Business heir and former legislator Daniel Noboa was sworn in as Ecuador's new president on Thursday, pledging to reduce violence and create jobs via urgent legislative reforms.
Noboa, 35, won an October run-off in the South American country, which is facing deep economic challenges that have pushed thousands to migrate and spiking violence that reached an unprecedented crescendo with the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
"To fight violence we must fight unemployment. The country needs jobs and to create them I will send urgent reforms to the assembly, which should be treated with responsibility and by putting the country first," Noboa said during his maiden speech in front of National Assembly lawmakers in the capital, Quito.