Ecuador Social Security Institute Gets Noboa’s Party Director as Head

ECUADOR · SOCIAL SECURITY

Ecuador social security changed hands on Monday 28 September, when President Daniel Noboa named Cynthia Gellibert to preside over the IESS. The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute pays pensions and runs a hospital network for insured workers and retirees.

Noboa signed three decrees the same day, also replacing his labour minister and his ambassador to Peru, El Comercio and Primicias reported. Gellibert, national director of Noboa’s party, ADN, takes over as the institute prepares to auction at least 175 unused properties.

Carondelet Palace on Quito’s Plaza Grande, seat of Ecuador’s presidency, from where Noboa issued Decrees 510, 511 and 512 on 28 September 2026. (Photo: Arabsalam, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

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Three decrees, three new faces

Decree 511 ended the term of Bernardo Cordovez as the government’s representative on the IESS board and appointed Gellibert. Under Article 28 of the Social Security Law, that representative chairs the board and so presides over the institute, El Comercio reported.

Cordovez had held the post since November 2025, under Decree 234, Expreso reported. He became minister of economic and productive development, as reported in Ecuador Replaces Its Economy Minister With Its Social Security Chief.

Decree 510 made Diana Ramírez Villacís minister of labour and human development in Gellibert’s place. Decree 512 named Roberto Izurieta ambassador to Peru, replacing Galo Yépez.

Before the appointment, the Superintendency of Banks, the financial regulator, certified that Gellibert met the legal requirements for the IESS board. It did so on 28 September, El Comercio and Expreso reported.

Who Cynthia Gellibert is

Gellibert is an economist from Ancón, in Santa Elena province, El Universo reported. She advised Noboa as a lawmaker from 2021 to 2023 and ran his 2023 campaign schedule.

She was secretary of public administration from August 2024 to June 2026 and acting vice-president in January 2025. Primicias called her one of the most trusted officials in Noboa’s government.

In December 2025 she also became national director of ADN, the movement Noboa founded, El Comercio reported at the time. La República reported on 28 September that she still holds that party post.

She had run the labour ministry only since 5 June, Teleamazonas reported. That month Noboa cut the number of ministries from 14 to 10, El Universo reported.

Why the IESS matters

The IESS is the core of Ecuador social security, paying pensions and running hospitals and clinics for its members. Foreign residents can also join it voluntarily, as explained in Healthcare in Ecuador for Foreigners: Costs & Steps.

In an interview reported by Expreso on 10 September, Cordovez said the network grants 1.3 million medical appointments a month. That is up from 900,000 in November 2025, while medicine availability stood at 73%, against his target of 80%.

The Observatory of Fiscal Policy, an independent think tank, projects pension-fund income of US$3.44 billion in 2026. It expects pension payments of US$7.42 billion, more than twice as much, Vistazo reported on 15 September.

The same group counted US$14.24 billion in government bonds held by the IESS as of March 2026. Adding about US$27 billion in pension and other claims not yet certified, it puts state obligations at US$41.24 billion.

That is more than five times this year’s projected pension bill. The observatory also said it is unclear how much the state pays in cash rather than in bonds.

The property sale Gellibert inherits

On 28 August Noboa said he had ordered his board delegate to sell idle IESS assets he put at about US$2 billion. He made the remarks to Radio Centro Digital, El Comercio reported.

“Before any reform of the IESS we must generate US$2 billion in liquidity from asset sales,” Noboa said. He also blamed a “mafia” inside the institute for resisting the sale of even a small plot.

The IESS owns about 1,387 properties with a tax-register value above US$1 billion, El Mercurio reported on 28 September. At least 175 have been identified for possible sale, mostly land, houses and buildings unused for more than 20 years.

Each property must first be declared unproductive after technical and legal studies. Reference prices then come from commercial appraisals by valuers approved by the Superintendency of Banks, El Mercurio said.

Hospitals and clinics are excluded, and each sale goes to a public auction with sealed bids. IESS staff and their relatives may not bid, and bidders must post a guarantee of at least 15% of the appraisal.

Pushback from unions, pensioners and columnists

Workers, pensioners and social groups protested outside IESS headquarters in Quito on 7 September, El Diario and Cuba’s Prensa Latina reported. Ramiro Beltrán, a social security campaigner, said autonomy means “the government does not put its hands on the IESS’s money or property”.

Nelson Erazo, president of the left-wing Popular Front, said his groups could ask the Constitutional Court to protect that autonomy. The protesters argued that any decision must respect the independence the constitution gives social security.

A different critique comes from Jorge Alvear Macías, a columnist for the Guayaquil daily El Universo. He has long faulted how the IESS was run under Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s leftist president from 2007 to 2017.

On 4 September he wrote that the properties are not state assets but belong to the IESS’s fund, built from members’ contributions. He accepted that a transparent sale would bring cash, but argued it comes once while the deficits return every year.

He called for structural reform based on independent actuarial studies, which estimate future pension costs. He also wants members, pensioners, employers and experts to take part in drafting it.

The government rejects the idea that pensions are at risk. Its economy ministry said on 15 September that transfers to the IESS had risen 91% under Noboa.

The ministry expects to transfer US$8.92 billion between 2024 and December 2026 and says “social security is guaranteed”. Vistazo carried the statement alongside the think tank’s warnings.

A new labour minister and a new envoy to Lima

Ramírez ran the National Planning Secretariat from May 2025, El Universo and El Diario reported. Expreso said her most recent post was deputy minister for public service.

Her ministry, created in June from four bodies, handles jobs, labour rights and human development policy. Expreso noted that more than half of Ecuador’s workforce is informal, which limits access to social security.

Izurieta was Noboa’s communications secretary from November 2023 to April 2024 and then an alternate executive director at the Inter-American Development Bank. Under former president Guillermo Lasso he was ambassador to Chile, Vistazo and Primicias reported.

Yépez had led the Lima embassy since August 2021, El Comercio reported. Peru’s foreign ministry approved Izurieta on 22 September, under the government of President Keiko Fujimori, Vistazo reported.

Primicias noted that Izurieta once advised Alejandro Toledo, a former Peruvian president, on communication. He has also taught for more than two decades at George Washington University, Vistazo reported.

What comes next

Gellibert’s first test is the auction, whose calls must run in national and provincial newspapers for three consecutive days. Decree 511 also orders the presidency’s military staff to assess whether she needs a security detail.

The decrees change people, not rules, so none alters pensions, contributions or medical cover. Nor is this the Ecuador social security reform that Noboa says can come only after the asset sales.

No decree gives a reason for the moves, and it is not known whether Gellibert will keep her party role. It is also unclear how fast the 175 properties can be sold, or at what price.

On the same day, prosecutors declined to charge a former energy minister in the Progen power case. That decision is examined in Ecuador Anti-Corruption Checks Thin as Prosecutor Won’t Charge Ex-Energy Minister.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the IESS?

The Ecuadorian Social Security Institute, the state body that pays pensions and runs hospitals for insured workers and retirees. The government’s representative on its board presides over it.

Who is Cynthia Gellibert?

An economist and long-time aide to President Daniel Noboa who served as secretary of public administration and labour minister. She became national director of his party, ADN, in December 2025.

Will pensions in Ecuador change?

Not because of these decrees, which only change officials. Noboa has said any pension reform should come after the IESS raises about US$2 billion from property sales.

Who is Ecuador’s new ambassador to Peru?

Roberto Izurieta, Noboa’s former communications secretary and an ambassador to Chile under Guillermo Lasso. Peru approved his appointment on 22 September.

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