Gustavo Noboa
Encyclopedia
Gustavo José Joaquín Noboa Bejarano (born 21 August 1937 in Guayaquil
Guayaquil
Guayaquil , officially Santiago de Guayaquil , is the largest and the most populous city in Ecuador,with about 2.3 million inhabitants in the city and nearly 3.1 million in the metropolitan area, as well as that nation's main port...

, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

) is an Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

ian politician, former President of Ecuador (from 22 January 2000 to 15 January 2003) and Vice President
Vice President of Ecuador
Vice President of Ecuador is the second highest political position in Ecuador. Many times has the vice president succeeded the president in turbulent political situations. Last time was in 2005 after resignation of president Lucio Gutiérrez. According to the current constitution, vice president in...

 during Jamil Mahuad
Jamil Mahuad
Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician and the 51st President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000. There was a severe economic crisis in Ecuador , which had led to a 60% cut in the armed forces budget...

's government.

Education

Noboa studied Political and Social Sciences and is doctor in Law from the Catholic University of Guayaquil.
He was Chancellor of the University in 1986-1991 and 1991-1996.

Political career

Noboa was governor of Guayas Province
Guayas Province
Guayas is a coastal province in Ecuador. It is bordered to the west by Manabí, Santa Elena, and the Pacific Ocean ; to the east by Los Ríos, Bolívar, Chimborazo, Cañar, and Azuay; to the north by Los Ríos and Bolívar; and to the south by El Oro and the Pacific Ocean.With a population of over 3...

 from March 1983 to August 1984. In the 1998 presidential elections
Ecuadorian general election, 1998
Following the previous general elections, President of the Republic Abdala Bucaram Ortiz was removed from office by Congress nine months later on grounds of mental incapacity...

 he was the running mate of Jamil Mahuad
Jamil Mahuad
Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician and the 51st President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000. There was a severe economic crisis in Ecuador , which had led to a 60% cut in the armed forces budget...

, who won. He was sworn in as Vice President of Ecuador on 10 August 1998.

Presidency

On 21 January 2000 a military coup
2000 Ecuadorean coup d'état
The 2000 Ecuadorean coup d'état took place on 21 January 2000 and resulted in President Jamil Mahuad being sent into exile, and replaced by Vice President Gustavo Noboa...

 deposed the government of Jamil Mahuad
Jamil Mahuad
Jorge Jamil Mahuad Witt is an Ecuadorian lawyer and politician and the 51st President of Ecuador from August 10, 1998 to January 21, 2000. There was a severe economic crisis in Ecuador , which had led to a 60% cut in the armed forces budget...

, and the following day Noboa became President of Ecuador in constitutional order. Noboa had the popular support of the country's indigenous people.

His presidency was marked by attempts to revive the Ecuadorian economy, which was in a recession at the time, including the freeing of $400 million US dollars worth of assets frozen by the previous government. He left office in 2003 after Lucio Gutiérrez
Lucio Gutiérrez
Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa served as President of Ecuador from January 15, 2003 to April 20, 2005.- Political rise :Gutiérrez was prominent in a popular uprising that replaced President Jamil Mahuad for three hours in January 2000...

 was victorious in the 2002 presidential election
Presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is president.- United States :The United States has elections on the state and local levels...

.

Controversy

Noboa was being accused of mishandling the country's foreign debt http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3105451.stm by former president, León Febres Cordero
León Febres Cordero
León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra was President of Ecuador for a four-year term from 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988...

.

After his term ended, accusations of irregularities in foreign debt negotiation that cost the country $9 billion
1000000000 (number)
1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001.In scientific notation, it is written as 109....

 dollars were levelled at the former president. He completely denied the charges, which could have had him sent to jail for twenty five years if convicted. Claiming that he was the victim of unfair persecution, he applied for political asylum
Right of asylum
Right of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...

 in the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

, which was granted on August 11, 2003. The Supreme Court case against him was annulled by an unconstitutional, yet functioning, Supreme Court on grounds that the case was not initiated by a two-thirds congressional vote as the Constitution stipulates. Shortly after, however, the presidency of Lucio Gutiérrez
Lucio Gutiérrez
Lucio Edwin Gutiérrez Borbúa served as President of Ecuador from January 15, 2003 to April 20, 2005.- Political rise :Gutiérrez was prominent in a popular uprising that replaced President Jamil Mahuad for three hours in January 2000...

 ended and the charges were reinstated. He was placed under house arrest in May 2005 and Ecuador's Interior Minister planned to prosecute. On March 16, 2006, a Supreme Court judge lifted the detention order, and charged Noboa of being an accessory after the fact. Noboa said he would appeal this charge as well.

External links

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