What can force a president like Daniel Noboa, with little political and electoral experience, to reach 80% acceptance in two months of work, i.e. 60% more than he had when he won the second round of elections, but also the equivalent of 200% more than the votes that got in the first round, given that those first votes were really his?

Is what that 80% shows a valid, solid situation, with a projection, or is it just indirect, visceral, reactive, from those who were consulted by traditional polls, the kind that is sometimes right and sometimes wrong?

#DefendYourFlag

It is true that such a high popularity figure was received by public opinion without much consideration and the young president even dares to invite European tourists and investors to come right now in Madrid. Of course, if Noboa showed clear intentions to take the bull of insecurity by its sharp and dishonest horns and by armed action to stop the bloodshed that was already becoming part of the landscape and that, in his last act of horror, that January 9 last year, he was left dead, injured and the entire population kidnapped in their own home.

Dissecting that 80%, it is worth considering whether it reflects, I insist, consolidated prestige or not, knowing that the young president has publicly announced his intention to be re-elected next year. And with an electoral rival in the middle of the campaign, such as the RC5 candidate, Luisa González, and her travels inside and outside the country. Other candidates are already warming up.

A political decision

In order for those 80% to serve him, Noboa must combine them with prestige, that public respect that results in respect, recognition, fame, and at the polling stations and votes. To be true to its origin in Latin, where praestigium is the equivalent of a magical act, which also when used as a verb is praestringere, which is the equivalent of binding, binding in advance those who applaud your actions.

But while it may seem as simple as giving the right orders and doing what the populace longed for,

In our case in terms of security, and others have not done it, we must remember that no matter how heavy prestige is, its fall into the depths can be. We see it every day in light versions of self-proclaimed influencers who can become heroes and villains in a few hours.

Trusted leadership

To better understand, I like what was written by the team of award-winning London director Christopher Nolan, and put into the mouth of actor Michael Caine, in his 2006 film. Prestige.

Caine expressed that this desired level requires a three-step act of magic: the promise, where the magician shows a common and usual object; the return, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary; and finally prestige, where you hope to guess the secret of the return, but the magician shocks you with something you have never seen before.

Let’s hope that real and sustained actions in the fight against organized crime and against the entire spectrum of very high-level corruption that supports it will indeed become something never seen before. And whoever achieves this takes the credit that corresponds to him. (OR)