In an interview given to Latina Radios, CRE and Atalaya, the PRIAN List 7 candidate for President of the Republic, Álvaro Noboa repeated that under his government the lost rights would be reinstated; he would combat crime in a professional manner, and with economic reactivation; and he confirmed that he is already in the second electoral round.
He summarized that during his tour of the Loza province, he talked to teachers who want to return to the earlier schedule, given that after the student finish class, they’ve got nothing to do; to policemen who want the return of their right to salary adjusted by medals, heroic acts or seniority; and meanwhile with students who demand that the university be without cost, without restricted numbers, without an entrance exam, and with the freedom of choosing ones degree.
“Under my government, I will return rights to all Ecuadorians.”
He stated that in Loja he had a massive welcome and that in that province everyone was celebrating the triumph of Álvaro Noboa early. “We spoke of the polls in which we are (Rafael) Correa at 35%, I am at 26%, and the rest very low, which puts us in the second round with no problem.” He said that in Loja the “No” won and that they don’t want (Rafael) Correa, like they don’t want him in Esmeraldas because of the Concordia issue, and because Esmeraldas is one of the poorest and least attended to provinces in the country, and therefore they were supporting Noboa.
Interview of Álvaro Noboa in CRE Radio
Journalist: Counselor, today we know that your tour was in the city of Loja. Tell us how the people of Loja received you. What was your welcome to this land like?
Álvaro Noboa: It was marvelous. It’s the best welcome that I have had since the year 1998. There were hundreds of cars, a lot of people. We toured the streets greeting the people of Loja, and everyone was celebrating in advance the triumph of Álvaro Noboa and celebrating the visit. They also talked to me about their problems and from there one could identify that it is the teachers who want to return to the same schedule they had before: they have been given more work hours, but without an adjustment to their salaries, and they say that they don’t need to work more hours as they don’t do anything given that the students go home. They want the scale to be respected so that they can earn in accordance with the categories they correspond to, whether that be for seniority, merit, etc.
I also met with policemen who told me, look, all the police are going to vote for you, but it’s important that you keep repeating your promises, which is that the police are going to have the same rights as they had before the current government, that they will have income based on medals, heroic acts, seniority, which were taken away by this government.
Also the university students asked me for my opinion and I told them that the university should be free, without entrance exams, or restricted places, and that each citizen should choose the degree they wish to follow.
We spoke of the poll in which we are (Rafael) Correa at 35%, me at 26%, and the rest very low, which puts us in the second round with no problem. We also spoke of the problems specific to Loja, like tourism. Loja is a very beautiful city, with beautiful countryside. Remember, Vilcabamba is in this province, where its people can live longer thanks to the climate, to its food, to its water and that can be developed.
We also spoke about the agricultural issue, and the issue of university students and I told them that Loja could develop itself as an academic capital. They were the first to initiate distance studies 40 years ago.
Journalist: Counselor, with regards to healthcare, how do you see the city of Loja? How have the healthcare centers developed? How are the medical brigades and upon being President of the Republic what would you do for healthcare in Loja?
Álvaro Noboa: In regards to healthcare, a number of aspirations are still pending fulfillment. There are good installations, but they are incomplete. There is good service, but it could be improved.
I was also with the indigenous people of Saraguro. I have photos that can be seen on Facebook, or at www.alvaronoboa.com and in this province, I have voters of all kinds, including Saraguros and in every region. There I am in first place in a tie with (Rafael) Correa. It is one of the provinces that favor me. If you remember, I won the “No” there, and they don’t want Correa, like they don’t want him in
Esmeraldas, and that works for me, taking advantage of your time, which is valuable, to tell you what has happened just now in Quinindé. Look, you sow what you reap. Economist Rafael Correa has generated violence in the country, like political persecution, much of it against me, against journalists, against El Universo newspaper, and there is disappointment in him on the part of the teachers, the police, the university students. He has not been able to control the crime wave. It’s become a country in which there is a lot of loansharking, where there are a lot of murders, all the time there are planes transporting drugs. And what happened in Quinindé, in Esmeraldas? That an individual killed two people and wounded several more just before Economist Correa’s rally. That diabolic act happened in Esmeraldas and they came face to face, looking each other in the eye (Rafael) Correa and the Devil; looking at each other very closely with evil. There is no more need to prove to the country the state that we are experiencing. With this it has been proven that nobody respects anybody, not even the Chief of State. And that is the last nail in his political coffin that (Rafael)Correa needed. And with that, I think he is going to lose the election.
