Noboa has been sparring with Vice President Veronica Abad on the issues of insubordination as the new general elections approach.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has appointed an interim vice president amid an ongoing feud with the current holder of that post.
Government Minister Jose de la Gasca announced the decision on Thursday, after the Noboa administration accused Vice President Veronica Abad of an alleged disciplinary violation.
In her place, Noboa has appointed Planning Minister Sariha Moya as interim vice president.
De la Gasca said Abad’s actions constituted “force majeure” — an extraordinary circumstance that required extraordinary action.
Abad served not only as vice president, but also as Ecuador’s ambassador to Israel. But according to de la Gasca, she had refused an order to relocate to Turkey because of security concerns amid Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
Ecuador’s Ministry of Labor eventually suspended her from her position in November.
“To date she has not shown up to perform her duties in Turkey,” de la Gasca said Thursday at a press conference.
A court overturned Abad’s suspension in December, but Noboa nevertheless asked Moya to act as interim vice president until January 22 or until Abad arrives in Turkey.
Abad has denied any wrongdoing. She and Noboa have been having a testy relationship for months.
The feud is just one of the challenges facing Noboa, who faces re-election in February.
Noboa, the youngest president in Ecuador’s modern history, was voted into office in October 2023 under unprecedented circumstances.
Facing the impeachment hearings, Noboa’s predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, invoked a never-before-used constitutional power: “muerte cruzada,” or “crucified death.”
He allowed Lasso to dissolve the National Assembly in exchange for an early end to his term. A snap election was held to determine who would serve the remaining 18 months of Lasso’s term.
Since taking office for an abbreviated term, Noboa – the heir to a banana industry fortune – has faced protests, including a series of power cuts that disrupted life for millions of residents.
A persistent drought had crippled the hydropower system the country relies on, and Noboa’s government had mandated blackouts for much of the last quarter of 2024.
Ecuador’s economy has also struggled to recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then there is the matter of crime.
Once considered an “island of peace” in South America, Ecuador has seen a rise in violent crime as drug-trafficking gangs move into its territory, seeking to exploit routes to the Pacific Ocean from the cocaine-producing regions of Peru. and neighboring Colombia.
Noboa has pursued a tough-on-crime approach in response, including expanding the powers of the police and military and increasing the severity of criminal penalties.
But these tactics have come under scrutiny in recent months, with critics decrying military overreach and abuses of power.
Earlier this week, authorities announced that the charred bodies of four missing boys were found near a military base in the town of Taura.
The surveillance footage appears to show it was taken by members of the military, and protesters have questioned the delay in launching an investigation.
The event has sparked outrage and protests.
