Marcelo Xavier Hervas Mora (born 7 October 1972) is an Ecuadorian businessman and politician who unsuccessfully ran for

President of Ecuador The president of Ecuador (), officially called the constitutional president of the Republic of Ecuador (), serves as the head of state and head of government of Ecuador. It is the highest political office in the country as the head of the exec ...

in the 2023 election. He previously ran for president in the 2021 election as the Democratic Left nominee, being eliminated in the first round. Hervas was born in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. He is president of the company NovaAlimentos SA. Hervas was also president of the engineering faculty at the

University of La Sabana The Universidad de La Sabana is a private university in Colombia, supervised by the Ministry of National Education (Colombia), Colombian Ministry of Education. It was founded on September 21, 1979, by the Asociación para la Enseñanza Aspaen, i ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. He is also a shareholder of the Metropolitan Hospital in

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

, one of the country's largest hospitals. His 2021 presidential campaign was popular on social media such as

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for his progressive stance on legalizing

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and LGBTQ+ related issues. After being eliminated in the first round, he endorsed

Guillermo Lasso Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (; born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman, banker and politician who served as the 47th president of Ecuador from 2021 to 2023. He was the country's first conservative president in nearly tw ...

in the run-off. After Lasso assumed the presidency, he became one of his strongest critics. In March 2022, President Lasso accused Hervas of blackmailing him in exchange for tax favors, a claim that Hervas denounced. In June 2023, Hervas officially became a presidential candidate for the 2023 election and was endorsed by the RETO Movement. He was eliminated in the first round of the presidential election, receiving 0.49% of the vote.

References

1972 births Living people Ecuadorian businesspeople People from Guayaquil Academic staff of the University of La Sabana {{Ecuador-business-bio-stub