Journalist: Counselor, the polls, what you’ve been talking about the last few days, they favor you in some provinces, like Pichincha, and now they put you in second place in Loja. In Esmeraldas, how do they look for you?
Álvaro Noboa: We are in first place in Esmeraldas, where they have never wanted (Rafael) Correa because of the issue of La Concordia. It’s been the most neglected province, where there is the highest level of poverty. You know that in Ecuador unemployment has grown to double. There were a million people receiving the Voucher, that now I think should be at $100 and now I am a going to explain why. Now two million receive the Voucher, or that is to say, unemployment has doubled. Therefore I think, with the Noboa Plan, with the economic development plan, that the majority of those people will be employed again.
Imagine it, two million times 50 is $100,000,000 a month, times 12 months is $1,200,000,000 dollars. If I am able to employ 90% of those two million unemployed, what is left is 200,000, who, at $100 each is $20,000,000 x 12 months is $240,000,000, as against $1,200,000,000, that is being paid now with the $50 Voucher. It’s less than a fifth, and the Voucher will remain for those who are handicapped, the few who remain unemployed and those over 70 years of age who don’t have any other source of income. Because those who receive the IESS pension, or a private pension, don’t need the Voucher, while those who for some reason don’t have a pension from social or a private pension do.
Journalist: Counselor Álvaro Noboa, we have listened to your proposal that the Voucher shouldn’t be $50 per month, but that steadily, as unemployment in Ecuador is reduced, it should begin to cover up to $100 dollars for beneficiaries. In regards to crime, this great wave of violence that we are experiencing, that Economist Rafael Correa has experience, what will we do against crime?
Álvaro Noboa: Employ all Ecuadorians, because in Japan, where there is no unemployment, in Norway, there are no robberies. Why not? Because there is no need to go out and rob and play with one’s life. It’s that people who have jobs, have everything, they have social security. Here, in Ecuador, if a man doesn’t have work, his child is dying of hunger, his wife is sick, he goes out to rob and to kill, and that is a problem. The gangsters are from those mafias that are coming to the country. We need to bring an advisor, like the Mayor (Rudolph) Giuliani of New York, to advise us on how to clean out those mafias from Ecuador, like he cleaned out New York.
Journalist: Counselor Álvaro Noboa, in regards to healthcare, we have emphasized and reinforced the work that you and your wife have been doing, not only in the election period, or during the campaign, but which is something that you have been doing for many years. It’s been approximately 30 years that you and your wife have been supporting the citizenry, not only along the Coast, but also in the Sierra and the West, with what are the Medical Brigades.
Álvaro Noboa: We believe that the Medical Brigades are important to Ecuadorian farmers, because a man who has a heart attack, or a stroke, or who is disabled, at that moment the medical brigade needs to get there, like one sees in films with the number 911, and that medical brigade should save that man on his own farm, giving him first aid and then taking him to a clinic to rest.
Journalist: Counselor, tomorrow, where is the tour?
Álvaro Noboa: Riobamba.
Journalist: At what time does the tour start ?
Álvaro Noboa: It’s going to start at midday, at 12.30.
Journalist: Counselor, it’s important to reemphasize that you have no need of reaching the Presidency, nor of robbing Ecuadorians, but rather to continue contributing.
Álvaro Noboa: Yes, I am going to reach the Presidency, and I think that it is the best way of serving. Our time is running out and hopefully tomorrow we can speak and you can give the breaking news about how our campaign to reach power is going.
Journalist: Counselor, thank you very much.
Álvaro Noboa: Thank you. An immense hug to all Ecuadorians, and may God bless everyone, and the colleagues from Radio Latina, and your allies, Atalaya and CRE.