President of Ecuador accuses alleged attempt to poison him by finding toxic substances in gifts
After receiving a basket of gifts, Daniel Noboa's team reviewed it and detected substances that could harm the president's health.
Ecuadorian authorities have raised the alarm and are investigating a possible poisoning attempt against President Daniel Noboa, after receiving gifts that allegedly contained toxic chemical substances harmful to his health.
According to reports, toxic chemical substances were detected in a basket of artisanal products that were given to him during an event in Babahoyo, Los Rios province.
The incident occurred on October 17, when the president went to deliver support to agricultural producers.
"There were three different chemicals with an extremely high concentration and it was practically impossible for these three chemicals to be together at those levels in a particular product. It's impossible that it was accidental, it's impossible that it was the packaging," said the president.
The products, a tamarind jam, a chocolate jam, and a cocoa mistela, were delivered to the president's team by an entrepreneur, and after performing routine tests it was determined that they contained "dangerous chemical substances," which is why, according to Noboa this Thursday, the Presidential Military Household has already filed a complaint with the Prosecutor's Office.
The alert came from the Military Household, whose head sent a report last Tuesday to the Secretary of Public Administration, Cynthia Gellibert, in which he explained that the presidential protocol team received some gifts on Friday from an artisan entrepreneur that were addressed to Noboa and that were inside a basket.
A physical inspection of the basket was immediately carried out and subsequently the eight products it contained were reviewed. As a result, it was reported that the security team detected that three of the eight items contained "highly dangerous chemical substances," the document states.
After laboratory analysis, it was determined that the products contained thionyl chloride, chloroethanol, and anthracene, "which are considered harmful and detrimental to health," the Military House report mentions.
Given the situation,the president filed a complaint, several pieces of evidence were presented, including the level of "concentration of the three chemicals" and that now "a complete legal process" must be carried out to determine responsibility.
Two weeks ago, Noboa himself reported an alleged "attempted assassination" when the presidential car was stoned by a group of protesters at the moment that the caravan in which the head of state was traveling passed through one of the blockades that the population was carrying out in protest against the economic policies of his government.

