The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, returned to his country for an «emergency matter» and canceled the rest of his agenda scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Panama City, where he was participating in the International Economic Forum organized by the Latin American and Caribbean Development Bank (CAF) in the Central American nation.
The ambassador of Ecuador in Panama, Pascual Del Cioppo, explained in statements to the Panamanian channel TVN that it is «a matter of State, of an emergency nature» that forced Noboa to «suspend his two days he was going to be here at the CAF forum».
The diplomat did not specify the reason that led the president to return to Ecuador after a few hours in Panama and claimed that «it is an emergency matter of the president's own handling».
«He is absent, but half of his cabinet is present with me, all the main ministers such as the chancellor (Gabriela Sommerfeld),» said the ambassador.
According to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Noboa returned to the country to head the so-called security block, which integrates the Police and the Armed Forces to jointly combat criminal gangs, against which the head of state has declared the country under an «internal armed conflict» and has classified these criminal groups as «terrorists».
The early departure of Noboa was confirmed to EFE by Ecuadorian diplomatic sources, while the head of state's agenda in Panama has been erased from social networks.
The Ecuadorian leader participated in the plenary session of the International Economic Forum, in which he advocated for «an integrated Latin America, so that our peoples can work together, (…) where there is an unbreakable respect, giving maximum security and tranquility to our citizens».
Noboa qualified as one of the most important achievements of his Administration that the poverty index has been reduced in his management from 28% to 21.4%, the lowest value in the country's history.
At the same forum, he coincided with the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, without any interaction between them being known to address the trade war in which both countries have become embroiled with the initiative of the Ecuadorian president, who imposed tariffs of 30%, the suspension of the export of electricity from Colombia to Ecuador, and sanctions on the transport of Colombian crude through Ecuadorian oil pipelines.
The canceled agenda from the Presidency's public channels contemplated the inauguration of Ecuador's pavilion in the fair grounds, in addition to meetings with the president of CAF, Sergio Díaz Granados; the Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Giorgio Silli; and the president of the Panamanian airline Copa, Stanley Motta.
Photo EFE
The entry «Noboa returns to Ecuador for an «emergency matter» and cancels his agenda in Panama» was first published in La Verdad Panamá.
