La Unión Europea (UE) felicitó este lunes a Daniel Noboa por su victoria en las elecciones presidenciales de Ecuador, destacando la participación ciudadana y la organización “ordenada” del proceso electoral.

“Felicidades a Daniel Noboa por su victoria en las elecciones presidenciales de Ecuador. Se caracterizaron por una alta participación electoral y una organización ordenada”, publicó en redes sociales Anitta Hipper, portavoz de la alta representante de la UE para Asuntos Exteriores, Kaja Kallas.

La portavoz también informó que la misión de observación electoral de la UE continuará presente en el país para realizar labores de “seguimiento postelectoral”.

Con el 93% de las actas escrutadas, Noboa encabeza los resultados con un 55,85% de los votos válidos frente al 44,15% de la candidata opositora Luisa González, del movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, según datos del Consejo Nacional Electoral de Ecuador (CNE).

A sus 37 años, Noboa se convierte en el presidente más joven en la historia democrática del país y de toda Latinoamérica. Asumirá un mandato completo entre 2025 y 2029, tras haber sido elegido en 2023 para completar el periodo inconcluso del ex presidente Guillermo Lasso.

Desde el inicio del año, Ecuador permanece bajo un estado de “conflicto armado interno”, decretado por Noboa para enfrentar a grupos del crimen organizado, luego de una serie de atentados, motines carcelarios y asesinatos selectivos. Esta escalada de violencia ha situado a Ecuador en el primer lugar en tasas de homicidios en la región, con un promedio actual de un asesinato por hora.

A pesar de la ventaja de más de un millón de votos, la candidata González ha rechazado los resultados oficiales y ha denunciado presuntas irregularidades. “Estamos enfrentando el más grotesco fraude electoral de la república”, afirmó sin presentar por el momento pruebas concluyentes. El CNE no ha reportado hasta ahora incidencias graves que comprometan la validez del proceso.

Entre los primeros líderes en pronunciarse tras la victoria de Daniel Noboa se encuentra el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, quien lo felicitó en una publicación donde afirmó: “Será un gran líder para el maravilloso pueblo ecuatoriano. ¡No los defraudará!”. También enviaron mensajes de reconocimiento líderes latinoamericanos, entre ellos, el ex presidente de Ecuador Guillermo Lasso, la dirigente opositora venezolana María Corina Machado, el ex mandatario colombiano Iván Duque y el presidente de Paraguay Santiago Peña.

“Con los resultados oficiales del CNE, ya de conocimiento público, la tendencia es clara: Daniel Noboa ha recibido el respaldo mayoritario del electorado. Lo felicito por esta victoria”, escribió Lasso, quien instó a que dicho respaldo se refleje en un “gobierno fiel a la ley y comprometido con los intereses de las mayorías”.

“Ser presidente es el honor más alto que puede concedernos el pueblo. Hoy, ese honor recae sobre Daniel Noboa. Le deseo el mayor de los éxitos en su gestión”, concluyó el ex presidente.

El proceso de transición hacia el nuevo mandato presidencial de Daniel Noboa se desarrolla en medio de desafíos marcados por la inseguridad, la polarización política y la expectativa internacional sobre la estabilidad institucional en Ecuador.

La permanencia de misiones de observación como la de la Unión Europea, junto con el reconocimiento de actores regionales y globales, refuerza el llamado a un ejercicio democrático que garantice la gobernabilidad y el respeto al voto expresado en las urnas.

(Con información de EFE)

President Donald Trump on Monday once again reiterated that Iran must abandon any hope of obtaining a nuclear weapon as the U.S. prepares for more talks in less than a week.

«Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon,» Trump told reporters from the Oval Office while sitting alongside the president of El Salvador. 

«Iran wants to deal with us, but they don’t know how. They really don’t know how,» Trump continued. 

TRUMP TEAM HOLDS ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ FACE-TO-FACE NUCLEAR TALKS WITH IRAN, WILL MEET AGAIN NEXT WEEKEND

The president confirmed the U.S. will hold more talks with Iran next Saturday in Italy, one week after the first talks began in Oman. 

Details of the discussion remain nil, though they were seen as a launching point as Washington tries to negotiate with Tehran to end its nuclear program. 

Iranian state media reported that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi «briefly spoke» together during the two-hour meeting, which suggests Tehran viewed the discussions positively given their initial refusal to hold «direct» talks.

