Press Conference Alvaro Noboa [Feb-10th-2011]



Bananera Noboa was charged 90 million dollars by an IRS bill from 2005. Other banana companies like: Chiquita, Dole, Del Monte, enterprises that are larger than Bananera Noboa, have only been charged with $250,000, which is an average cost. I do not believe they should be charged more than this, but I do not think Bananera Noboa should be charged with taxes that represent 360 more times than their competitors, since it produces a similar volume of exportation.

Bananera Noboa cannot afford to pay this amount without going bankrupted, since its capital is less than five million dollars. This means that the taxes owed from 2005 would break this business, a business that was founded over 50 years ago which has given work to hundreds of thousands of people.

This is the financial situation of Exportadora Bananera Noboa. In Grupo Noboa there are also companies with positive earnings results that pay big amounts of taxes to the IRS. In addition, I am one of the Ecuadorians that pay more taxes.

I am an honorable man who have worked all my life and whose only sin, in front the authorities’ eyes, is the desire of making a better Ecuador. This is why I ran for presidency. My love for the Ecuadorian people is today a sin and its punishment is the bankruptcy of Bananera Noboa.

Instead of chasing people like me, who give employment to people and whose sin is to love Ecuador, they should chase the many criminals and the corrupt officials that exist in the country, who hurt so much the Ecuadorian people.

Bananera Noboa should exhaust all legal instances until justice is done.

God Bless you, Ecuadorians. Thank you very much.

Alvaro Noboa