Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa used his 'State of the Union' address to champion US-backed anti-crime strategies and economic improvements. Speaking before the National Assembly in Quito on Sunday, Noboa cited the extradition of 12 crime lords to the United States and the seizure of nearly 300 tons of drugs as evidence of his decisive and effective approach.
“We will hunt them, search for them, and extradite them,” Noboa said of wanted criminals. He insisted the South American nation cannot thrive “if families live in fear.” Organized crime has been a top concern for Ecuadorians this decade, following a surge in homicides during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 2021, Ecuador has struggled to control drug violence as rival gangs allied with local groups to fight for control over routes and ports used for cocaine smuggling. The country lies between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest cocaine producers. Last year, Ecuador recorded its highest homicide rate in decades, with about 50 killings per 100,000 residents, according to the Interior Ministry.
To address this, Noboa, who was re-elected last year for a four-year term, has used emergency powers to allow the military to deploy various anti-crime strategies, including joint patrols with police and warrantless searches of property. Earlier this year, Ecuadorian forces also conducted an operation alongside US troops targeting an alleged training camp of Colombian drug traffickers, striking the site with drones, helicopters, and boats.
Yet Noboa’s approach has drawn criticism from civil society groups, who argue his tough methods have failed to reduce crime while endangering civilians. Glaedys Gonzalez, an Andean analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Sunday that Noboa may have been overly optimistic in his speech about the nation’s security. “Progress on violence is far from achieved,” Gonzalez said. “Clearly, the situation in Ecuador has reached unprecedented levels.”
The Sunday address also heralded Ecuador’s economic progress, with Noboa telling lawmakers that the poverty rate fell from 26% to 21.4% in 2025. Extreme poverty, he added, declined from 10.4% to 8.4%. Noboa was first elected in 2023 in a snap election triggered when then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly and cut his own term short.
