going to sit down with suspected criminals or with authorities who have open trials.”

In a radio interview following Morillo’s comments, newspaper columnist and former judge Lenton Esteban called the government’s position on the mayors “strange and almost nonsensical.” Esteban believes Noboa’s anger at the mayors is related to criticism of government policies the three have made but said none of it rises above the “politics as usual” level.

“Maybe things happened behind the scenes that I am not aware of, but to essentially blacklist the mayors of the largest cities seems illogical,” he said. “Even Rafael Correa, who was known for thin skin, did not do this.

Esteban continued: “The claim that the mayors are suspected criminals is outrageous considering that the issues Morillo mentions relating to Muñoz and Zamora involve investigations in the Comptroller’s office, and the one against Alvarez has yet to go to trial and, the last I heard, he’s innocent until proven guilty.”

Of the three mayors, Esteban says Noboa is angriest at Cuenca’s Zamora. “The president is furious at him [Zamora] for his opposition to the Loma Larga mine,” says Esteban. “Noboa made promises to the mining company that he would handle the protests, but he was forced to back down when 110,000 people marched through the streets of Cuenca. He not only blames Zamora for stopping the mine but, according to people in his office, believes the protest led to the defeat of his referendum questions.”

Esteban joked that one reason Noboa won’t sit down with the mayors is because he is rarely in the country. “He is at home in Miami as we speak and is not holding meetings with anyone.”