Jaime Nebot

Nebot was born to a prominent Guayaquil family on October 22, 1946.{{Cite web |title=Ab. Jaime Nebot |url=https://www.enciclopediadelecuador.com/ab-jaime-nebot/ |access-date=5 February 2025 |website=Enciclopedia del Ecuador |date=9 May 2016 |language=es}} His father, Jaime Nebot Velasco (1921-2001),{{Cite web | title=Jaime Alfonso Nebot Velasco (1921–2001) | url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K2VX-67F/jaime-alfonso-nebot-velasco-1921-2001 | access-date=2025-05-17 | website=ancestors.familysearch.org}} of Catalan background, was a government minister during the administration of President José María Velasco Ibarra (1968–1972).{{cite book | last=Martz | first=John D.| title=Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador| publisher=Transaction Publishers | year=1987 | isbn=0-87855-450-5}} p. 87. His mother is Sulema Saadi, the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant who came to Ecuador after living in Brazil.{{cite journal | author =Almeida, Mónica |date=July 1996 | title = Phoenicians of the Pacific: Lebanese and Other Middle Easterners in Ecuador | journal = The Americas | volume = 53 | issue = 1 | pages = 87–111 | doi = 10.2307/1007475 | publisher = The Americas, Vol. 53, No. 1 | jstor = 1007475}} Nebot was educated in various Catholic schools, including Colegio Cristóbal Colón in Guayaquil and Colegio San Gabriel in Quito. He has a law degree from Católica Santiago de Guayaquil.{{cite web |url=http://www.guayaquil.gov.ec/19.gye|title=Jaime Nebot: Trayectoria|accessdate=2008-01-27|publisher= M.I. Municipalidad de Guayaquil}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}

Nebot entered politics in 1984, when he was appointed governor of Guayas province (the district encompassing Guayaquil) by then-president León Febres-Cordero.{{cite book| last=Gerlach| first=Allen| title=Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield| year=2003| isbn=0-8420-5108-2| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/indiansoilpoliti0000gerl}} p. 82 During his tenure as governor he sent police on a three-day operation to evict more than 700 families who were squatting on private land in Guayaquil.{{cite journal|author=Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos |date=January 1987 |title=Atropello a Pobladores |journal=Derechos del Pueblo |volume=37 |pages=27 |url=http://cedhu.org/html/revista_37.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040805190130/http://cedhu.org/html/revista_37.pdf |archivedate=August 5, 2004 }} During an incident in Taura when President Febres-Cordero was kidnapped by some military officials led by Vargas Passo, Nebot played an important role in the negotiations for his freedom.

He was governor until 1988, when Febres-Cordero's administration ended.

In 1990 Nebot ran for congress on the Christian Social Party slate and won a seat representing Guayas province. On August 31 of that year, while a parliamentary session was being broadcast on TV, Nebot, visibly agitated, began shrieking at a fellow congressman, Víctor Granda of the Socialist Party. "Come here so I can urinate on you, you insect son of a bitch" Nebot shouted at Granda. "I can't just hit you. I have to urinate on you."{{cite news | first = Javier | last = Espinosa | title = Ven pa'mearte, insecto hijueputa | url = http://www.elmundo.es/papel/hemeroteca/1996/06/12/mundo/118424.html | publisher = El Mundo | date = June 12, 1996 | accessdate = 2008-01-27}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kTg32ikDD0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/2kTg32ikDD0 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Jaime Nebot en el congreso|date=23 January 2008|accessdate=2008-01-27|publisher= YouTube}}{{cbignore}} Police had to stop Nebot from physically assaulting his opponent. The disagreement stemmed from Granda's alleged backroom dealings with members of other parties.

In 1992 Nebot ran for president for the first time. Almost all of Nebot's support came from the coastal provinces, Guayas included.{{cite news | title = Ecuador; Joining the crowd | pages = 44 | publisher = The Economist | date = May 23, 1992}} He placed second in the first round of elections held in May, getting 26 percent of the vote.{{cite news | last = Fidler| first = Stephen | title = Ecuador's centre-right ahead in poll | pages = 5 | publisher = Financial Times| date = May 18, 1992}} He lost the July runoff against Sixto Durán Ballén (one of the co-founders of the PSC back in 1951). Durán Ballén beat Nebot by a 13 point margin.{{cite news | last = Brooke | first = James | title = U.S.-Trained Conservative Is Elected Ecuador President | pages = A4 | work = New York Times | date = July 6, 1992}}

He ran for president a second time in 1996. Nebot ran on a privatization of public services platform. Opponents claimed that his business-friendly approach would enrich his friends in the Guayaquil business community.{{cite news | last = Fidler| first = Stephen | title = Survey of Ecuador | pages = 27 | publisher = Financial Times | date = July 27, 1995}} Nebot, supported by large agricultural businesses from the coast, spoke at home of more social services. Abroad, he spoke to investors of public payroll cuts.{{cite news | last = Colitt| first = Raymond|author2=Sarita Kendall| title = Ecuadorean poll leader polishes style| pages = 6 | publisher = Financial Times | date = May 17, 1995}} His campaign slogan was "People First."{{cite news | last = Escobar | first = Gabriel| title = Free Market Is No Sacred Cow in Ecuadorean Election | pages = A23| newspaper = Washington Post | date = March 31, 1996}}

