Noboa repeats ‘no blackouts’ promise, says there is power in ‘reserve’; Former president’s son, four others arrested on drug charges; Veterans Day parade today

President Daniel Noboa said Friday that conditions at the country’s hydroelectric facilities are improving and repeated an earlier promise that households would not suffer blackouts through the end of the year.

“We have received rain at our generating stations, refilling our rivers and reservoirs, and this has allowed us to keep 400 megawatts in reserve in recent days,” he said in a radio interview. “I remain firm in my commitment to Ecuadorians that there will be no interruptions of electric service. This government has fulfilled its promise to improve and maintain a strong national electricity system.”

President Daniel Noboa repeated his “no blackouts” promise Friday, saying the country’s electrical system has power in reserve.

Large businesses continued on a schedule of power blackouts this week and the government has not announced if the disconnections will be imposed next week. The National Electricity Operator (CENACE) reports that the disconnections save 550 to 600 megawatts, more than 10% of daily usage.

Economic analyst and industry consultant Oswaldo Landázuri responded to Noboa’s comments late Friday, saying the energy situation remains in crisis. “This is a day-to-day arrangement and it all depends on rain in the sierra,” he says. “The president says there are no blackout but industry experienced four days of blackouts this week.”

Landázuri claimed that Noboa is “promoting political interests” in putting the burden of the crisis on businesses. “It is more convenient to make 8,000 businessmen and women suffer than 18 million Ecuadorians, many of them voters.”

On Saturday morning, water flow at the country’s major hydro plants continued a downward trend that began Thursday. The flow of the Rio Paute into the Mazar reservoir was reported at 27 cubic meters per second, 25% of normal flow rate. The Mazar reservoir stands at to 2,127 meters above sea level, a drop of 1.27 meters since Thursday, and 12 meters above the minimum operating level.

Former president’s son, four others arrested on drug charges 
U.S. prosecutors have charged the son of a former Ecuadorian president, a former member of the National Assembly and three others with trafficking tons of cocaine to the United States and Europe in part by hiding it in containers carrying tuna, the U.S. attorney’s office in New York City announced Thursday.

Jacobo Bucaram, son of former President Abdalá Bucaram, and former National Assemblyman Jaime Estrada are being held in an Ecuadorian prison and will be extradited to the U.S., authorities say.

The five defendants played a “critical role” in turning Ecuador into a key transit point for the vast majority of cocaine sent to the U.S. and Europe, U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said. “The charges announced today represent a coordinated effort to dismantle political corruption and narcotics trafficking that had wreaked havoc in Ecuador and plagued the country with increasing violence in recent years,” McDonald said in a statement.

Veterans Day parade and ceremony
Military veterans from Ecuador, the U.S. and Canada will march in a 10 a.m. parade Saturday followed by a ceremony at the municipal building on Parque Calderon. The parade begins at Parque San Sebastian and ends at Parque Calderón.

The U.S. Consul General will be one of the featured speakers at the ceremony following the parade.