The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared on Tuesday, April 16, a state of energy emergency due to the drought and requested the resignation of the Minister of Energy, Andrea Arrobo, who will be replaced in her responsibilities by the current Minister of Transportation and Works. Public, Xavier Luque. This coincides with the suspension of Colombia's energy exports to safeguard its national interests.
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A country in energy crisis due to the drought that is plaguing the region. The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, was forced this Tuesday, April 16, to declare the emergency, according to what he said, due to “the extension of the drought, the increase in temperatures, the lack of maintenance of the entire electrical system infrastructure in previous years and the presence of minimum flow levels”.
The situation caused the departure of the Minister of Energy, Andrea Arrobo.
From now on, the weight of the ministry will fall, as announced on Tuesday, on its Minister of Transportation and Public Works, Xavier Luque. “Minister Luque's mission is to lead Ecuador's energy sector with the capacity and firmness to fight against the corruption that has established itself in this important sector,” reported the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency.
Furthermore, he added that the problems of the energy sector “are not due to the lack of technical proposals, but to the lack of firmness to combat corruption and incapacity“in that public service.
Minister's departure and suspicions of “sabotage”
Arrobo, 33, held the position of minister since November 23, 2023, when Noboa assumed the Presidency.
He Last Friday he stated that no power outages were expected in the short termalthough he warned of the minimum levels of the largest reservoir in the country.
However, blackouts began on Sunday in several cities in the country without the Government announcing them.
At first, the Executive referred to electricity supply cuts due to “emergent maintenance”, but on Monday it acknowledged that the measure was being carried out because it could not meet all national demand.
Finally, and after declaring the energy emergency, the president asked for the minister's resignation.
Once again, the country's threats require strong decisions. I have declared an emergency in the electricity sector, I have asked for the resignation of the Minister of Energy and we have initiated an investigation for sabotage in certain areas and power plants.
If these sabotages are confirmed…
— Daniel Noboa Azin (@DanielNoboaOk) April 16, 2024
The Ecuadorian president had warned this Tuesday of possible “sabotage” and requested an investigation into the electricity cuts that worsened this Tuesday in several cities in the country.
And although he did not accuse anyone specifically, he described as “miserable” those who have caused the alleged sabotage in recent days prior to the referendum on security, investment and employment next Sunday.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines made an appeal: “Let's support efforts to reduce energy consumption in this critical weekconsidering that every drop of water and every unconsumed kilowatt counts to face this reality together,” the Ministry said in the statement.
In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines announced that for this Tuesday and Wednesday blackouts will be scheduled in different parts of the countryas already happened at the end of 2023, when for several weeks there were blackouts of up to four hours during the day.
In December, the Noboa Government sent an urgent bill to the National Assembly (Parliament) to modernize the country's electricity sector, which was approved in January.
Colombia suspends energy exports
The drought, caused by the climatic phenomenon of The boy, has affected production from hydroelectric dams, which are Ecuador's main source of electricity, leading to planned power outages. Besides, Energy imports from neighboring Colombia have been stoppedwhere cities like the capital face drought in their reservoirs.
The Colombian Government suspended the supply of energy to Ecuador due to the low level of its reservoirs and President Gustavo Petro regretted the situation, although he justified his decision.
I feel very sorry for the Ecuadorian people that electricity rationing begins in their country. My commitment to President Lasso was to provide the service until the very electrical stability of Colombia was not endangered.https://t.co/8WhaGMZshD
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) April 16, 2024
The critical water situation in the Colombian capital has forced the authorities to impose water rationing measures in the city to try to mitigate the impact.
And Ecuador, seeing that its neighbor has difficulties in supplying itself, plans to put out to tender during the course of this year the electrical interconnection works between Ecuador and Perua project financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) that should make it possible to withstand this type of electricity generation shortage crisis.
With EFE, Reuters and local media
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