After placing first in the first round held in May, Nebot ran against populist Abdalá Bucaram in the July runoff. Bucaram succeeded in portraying Nebot as a member of the ruling class, thereby denying him support from the working class. Bucaram's negative campaign struck a chord among many poor voters. For example, when a line in Bucaram's TV ads mentioned the "evil oligarchy," the ads also showed a photo of Nebot with the caption "well pampered rich kid." Nebot "evoked strong feelings of rejection in many who preferred any other candidate."{{cite journal| author = De la Torre, Carlos|date=June 1999 | title = Neopopulism in Contemporary Ecuador: The Case of Bucaram's Use of the Mass Media | journal = International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society | volume = 12 | issue = 4 | pages = 555–571 | doi = 10.1023/A:1025986009032}} Nebot, for his part, ran as calm figure, elegantly dressed and always smiling. Nebot was also harmed by an untimely remark from his party boss and political mentor, León Febres-Cordero, who said on TV that Bucaram "was the candidate of pimps, prostitutes, and marijuana users."{{cite news| last = Adams | first = David | title = Ecuador's El Loco in poll battle with Antichrist | work = The Times | date = July 6, 1996}}

This further alienated Nebot from some voters.

Bucaram won 54 percent of the vote, Nebot 45 percent.{{cite news| last = Escobar | first = Gabriel | title = Ecuadoran Populist Wins Presidential Vote | pages = A8| newspaper = Washington Post| date = July 7, 1996}}After losing the election, Nebot became active in the opposition against Bucaram. In January 1997, Nebot called for the removal of Bucaram from office, arguing that Bucaram was insane.{{cite news | title = Ecuador | pages = A21 | publisher = Miami Herald | date = January 30, 1997}}

The following month, after a two-day general strike led by the opposition, congress threw Bucaram out of office.{{cite news | last = Escobar | first = Gabriel | title = Ecuadoran Leader Fights to Retain Power | pages = A1 | newspaper = Washington Post | date = February 8, 1997}} Bucaram fled Ecuador and found asylum in Panama. After Bucaram's overthrow, Nebot, at the head of Social Christian Party slate, won a seat in an assembly that redrafted Ecuador's constitution.{{cite news | last = Newsome | first = Justine | title = Ecuador votes for reform | pages = 7 | publisher = Financial Times| date = December 2, 1997}} In the 1998 election, Nebot rejected the Social Christian Party's nomination for the presidency and ran for congress instead.{{cite news |last = Newsome | first = Justine | title = Technocrat to stand for Ecuador presidency | pages = 6 | publisher = Financial Times | date = February 26, 1998}} He won a congressional seat and held it until 2000, when he ran for mayor of Guayaquil.

In 2000 Nebot was elected mayor of Guayaquil. He has been reelected in 2004, 2009 and 2014 for another four-year term. He made public works the focus of his administration. He started an urban-renewal program to gentrify blighted areas of Guayaquil's center.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/global/guayaquil/one.html|title=Guayaquil: A new page in the evolution of a city|accessdate=2008-01-27|work= New York Times| first=Eric|last=Pfanner}} In 2006, Nebot inaugurated Metrovía, a mass-transit system based on dedicated lanes for public buses. Metrovía was an effort to decongest Guayaquil's notoriously bad traffic.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/global/guayaquil/one.html|title=Guayaquil: Metrovia clears the air|accessdate=2008-01-27|work= New York Times | first=Eric| last=Pfanner}}

Nebot tried to tackle crime, one of Guayaquil's persistent ills. In 2002, Nebot hired former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton to help draft an anti-crime strategy.{{cite journal | author = Swanson, Kate | date = September 2007 | title = Revanchist Urbanism Heads South: The Regulation of Indigenous Beggars and Street Vendors in Ecuador | journal = Antipode | volume = 39 | issue = 4 | pages = 708–728 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2007.00548.x | bibcode = 2007Antip..39..708S | url = http://polired.upm.es/index.php/ciur/article/view/2951 | url-access = subscription }} Bratton was instrumental in former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's effort to reduce crime in the 1990s. Guayaquil's new anti-crime strategy included tough penalties for individuals caught begging or selling on the streets of the gentrified areas. They can be imprisoned for up to seven days, or be subject to fines of up to $500.

Nebot built a shopping promenade Malecón 2000 along the west bank of the Guayas River, in the center of Guayaquil. It has been reported that entrance to the precinct is restricted by private security guards.

Violence has played a role in the gentrification plan. In 2003, the media reported 10 cases of excessive police force, including the case of a 53-year-old man who was shot and injured during the eviction of a group of street vendors.

He is suspected of being involved in the Odebrecht corruption scandal.{{Cite web|url=https://lvsl.fr/comment-washington-a-remis-la-main-sur-lequateur-quatre-ans-dune-reconquete-souterraine/|title = Comment Washington a remis la main sur l'Équateur : Quatre ans d'une reconquête souterraine|date = 3 February 2021}}

{{reflist|2}}

• [http://www.guayaquil.gov.ec/19.gye Mayor's page on Guayaquil homepage (Spanish)]{{dead link|date=April 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/guayaquil_mayor.html CityMayors profile]

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Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:Governors of Guayas Province

Category:Mayors of Guayaquil

Category:Ecuadorian people of Lebanese descent

Category:Social Christian Party (Ecuador) politicians

Category:Members of the National Congress (Ecuador)

Category:People from Guayaquil