Ecuador introduces three-day working week as it launches investigation into energy shortages

Simeon Tegel
Wed, April 17, 2024 

Ecuador's president Daniel Noboa is fiercely cracking down on corruption and violence - Dolores Ochoa/ap

Ecuador has ordered public and private sector workers to take Thursday and Friday off to save energy in response to unprecedented power outages.

Sudden blackouts began hitting the South American nation on Monday, prompting a furious reaction from president Daniel Noboa, who fired Andrea Arrobo, his energy minister.

Experts point to a drought, triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon, with Ecuador and other Andean nations heavily reliant on hydroelectric dams harnessing mountain water runoff.


Mr Noboa has blamed the crisis on a combination of “environmental circumstances” and “unheard of acts of corruption and negligence”.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the leader, whose approval rating is about 80 per cent thanks to his recent crackdown on the street gangs terrorising Ecuador, cited 22 “saboteurs” including Ms Arrobo, who he accused of hiding the looming energy crisis from him.

Ms Arrobo was replaced on an interim basis by Roberto Luque, the transport minister.

Roberto Luque, Ecuador's transport minister, has been named interim energy minister - Karen Toro/REUTERS

Colombia, which last week began rationing water in the capital Bogota, has also suspended energy supplies to Ecuador.

Meanwhile, the reservoir feeding Ecuador’s Mazar hydroelectric dam was reported to be dry, while the nearby Paute Dam registered storage levels of just four per cent.

Mr Noboa declared the suspension of the five-day working week and ordered the attorney general’s office to investigate the energy crisis.

Ecuador, like much of Latin America, has long been plagued by rampant corruption. However, Mr Noboa’s speed in apportioning blame for the energy crisis has raised eyebrows, with critics already concerned about his apparent authoritarian streak.

A boat rests on a dry section of the Guavio reservoir that feeds a hydroelectric power plant in Gachala - JHOJAN HILARION/AFP

They cite this month’s order for armed police to storm the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, a former vice president of Ecuador, wanted in connection with a corruption investigation – a flagrant breach of diplomatic protocol.

And they are also concerned by this Sunday’s referendum, called by Mr Noboa, to address the country’s violent crimewave, with questions calling for longer prison sentences and a permanent role for the armed forces in law enforcement.

Writing in Ecuadorian news portal Primicias, analyst Matias Abad warned that Mr Noboa appeared to be using “polarisation” and an “iron fist” approach to organised crime as a deliberate political strategy.

He also noted the president’s new penchant for wearing sunglasses, leather jackets and caps, highlighting the similarity with the sartorial style of El Salvador’s controversial president Nayib Bukele.

1933

El Salvador's Bukele releases father of soccer player from prison after son's plea on social media

Associated Press
Wed, April 17, 2024 

- El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele 

Authorities confirmed on April 17, 2024 that Bukele released the father of a Salvadoran soccer player Marcelo “El Chiky” Díaz from prison after the athlete from Salvador's national team published a plea for his release on social media, saying his father was wrongfully arrested as a suspected gang member on the way to see him play. 

(AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele released the father of a Salvadoran soccer player from prison after the athlete published a plea for his release on social media, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

Marcelo “El Chiky” Díaz, who plays for El Salvador's national team, on Tuesday published a letter on X, formerly Twitter, saying his father was wrongfully arrested by police as a suspected gang member on the way to see him play on March 30. Díaz pleaded directly to Bukele, who has a firm clench on power after being reelected in February despite a constitutional ban on reelection.

“On behalf of him, myself and our entire family, we ask you from the bottom of our hearts to amend this mistake and that my father can return home, to his routine, to his work and with his family,” wrote the player, who assured that his father is a man who has never had problems with the law.


The arrest of Díaz's father is part of a larger gang crackdown in the Central American nation that has gained Bukele a soaring popularity but has also fueled accusations of mass human rights abuses.

Following a wave of gang violence two years ago, Bukele in March 2022 announced a “state of emergency,” suspending many key constitutional rights and locking up nearly 80,000 people — more than 1% of the El Salvador's population — the government said were suspected as being part of a gang.

People are often arrested with little evidence of gang ties and locked up in prisons likened to torture chambers with little access to due process. In January, Bukele's vice president Félix Ulloa told the Associated Press that the government had “made mistakes” in arresting people who committed no crimes. He said around 7,000 people arrested under the state of emergency had since been released from prisons.

Relatives often go years without seeing their loved ones, but on Wednesday — one day after the soccer player posted the letter on social media — authorities confirmed his father was set free.

“Thanks to everyone, but mainly to God for being a God of justice," Díaz wrote Wednesday on X. “My father is home. He is well, he is healthy, he has been well treated. My solidarity with all the families who are going through similar situations.”

While authorities issued no statement on the release, the incident appears to fall in line with Bukele's larger strategy as he seeks recognition on an international level.

While he has been heavily criticized by human rights groups and other international leaders, the self-described “world's coolest dictator” has harnessed social media to speak to his base. He has turned to celebrities, sports and entertainment events in what experts and critics say is an attempt to change the narrative about his presidency.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america