The White House similarly described the talks as «very positive and constructive,» though it also conceded that «very complicated» issues remain unresolved. 

TRUMP DEMANDS DO-OR-DIE NUCLEAR TALKS WITH IRAN. WHO HAS THE LEVERAGE?

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, meets his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi prior to negotiations with U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat, Oman, Saturday, April 12, 2025. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)

Trump has said negotiations with Iran need to happen «very quickly» but he has not provided a specific timeline on how long he will allow the diplomatic process to be carried out before he turns to military options.

The president has repeatedly threatened to «bomb» Iran should it not stop its ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon. 

But the extent that the U.S. intends to shut down Tehran’s nuclear program also remains unclear as some call for complete disarmament as Iran also continues to advance its missile programs. 

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) has analyzed where Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is located as Israel mulls retaliatory attack, Jan. 31, 2025. (Image provided by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) )

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«I’ll solve that problem. It’s almost an easy one,» Trump told reporters while comparing the end of Iran’s decades-long ambitions to develop a nuclear weapon to the challenge of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.

«I think Iran could be a great country as long as it doesn’t have nuclear weapons,» Trump said. «If they have nuclear weapons, they’ll never get a chance to be a great country.»

Pete Marocco, the official who oversaw the dismantling of USAID, has now parted ways with the agency. 

Marocco, who served in the Defense, State and Commerce departments, was known as a conservative firebrand with a deep skepticism of foreign aid. His tenure sparked fierce protests on Capitol Hill and drew sharp criticism from Democrats, who celebrated his exit but said questions remain about the future of U.S. foreign aid.

«Pete was brought to State with a big mission to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance,» a senior administration official said of the departure. «He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars. We all expect big things are in store for Pete on his next mission.»

After President Donald Trump merged USAID with the State Department, Secretary Marco Rubio named Marocco acting deputy administrator of the agency, and he went to work whittling down the $40-billion, 10,000-employee USAID office. 

THOUSANDS OF USAID TERMINATIONS TO TAKE EFFECT BY SEPTEMBER IN AGENCY’S FINAL LEG OF ‘DRAWDOWN’

«I continue to serve President Trump just as enthusiastically as I did last week, last month and last year,» Marocco told Fox News Digital of his departure. «He is a once-in-a-lifetime leader of a movement for change to our government and to restore American greatness.  President Trump has the swamp on the run so we should intensify the fight.»

Of the agency’s 6,000 programs, only about 900 will now continue to operate, Rubio said on a podcast with Donald Trump Jr. last week.

In the past, USAID did not adhere to State Department authority and «did whatever they wanted,» according to Rubio. 

In a March 19 op-ed for RealClearPolitics, Marocco argued that U.S. foreign aid has «created a global welfare state, committed unwelcome political interventions, encouraged unsustainable international labor unions (communism), made countries less capable of thriving in the modern global economy, and funded international organizations that spite our great country.»

Marocco learned he would no longer be employed at the State Department late last week, sources told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. 

Pete Marocco was the subject of protests on Capitol Hill. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)

USAID is now being run by a DOGE official. 

Democrats celebrated the departure of Marocco. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, ranking member of the State and Foreign Operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, said Marocco brought «chaos to USAID, reckless and unlawful policy to the State Department, and dismantled long-standing U.S. foreign policy.»

APPEALS COURT RULES DOGE CAN CONTINUE OPERATING AT USAID

«With his exit, serious questions still remain about the influence he leaves behind and whether or not Secretary Rubio plans to take actions that advance the mission and credibility of the United States,» Schatz added. 

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a master’s degree in international humanitarian law from the University of Oxford, Marocco worked in USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives in 2020 and was the subject of a 13-page memo posted in the agency’s «dissent channel,» in which employees warned that «operational capacity and strategic efficacy have been and continue to be rapidly degraded» under his leadership.

Supporters of foreign aid were outraged by Pete Marocco’s role in dismantling many U.S. foreign aid projects. (REUTERS/Kent Nishimura)

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The memo said Marocco had wanted to personally approve all expenditures over $10,000 for the office with a budget of $225 million.

«He has leveraged once-routine administrative processes to reopen previously-approved plans, interrogate and redirect country programs, halt movement on programs, procurements, and people, and inject uncertainty into daily operations and office planning,» the memo said. «Intervention is urgently needed.»