As the election campaign begins for president and the Assembly, Noboa refuses to step aside; City takes over vehicle inspections; Red Cross motos to the rescue

Domingo, 5/1/2025

Hola, Todos –

Titular –

EMOV EP lista para asumir la Revisión (EMOV EP ready to take over the Inspection) – As of el 20/1, the Revisión Técnica Vehicular (RTV – Technical Vehicle Inspection) will be taken over by the Empresa Municipal de Movilidad (EMOV EP – Municipal Mobility Company). The contract for the concession with Consorcio Danton ended el 31/12/2024. As of 1/1/2025, only the inspection center in Capulispamba was under EMOV’s control. During the week, there was testing of the inspection lines and everything is ready.

The campaigns for the presidency and National Assembly officially began on Sunday and continues through February 6, three days ahead of the February 9 election.

The Mayancela Center is still controlled by Danton, and is under negotiation since EMOV has has the first offer to buy, which has been signed and is in the process of being finalized. Once EMOV takes over the RTV, it will receive the income directly, which is now distributed with 82% to Danton and 18% to EMOV. Over the years, an appointment with RTV has been generated on the web page of EMOV which has eliminated the lines of cars waiting for an inspection. <If you’ve been driving here for a while, you might remember the long lines that went up the hill on the last few days of the month. Lines where it would have been wise to bring a bottle to pee in.>

A driver was interviewed and said he had a good experience with the RTV and was in and out in 30 or 40 minutes. He mentioned that the only inconvenience was that this year, the appointment system was saturated and he had to wait 2-3 weeks for a turn which pushed him back a month. He hoped the quality of the RTV would be maintained with EMOV since the equipment needs maintenance, calibration and generally public businesses neglect these aspects. <So I’m not the only one worried that a few years down the road, the centers will be closed because the equipment is broken.> He also hoped that the there wouldn’t be corruption in which vehicles would be passed even if they had problems. <Is that how those old buses spewing black smoke got through RTV?>

Sucesos –

192 emergencias atendidas en motocicletas (192 emergencies attended to by motorcycle) – From last 4/7 to diciembre, 2024, the Cruz Roja Ecuatoriana (CRE – Ecuadorian Red Cross) attended to 192 emergencies with motorcycles. Christian Astudillo, president of the Red Cross in Azuay, said that the motorcycles are staffed by a team of paramedics with the moto service allowing fast and efficient attention during critical moments. According to the emergency, motos are the first responders and if needed, an ambulance is dispatched. Astudillo explained that the technician in medical emergencies make the preliminary evaluation of the patient and in some cases, it is not necessary to mobilize an ambulance and the patient is treated at the site. The interventions with the motos avoid the unnecessary mobilization of resources.

Nacional –

De El Mercurio del sábado, 4/1 (2 articles):

“Están armando golpe de Estado”, asegura ministro (“They are staging a coup d’état”, says minister) – The full Asamblea met to decide what to do about the decision by the legislators from the Acuerdo Democrático Nacional party (ADN – the president’s party) to not ask for unpaid leave in order to conduct their re-election campaigns. President Naboa has made the same decision. José de la Gasca, Minister of Government, said that the Asamblea can’t force them to ask for a leave if they do not wish to participate in the campaign; to do so, he said, would be a “coup d’état”. <A politician sitting out their campaign? No rallies, posters, media ads?>

For Esteban Ron, an Electoral Law expert, what the Minister said lacks legality since Article 93 of the Código de Democracia is clear on this. An unpaid leave of absence for any candidate that seeks re-election is obligatory. For Roger Celi, the coordinator for the Observatorio Legislativo (Legislative Observatory), what is safest is for the Asamblea to issue a resolution urging the legislators and president to take the leave even though, in general, these Assembly decisions are not binding.

Ron said if the Asamblea can’t convince the legislators and president to ask for leave, he sees a future plagued by allegations about actions that would be in violation of the Constitution and law. For the legislatures, relying on not needing to campaign, is a mistake due to the Asamblea’s unpopularity. For them the leave is not only obligatory, but necessary because they can’t rely on Noboa’s coat tails. The assembleistas also need to consider that an incentive to vote event may be considered a campaign, and that would be a cause for impeachment. For constitutionalist Ismael Quintana, not asking for a leave, which is not conducting a campaign, is a way to solve the problem of having to turn over the presidency to Verónica Abad, which is most important for the president.

¿Dos vicepresidentas? (Two vice presidents?) – According to constitutionalist ismael Quintana, the desire of Daniel Noboa to not put VP Verónica Abad in charge of the Government during the campaign has led him to make mistakes such as naming Sahira Moya as vice president in charge while there is still a still a sitting VP. Because of these mistakes, there are legally 2 vice-presidents now: Moya who was irregularly appointed, but with a decree in effect, and Abad. For Quintana, the country is at a crossroads since there is no institutional body that can speak on the issue. <How about the situation up north with a real president and a shadow president by virtue of his being able to buy power.>

Update on the vice-presidential carousel: On Saturday, Noboa replaced Moya with Cynthia Gellibert, Secretary of Public Administration and Cabinet Affairs. He did not explain why Moya’s vice-presidency ended after three days.

Verónica Abad: hoy asumiría la Presidencia (Verónica Abad: today she would assume the Presidency) – As the election campaign officially begins, Victoria Abad, who was elected to the position of Vice-president, announced on el sábado she is prepared to assume the presidency, replacing Daniel Noboa, who should ask for a leave to conduct his campaign for re-election. Last diciembre, Noboa designated Abad as an advisor in the embassy in Turkey where she was supposed to present herself el 27/12, and when she didn’t, the President considered that she had incurred a “temporary absence.” Last jueves, Noboa appointed Sariha Moya, the Secretary of Planning, as a temporary Vice-president. Abad responded by presenting an action for failure to comply with a ruling in which the court states that the only grounds for absence are those provided for in the Constitution. For the MInister of Government, José de la Gasca, “it is not obligatory” for Noboa to ask for a leave since there is no express rule that establishes that the president must take leave in these cases.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne