During his first ten months in power, Noboa has done everything he can to place Ecuador even more firmly under Washington’s thumb. 

Early into his mandate, Daniel Noboa almost torpedoed Ecuador’s relations with Russia by offering to deliver unused Russian weaponry to the US in exchange for US-made weaponry — in total contravention of the weapons’ export license. The Russian weapons would be sent to Ukraine for its defence, though this was strenuously denied by Noboa, who insisted the weapons were nothing more than worthless scrap. However, when Russia retaliated by threatening to boycott Ecuadorian bananas, the country’s third most important export product and the Noboa family’s main line of business, the Noboa government quickly backtracked.

Born and raised in the US, Noboa is the son of Ecuador’s richest man, Alvaro Uribe. Like his disgraced predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, Noboa Jr. has followed the traditional three-step neoliberal shuffle to a tee:

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