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Supporters of Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa gather outside National Electoral Council (CNE) building, in Quito, Ecuador, on April 13, 2025.
Ecuador re-elects law-and-order president amid surging violence
Ecuador’s incumbent president Daniel Noboa, the conservative, tough-on-crime scion of a banana dynasty, resoundingly won his reelection runoff on Sunday, defeating left-wing candidate Luisa González by more than 10 points.
Against the backdrop of an epidemic of gang-violence, the vote was a referendum on Noboa’s no-holds-barred war on drugs, which has been marked by states of emergency, mass arrests, and allegations of human rights violations.
González, who is close to the country’s exiled left-wing populist former president Rafael Correa, ran on a progressive platform that focused on poverty alleviation and reducing inequality.
Noboa won the initial round in October 2024 with a margin of less than 1% of the vote. He claims his military-driven “Plan Fénix” has cracked down on crime, and while the homicide ratedropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 38.76 per 100,000 people in 2024, it still exceeds the 6.85 homicides per 100,000 people recorded in 2019.
Gonzalez on Sunday evening called the result a “grotesque electoral fraud” and vowed to challenge the results.
If you’re dividing an increasingly polarized Latin America into ideological buckets: you can leave Ecuador firmly in the right-hand column. Noboa, who styles himself as a political outsider, comes from the right and is an open admirer of US President Donald Trump, whose help he has sought in his crusade against gang violence.
As Sudan war worsens, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield says UN must help
On August 1, the United States will take over the presidency of the UN Security Council.
Ian Bremmer sat down with US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield at the UN headquarters in New York to find out what’s on the US agenda for the council presidency next month.
High on the list is addressing issues of food insecurity, human rights violations, and calling out Russia for their ongoing war in Ukraine. But Thomas-Greenfield is also concerned about another global conflict that isn’t getting nearly the same amount of attention: the war in Sudan.
On July 23, the Sudan conflict entered its 100th day. The war is waging a devastating human toll, reigniting ethnic violence and increasing concerns the country is descending into a “full-scale civil war.” On April 15, tensions between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces erupted into armed conflict, turning Khartoum and surrounding areas into a war zone. More than 3 million people have been displaced from their homes, including 700,000 refugees who’ve fled to nearby countries. The health ministry reports that some 1,136 people have been killed, though the true number is believed to be much higher.
Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield says that maintaining peace and security around the globe is a fundamental responsibility of the Security Council. While the war in Ukraine is certainly a priority, the war in Sudan must also be on the agenda.
“The people in Sudan want to hear from the Security Council that we have not forgotten them, that we care about the human rights violations that are being committed,” Thomas-Greenfield told Bremmer. “They need to hear the world has not turned their backs on what is happening in their country.”
Watch the upcoming full interview on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld and on US public television. Check local listings.