Ecuador - January 14, 2021 Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa replaced the Interior Minister in charge of public safety and appointed a retired police officer in her place amid the war he is waging against organized crime. In a statement released Saturday night by the Presidency, Noboa thanked Mónica Palencia for her work and announced that the post will now be occupied by General Fausto Buenaño. The retired uniformed officer was police commander in three of the most conflictive areas of the country, including the port of Guayaquil and neighboring towns Buenaño fought criminal gangs that traffic cocaine. He says that in 1993 he was kidnapped and tortured by the Colombian FARC guerrilla group on the border.