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Gustavo Noboa Bejarano (born in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 21 August 1937-). Politician and the President of Ecuador (22 January 2000 to 15 January 2003) and was notable for being accused of mishandling the country's foreign debt [1] by former president, León Febres Cordero.

Noboa was selected president following a military coup that deposed the government of Jamil Mahuad with popular support of the country's indigenous people in the year 2000. His presidency was marked by attempts to revive the Ecuadorian economy, which was in a recession at the time, including the freeing of $400 million US dollars worth of assets frozen by the previous government. He left office in 2003 after Lucio Gutiérrez was victorious in the 2002 presidential election.

After his term ended, accusations of irregularities in foreign debt negotiation that cost the country $9 billion dollars were levelled at the former president. He completely denied the charges, which could have had him sent to jail for twenty five years if convicted. Claiming that he was the victim of unfair persecution, he applied for political asylum in the Dominican Republic, which was granted on 11 August 2003. The Supreme Court case against him was annulled by an unconstitutional, yet functioning, Supreme Court on grounds that the case was not initiated by a two-thirds congressional vote as the Constitution stipulates. Shortly after, however, the presidency of Lucio Gutiérrez ended and the charges were reinstated. He was placed under house arrest in May, 2005 and Ecuador's Interior Minister planned to prosecute. On 16 March 2006, a Supreme Court judge lifted the detention order, and charged Noboa of being an accessory after the fact. Noboa said he would appeal this charge as well.^[1]

• Biography of Gustavo Noboa at CIDOB (Spanish)

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