The Government of Ecuador is running out of time to prevent the vice president, Verónica Abad, from assuming power when Daniel Noboa resigns from office at the end of this year to be a candidate in the 2025 elections. At least he has already made his position clear by regard. “It would be disastrous for the country if a person who does not agree with the president’s vision and reaction assumes power,” said the Vice Minister of Government, Esteban Torres, this Tuesday, after eight months of uncomfortable gestures and silence. “The first thing she will do on the first day is reverse all those victories that the Government has had, especially in the fight against impunity and security,” Torres added about what the Government thinks could happen if the vice president is left in charge of the can.
Abad acknowledged in an interview with EL PAÍS that the breakdown of the pairing occurred since August, just after he surprisingly won the first round of elections. “I have never spoken with him as president,” said the president from Israel, where she was sent by Noboa to be a peace mediator in the war against Palestine. In the statements that Torres gave to the press, she warned that this Tuesday there would be a new judicial proceeding in the case. Baby. This is how the State Prosecutor’s Office baptized the investigation it opened against Abad’s son, Sebastián Barreiro, who is accused of the alleged crime of offering influence peddling, after a complaint from an official of the Vice Presidency, who accuses Barreiro of having demanded a part of his salary for a position in the institution. The president’s son was sent to the La Roca maximum security prison, and only a month later he was released with the payment of bail.
For Abad, this is a campaign against him promoted by the Noboa Government that does not want to give up power when he is a candidate. She claims that she is subjected to political violence, harassment and continuous mistreatment. “A person who believes himself to be above the law, without a doubt, is an authoritarian government. “He destroys people for wanting to do his will,” said the president. For the Government, the judicial diligence is a demonstration that the president is not authoritarian, said Esteban Torres, “but incorruptible.” According to the vice minister, when the president detected what was being discussed in that criminal process it was when he removed the vice president from the Government. But the times are not coordinated with this version. The breakup between Noboa and Abad began in September 2023, when they had not yet won the elections and completely separated her from the Government by sending her to the Middle East. This occurred with the signing of a decree just a few hours after assuming the Presidency, with the sole function of collaborating as an ambassador on behalf of Ecuador for peace to prevent the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. A mandate that Abad accepted. Two weeks after the duo came to power, she traveled. What puts the president in a complex position is if he knew that during the government transition, alleged bribes were offered in exchange for public positions and he did not report it but instead sent the designated person out of the country. The cause of the process has less than a month to conclude its investigation. “We hope that justice fulfills its task and reaches the truth,” Torres added.
The vice president was called by the Public Ministry to give her version but has not done so officially, according to Abad’s defense. The president did not attend the procedure because she does not know why she is required either. If the Prosecutor’s Office requests her as a witness, she would not be able to testify against her son, the law prohibits it. And if she is considered a suspect, the case must be handled by a jurisdiction unit, due to her position as vice president, and the process does not meet these requirements, reported her lawyer, Oswaldo Trujillo. Furthermore, for any criminal action, the Prosecutor’s Office would first need authorization from the National Assembly for its involvement. Which could be an obstacle for the Government, because it is an area where it has little room for maneuver after turning the majority bench in Congress into its political opponents when it ordered the assault on the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas. .
The vice minister also referred to the constitutional solutions that seek to prevent Verónica Abad from being in charge of the Presidency at the beginning of 2025. The Constitution does not provide many alternatives to the president when he has removed the confidence of his pair who are elected by popular vote . Torres mentioned the complaint that a public official made against the vice president in the Electoral Court for alleged early campaigning when she participated as a candidate for the Municipality of Cuenca in 2022. If the Court rules against Abad, the sanction could be dismissal and With that, the president has the way to send a shortlist to the Assembly to designate his new vice president – the fact is that Noboa also incurred that electoral fault. The Government is also considering applying article 150 of the Magna Carta, which refers to the case of a temporary absence of the person who exercises the Vice Presidency of the Republic. Only there will the president be able to replace the position with a minister he trusts. “They are still hypothetical,” said Torres regarding the future of the vice president who will not resign from office.
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