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The ‘War on Drugs’ Was More About War than Drugs
Public domain image By Carlos Ron On 14 July, at a summit in Orlando, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Terrance Cole, declared that Mexico’s cartels and Mexico’s government are ‘one and the same.’ He offered no evidence. President Claudia Sheinbaum demanded some; none came. Mexico’s Security Cabinet answered with figures—tens of thousands of arrests, hundreds of tons of narcotics seized—while Cole’s office remained silent. The accusation was never meant to

The Left Chapter
Jul 315 min read


Ecuador: Noboa’s Semi-Dictatorship Seeks to Win by Eliminating Opponents, Not by Votes
Daniel Noboa, March 2026 -- public domain image By Pilar Troya Fernández President Daniel Noboa governs Ecuador with increasingly authoritarian methods. Elected in 2023 and reelected in 2025, he has concentrated power in the executive branch, clashed with the Constitutional Court, abused states of emergency, and turned the justice system into a tool against his opponents. Analysts and human rights organizations describe a drift toward a dictatorial edge: a leader who preserve

The Left Chapter
Jul 294 min read


Ecuador: A Quasi-Dictatorship Aligned with the “Donroe” Doctrine
Noboa on March 7 -- Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Pilar Troya Fernández After losing the 16 November 2025 referendum—when the Ecuadorian people rejected the government’s four questions, including the one that opened the door to foreign military bases—Daniel Noboa’s regime accelerated its assault on democracy. In the weeks that followed, it launched a multi-pronged operation that, taken together, constitutes a semi-dictatorshi

The Left Chapter
Apr 114 min read


Trumpism à la Banana Republic: Authoritarian Destruction of the Public Sphere in Ecuador
Marco Rubio and Noboa in September, 2025 -- public domain image By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa’s government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuatio

The Left Chapter
Mar 75 min read


Authoritarianism, Austerity, Repression, and False Narratives: The Crisis in Ecuador
Police surround and forcibly disperse protesters in Cuenca, Ecuador, September, 2025 -- Martin.vascovinueza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia...

The Left Chapter
Oct 10, 20256 min read


Exploring the High Rates of Social Violence in the Americas
For decades, the Americas have been the most violent part of the world outside active war zones. Many factors contribute to this, but...

The Left Chapter
Oct 4, 20257 min read


How Daniel Noboa Won in Ecuador and What to Expect from His New Term
Public domain image, May 24 By Pilar Troya Fernández On 10 May 2025, the Ecuadorian National Electoral Council proclaimed Daniel Noboa...

The Left Chapter
May 27, 20255 min read


The Banana Road From South America to China
Representational image. By Vijay Prashad In November, Álvaro Noboa, the father of Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa, had a heart attack....
Michael Laxer
Jan 3, 20256 min read
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