The year that is coming to an end was very complex for Ecuador and the international community. Dark storm clouds appear on the horizon, making enlightened leadership from all sectors of society and the obligation of all to dig ourselves out of this self-inflicted mire. It is vitally important to identify the interests that divide us and strive to improve the national program. Country must be on the agenda at the moment.

From the outside, the world is torn between wars, whose victims tear the soul, and geopolitical rivalries, which predict conflicts that will affect the entire international community.

After new questions

The pandemic meant a historical crisis whose consequences will be felt for decades. The inability to govern in crisis situations exposed the incompetence of national governments and the breakdown of multilateralism.

Ecuador is immersed in the experiment of parliamentary regimes, which was incorporated into the Constitution of 2008. Dissolving the parliament, calling general elections and forming a new government is not a presidential regime, nor is it typical of a parliamentary regime. It is a kind of experiment in management, the like of which I have not noticed even in other regions of the world.

The academic world, political and economic analysts, mass media and other members of the international community observe Ecuador in this situation.

Call…

The crises that Ecuador has to face are multisystemic: poverty and hunger, inequality, malnutrition of millions of children, inability to attract investment, lack of legal certainty, corruption, drug trafficking, unpayable internal and external debt, migration and, above all, insecurity. There is not enough space in this column to list them.

The government of President Daniel Noboa has brought a breath of fresh air that has fueled hope for a better achievable tomorrow, but it has a difficult task to navigate the turbulent waters of these and those to come.

A big obstacle is the clash of interests and the lack of a minimum consensus for finding a solution those problems for the benefit of the nation. It is as if every representative group is determined to obstruct, clash, obstruct and even betray the interests of the nation.

The international panorama has its own scenario of contradictions in which Ecuador must find, as I have argued in this column, a course based on its core interests and not on the interests of others.

I express the hope that in 2024 Ecuador and its people will find a way of understanding to overcome internal problems, that we can forge common minimum programs for the benefit of current and future generations. (OR)