The Banana Republic Rebooted: Ecuador’s Stolen Election, Fake News Coup, and Rise of the Trumpist Right

By Prince Kapone, Weaponized Information | April 21, 2025

The Empire’s Newest Pawn

Daniel Noboa—young, rich, reactionary, and photogenic—has been crowned president of Ecuador after what observers are calling the dirtiest election since the country’s return to democracy in 1979. On paper, he won 56% of the vote. But peel back the banana republic gloss, and what you’ll find is electoral fraud wrapped in fake news, stamped with the seal of U.S. imperial approval.

Noboa, heir to a billionaire banana dynasty and loyal Trump ally, didn’t just win an election—he seized a state. Backed by transnational capital, a militarized media apparatus, and Washington’s blessing, he deployed a full-spectrum disinformation war to crush his opponent, Luisa González, the progressive lawyer running on the legacy of Rafael Correa’s Citizens’ Revolution.

Fake News, Real Power

According to The Real News and direct testimonies from election observers and political analysts, Noboa’s victory relied on a campaign of weaponized misinformation. Luisa González was smeared as a cartel puppet, a narco ally, a communist threat. The airwaves and WhatsApp networks were flooded with doctored videos, AI-generated clips, and slanderous memes—echoing the exact tactics used by Trump, Bolsonaro, and Bukele.

But this wasn’t just a dirty campaign. It was a digital coup. Whole regions where González polled strongest were placed under a state of emergency the day before voting, blocking movement and creating a climate of fear. Meanwhile, the state spent public funds on social subsidies in Noboa-leaning districts, effectively buying votes. Exit polls showed a statistical tie. Then, suddenly, Noboa surged by over 10 points. Smells like sabotage. Walks like fraud.

The Narco-State Paradox

Noboa ran on “security,” vowing to build high-security mega-prisons modeled after El Salvador’s Bukele regime. But under his first term, crime soared. Violence spiked 70% in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Why? Because the real alliance with the cartels isn’t with the left—it’s with the oligarchy.

Daniel Noboa’s name has surfaced in multiple corruption investigations. His family has ties to the transnational drug economy. And like any good comprador bourgeoisie, he’s promised the U.S. carte blanche to set up military bases and deploy security “advisors” in the name of the drug war. This is Plan Colombia 2.0—except this time, the empire outsourced the PR to a 37-year-old Instagram politician.

Repression Wears a Tie

Since taking power, Noboa has suspended constitutional rights through repeated states of emergency. He’s militarized civilian spaces, targeted political dissidents, and pursued mass incarceration—all while projecting himself as a neoliberal modernizer. Behind the sharp suits and PR filters is a man hellbent on consolidating authoritarian control under the banner of U.S.-style “law and order.”

And it’s not just rhetoric. The Boring Company’s Elon Musk has more environmental regulations on his books than Noboa’s presidency. Water privatization, anti-labor laws, cuts to social services—Noboa governs like a technocrat but represses like a caudillo. What we’re witnessing is the hybridization of corporate authoritarianism and digital fascism: a technofascist state in embryo.

The Return of the Banana Republic—Made in Mar-a-Lago

Two weeks before the election, Noboa flew to Mar-a-Lago for a photo op with Donald Trump. It was more than a publicity stunt. It was a signal to the empire that Ecuador was once again open for business. Under Trump 2.0, Latin America is being carved up and recolonized, one far-right strongman at a time. Milei in Argentina. Bukele in El Salvador. Noboa in Ecuador. This is the hemispheric reboot of settler-capitalist rule—without the pretense of democracy.

The imperial playbook is clear: Create chaos through neoliberalism. Weaponize crime and insecurity. Then install a “savior” to restore order—by force. It’s not just counterinsurgency—it’s counterrevolution. And Daniel Noboa is the empire’s newest viceroy.

Resistance is Coming

But the people haven’t surrendered. The Indigenous movement, which endorsed González, is already mobilizing. Popular sectors are demanding a recount. And Ecuador has a long memory: when rights are denied at the ballot box, they are reclaimed in the streets. From the 2019 anti-IMF uprisings to the 2022 gas price rebellion, Ecuador’s masses have proven they know how to shut a country down.

As Luisa González said on election night: “This is the biggest fraud in the history of Ecuador.” And history shows us that fraudulent regimes don’t last—not when the people organize. Not when the streets rise.

The Revolution Was Interrupted, Not Defeated

Daniel Noboa didn’t win. The empire did. With bots, ballots, and black ops. But Ecuador is not defeated. The Citizens’ Revolution remains. The Indigenous movement remains. The memory of Correa’s social gains remains. And in the face of oligarchic power, that memory is dangerous.

This wasn’t an election—it was a digital coup. But the people will return. And when they do, it won’t be through fake polls or TikTok campaigns. It’ll be through barricades, assemblies, and a new wave of liberation that the empire won’t be able to buy, bury, or silence.