Learning Outcome 3: Examine and Collect Forensic Evidence

This is showcased by my analysis paper on the Ecuadorian election, “The Night of April Thirteenth.” My paper is a deep dive into a real-world scenario involving claims of evidence tampering and the official investigation process to verify those claims. This artifact fulfills the requirement to “examine and collect forensic evidence” by proving I can apply a critical, forensic mindset to a complex situation to determine the integrity of the evidence.

This story stems all the way back to a dark night on April 13th. Tensions remain high as the main stage is set, this battle will determine the trajectory of this country. The battle between Daniel Noboa vs Luisa Gonzalez, has the general public torn down the middle. Recent gang violence has taken over the country, causing thousands of casualties and chaos to ring through air. Change needs to be made as the people thirst for hope, the decision will need to be made urgently. The country of Ecuador remains silent as they wait for the arrival of their new president. 

The country of Ecuador was in a state of emergency months prior to the election, the president at the time was Daniel Noboa. The reason why the country was under such harsh conditions was due to the release of a supreme gang leader named Adolfo Macias who went by the name of “Fito”. This is where Daniel Noboa had started formulating the foundation steps to his presidential campaign, strategically progressing through each obstacle with marketability. Noboa saw the evil that “Fito” had filled his streets with, he had decided to announce an “internal armed conflict” against “Fito” and 22 other gangs. Noboa no longer considered “Fito” and his men as a “gang” but as a terrorist organization, any gangs that followed the same mantra as “Fito” were subject to the same consequence. Noboa used this announcement as a flair, Noboa had deployed the nation’s military to eliminate the issue. 

Noboa had made sure to document all of his achievements that his military had completed while on deployment. He also made sure to monetize mainstream television with mandatory commercials that would display his face and soldiers working hard. Noboa’s hard work using the help of the media and military built him a strong fanbase with an even greater reputation, his approval rating had jumped over 80% from his initial presidential rating. Monetizing the media was a hidden trick that was used by Noboa but that just wouldn’t be his last trick used during the elections.

Noboa realized the power he had, so he decided to use his approval ratings for his best benefit. He decided to gauge the temperature to understand how much his country loves him, so he held a referendum. He had won by a landslide, the voters had approved all of his proposals on security, there were a total of 11 proposals submitted by Noboa. He had almost won over all of these 11 proposals except for two, those two proposals were based on economics. This was the first initial sign of distrust within president Noboa, the country trusted him in the fight but not with their funds. 

Noboa’s reputation only began to grow weaker and fade as two key events completely skewed the general public opinion. The initial big hit to the country were the non-stop power outages. This was due to an extreme energy crisis, many small businesses and large corporations fell victim to these outages which cost the country billions of dollars. The second blow to his reputation and presidential campaign was a result of his ego. Noboa had gotten into a heated rivalry with his own vice president Veronica Abad. Unfortunately, this heated tension became viral, Noboa decided to retaliate quickly by making her the ambassador to Israel. This action had forced her on the sideline for 150 days. Many in the public viewed this as a political strategy to lengthen his term as president and solidify his strength. 

The month of April has arrived, which has signaled to the country that the election has now entered the voting and final decision making process. Noboa realizes his vulnerabilities but instead of falling victim he uses them to his advantage to solidify presidential success. Just 24 hours before the election took place, Noboa had announced a state of emergency, but not for the entire country. Noboa had announced the threat within seven provinces of Ecuador, those provinces were known to be heavy areas in support of his rival Gonzalez. Noboa stated that the military would be patrolling the area with strict curfews and restrictions on travel set for these provinces.  He had also set up a telecom surveillance system to monitor any citizens in case of any behavior deemed illegal. 

Noboa did not just stop there, he also made sure to relocate the polling stations after declaring the state of emergency. This is where Luiza Gonzalez has stated that there is absolute evidence that malice was done. Gonzalez and her party argue that there were strange anomalies across the board that didn’t make logical sense. Gonzalez and her party argued that over 600 arrests were made in favor of Noboa, due to the fact that these arrests were made in provinces that heavily favor Luisa. Gonzalez also stated that her team hired a private group of experts to investigate the legitimacy of ballots recorded. It was stated that her team had found rigging of the ballots due to “transferrable” ink, these ballots were initially meant to represent one vote but after folding of the ballot is where the compromise was done. The experts believed when the ballots were folded, the ink was tampered with to benefit Noboa. The national electoral council (CNE) was called to investigate the situation. After investigation the CNE had found there was no tampering done, if any votes were tampered with, it would not benefit either party. 

Gonzalez still finds disgust with Noboa, stating that this was the most “dishonest” campaign in political history. Gonzalez explains how Noboa monetized mainstream media with the use of political power by using forced advertisements and fake social media pages to benefit his campaign. Luisa has also demanded that the CNE review and recount every result from all 1,729 polling stations across the country. Currently, the CNE have announced that they found Noboa’s campaign unfair in some aspects but overall peaceful. They have also agreed to review the stations for any flaws, while the verdict remains cold, Luiza and much of the country remain fierce with hope in their heart.