“Being president right now is not my aspiration”
On August 13, Alvaro Noboa reappeared in public life. He called for a march with which he joined protests that day of the national strike. Then he called for the resignation of President Rafael Correa and the restoration of democracy. He also called on his colleagues to a strike last Friday.
– Why do you reappear right now?
– Because it is a very critical moment for the country. The country is in a very serious economic and political crisis in which the life of Ecuadorians is at risk. Freedoms are at risk. Every day the lack of press freedom is more accentuated, the concentration of power on the part of economist (Rafael) Correa, the lack of human rights. There is a control in the courts, The National Electoral Council, the Constitutional Court, in the National Assembly. The countryis living a sort of concentration it has ceased to be a true democracy … Economically, we are on the brink. Oil prices are below production costs and, as it is sold in advance, we can not even stop producing. We have to keep producing to pay advance sales … It is a fantasy there are higher wages when life cost three times more. People are still poor. We have reached an economic and political crisis.
– 2016 will be a pre-election year. New faces will appear as possible candidates for the presidency. Is this linked with with your reappearance in political life?
– No, I do not aspire to be president. Right now that is not my aspiration.
– At this time?
– Right now my goal is to alert the Ecuadorians that in a few days or months we will sink.
– If righ now that is not your aspiration maybe in 2017?
– I do not know. I do not know the future. I´m not even concerned about 2017. I am concerned that what happened to the Titanic does not happen, that we are all drowned.
– You ask for the resignation of President Correa …
– I ask for the return to democracy and his resignation, not only the resignation.
– Well, part of your request is the president’s resignation. In the event that he resigns, the one that replaces him is the vice president …
– We have to reorganize everything. We must reorganize the republic.
– You want them all out?
– The republic has to be re-founded.
– On August 13, the day of the strike, you made a gesture with Mr. Guillermo Lasso. You approached him and shook his hand. How should we interpret this gesture of yours?
– Right now, the ideology of the people does not matter. My movement is leftist … People relate that as I’m rich I’m from right. Warren Buffett, the third richest man in the world, voted for (Barack) Obama, who is a leftist … Guillermo Lasso is a man from right, he has stated so. I’ve talked very briefly with Lourdes Tiban, a leftist woman. I was educated with Antonio Gagliardo, a man of the left who served in the government of Correa. What I mean is that right now we must not see if it’s left, right, center … We must see that we are being governed by a man who has concentrated the power in his hands.
– What is your opinion on the amendments to the Constitution?
– I think that should enter into a plebiscite. These are fundamental questions only the people can answer.
– Any of them particularly concerns you?
– The re-election.
– Why?
– Because we will celebrate the 95th birthday of economist Correa with him in the presidency.