Ecuador is facing a critical situation that requires leadership with spirit, intelligence and commitment to the country’s high goals.

In these moments of crisis, the greatest insecurity we have experienced in our history and a complex international context, the ability to seek solutions both for the structural problems we have carried for centuries and for the dilemmas we have created in recent years will be tested; both due to the lack of ability to agree on the simplest aspects of national coexistence.

We are facing a climate cataclysm with huge consequences for the future of the nation. The El Niño phenomenon is coming with unpredictable consequences that can affect as much as 8% of the gross domestic product (GDP). We will face an unpayable deficit because we have no source of financing. Power outages are being announced today due to the impossibility of making decisions for the future.

The two candidates for President of the Republic – Daniel Noboa and Luisa González – whoever wins, will have 18 months in this interim period to demonstrate their ability to solve the series of problems they inherited the country.

It’s time to leave those bickering attitudes in the corner and look for solutions to the problems we face as a nation. Not dialoguing and considering that understanding with those who think differently is giving in reflects the attitude of an anti-patriotic person.

I wonder: are we aware that the problems we face must be solved, directly? We live on the next loan, not on our production, export or exploitation capacity of our vast natural resources. We are like this because of the lack of minimum agreements.

Ecuador is a country of great geographical advantages, rich and mega-diverse, multi-ethnic and multinational. We are a people with great merits who seek peace, the well-being of their families in order to have a better future. The people are looking for basic things: security, education, healthcare, housing, drinking water, roads, electricity, in other words, a better tomorrow for everyone. We long for a country where its citizens do not have to migrate in search of better opportunities. This requires empathy, and we must be able to explain each other’s differences of opinion in order to find solutions, without feeling guilty that understanding each other means giving up. It couldn’t be further from the truth.

Great men created democratic systems, in whose forums public matters were discussed, not human pettiness. There, major governance agreements were reached to deal with dangers, crises and wars. It is intelligent to disagree, it is good to have an intelligent opposition. When the door is closed because of fear, ideology or interest, what is wanted is to harm, paralyze and bury the hope of Ecuadorians.

I think we have to say enough! It’s time to talk and understand each other. (OR)