Luis Espinosa Goded: Ecuadorians, Not Criminals, Pay for Narco War (Spanish)

Impunity Observer

Luis Espinosa Goded—a Spanish professor of economics at San Francisco University of Quito, Ecuador—explains how citizens and private businesses will pay a high price for the government's conflict with narcoterrorists. Curfew impositions, reduced mobility, and narco extortion are already some ways in which individuals—rather than the state or the narcos—are suffering from the escalating conflict that has inflamed the nation. For Espinosa Goded, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s strategy of a higher value-added tax to purportedly finance the war against narcos hurts citizens instead of criminals. Noboa could have instead tightened government spending elsewhere to free up taxpayer resources. Espinosa Goded highlights that the Ecuadorian economy is in a dire situation, so the tax increase is a blow to businesses and individuals who cannot afford it. Show notes: https://impunityobserver.com/2024/02/28/luis-espinosa-goded-ecuadorians-not-criminals-pay-narco-war/