Gustavo Noboa

Gustavo José Joaquín Noboa Bejarano (born 21 August 1937 in Guayaquil, Ecuador) is an Ecuadorian politician, former President of Ecuador (from 22 January 2000 to 15 January 2003) and Vice President during Jamil Mahuad's government.

Education

Noboa studied Political and Social Sciences and is doctor in Law from the Catholic University of Guayaquil. He was Chancellor of the University in 1986-1991 and 1991-1996.

Political career

Noboa was governor of Guayas Province from March 1983 to August 1984. In the 1998 presidential elections he was the running mate of Jamil Mahuad, who won. He was sworn in as Vice President of Ecuador on 10 August 1998.

Presidency

On 21 January 2000 a military coup deposed the government of Jamil Mahuad, and the following day Noboa became President of Ecuador in constitutional order. Noboa had the popular support of the country's indigenous people.

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.