Violence inside jails resurfaces alongside an unprecedented wave of street massacres, exposing deep cracks in the country’s security strategy.

Government promises centralized purchases, tighter controls, and structural reforms amid corruption concerns and strained public hospitals.

After gang leaders fall, rival groups move to seize municipal influence amid soaring violence and weak state controls.

Violence accelerates nationwide, with small cantons now facing death rates that dwarf major cities.

Violence surged in 2025 as massacres multiplied, criminal factions fractured, and gangs began governing territory once controlled by the State.

Production slumped to a 22-year low amid shrinking investment, refinery failures, pipeline risks and policy setbacks.

Government probes, lawsuits, and looming drought risks shape the aftermath of a costly scramble to avoid blackouts.

Claims of threats, withdrawn police protection, and political ties deepen scrutiny of Ecuador’s embattled justice system.

Homicides surge past previous records while experts warn repression alone cannot reverse territorial collapse

Criminal disputes for ports, routes, and illicit economies leave Ecuador with the region’s highest population exposure to violence

Cross-border electricity sales, revived thermal plants, and short-term rain forecasts shape Ecuador’s grid outlook through March.

Former president remembered for dialogue, human rights and a political life anchored in democracy and peace.

Deforestation, hunting and the pet trade leave primates with shrinking forests and few paths to survival.

How Washington’s fentanyl-first strategy helped turn a once-stable country into a key artery for global cocaine trafficking. Ecuador’s security collapse did not arrive overnight. It crept in quietly, fueled by a surge in cocaine trafficking that found fertile ground as international attention drifted elsewhere. A recent investigation by The New York Times traces how shifts […]

Ana Cristina Alvarado While the government sought to expand the oil and mining frontiers, indigenous and peasant territories staged a strong resistance. This sparked what experts consulted by Mongabay Latam consider a “criminal and penal persecution” against environmental defenders. In the absence of the state, mining is mainly taking over the Amazon and drug trafficking […]

Findings from the New York Immigration Coalition show Latino men without criminal records increasingly targeted across neighborhoods. Immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump has expanded rapidly and unevenly, reshaping how federal authorities operate in cities with large immigrant populations. A New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) investigation in partnership with Chloe N. East and Elizabeth Cox […]

Government aims to lift formal employment to 50 percent by 2029 through regulatory changes and dialogue. Ecuador’s new Minister of Labor, Harold Burbano, has begun outlining an agenda that favors regulatory changes over sweeping legislative reform, betting that faster approvals, clearer rules, and more flexible work schedules can improve job quality and boost formal employment […]

Presidents elevate border cooperation, illegal mining controls and regional integration during first foreign visit by Peru’s new leader. Ecuador and Peru moved to deepen their bilateral relationship on Friday with a renewed emphasis on security, border control and coordinated action against transnational crime, as Presidents Daniel Noboa and José Jerí met in Quito for the […]

Expanded docks, new cranes and tighter security reshape Ecuador’s busiest container terminal amid mounting criminal pressure. DP World is fast-tracking a major expansion of the Posorja Deepwater Port, reshaping Ecuador’s main container gateway to handle larger ships, higher volumes and rising security risks tied to global drug trafficking routes. The project, unveiled this week by […]

New conservation status links drinking water security, biodiversity corridors and future hydroelectric development in Morona Santiago. The Ecuadorian government has added a vast stretch of Amazonian territory in Morona Santiago to the National System of Protected Areas, declaring Runahurco a new Water Protection Area and formally elevating its role in safeguarding both human water supplies […]

Families seeking safety flee coastal drug-corridor provinces, overwhelming Andean cities. Persistent violence tied to drug trafficking has turned internal displacement into one of Ecuador’s most urgent humanitarian emergencies, according to a new assessment by the Ombudsman’s Office. Thousands of families — many from communities caught between criminal gangs — are abandoning their homes and resettling […]

You pledge your loyalty. You tie your political identity to a leader—a big one, larger than life, the kind who fills plazas or rallies with chants, rage, and a promise of salvation. And you stick by them, through scandals and bad polls, because loyalty, you believe, counts for something. Then one day, that same loyalty […]

Two charismatic species inspire conservation as they navigate rivers from the Andes to the Amazon. A surprising diversity of “water dogs” From the urban waterfront of Guayaquil to remote lagoons deep in the Amazon, two species of otters make their home in Ecuador’s freshwater ecosystems. The neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) is the versatile explorer of […]

Police point to illicit networks infiltrating maritime and real estate businesses along Ecuador’s coast. Organized crime has tightened its grip on Manta, turning one of Ecuador’s most important fishing hubs into the scene of a series of targeted killings against business owners, ship captains, and maritime workers. Police say the pattern is no coincidence: each […]

Stronger reform signals unlock loans, but final funds still hinge on December approvals. A shift from domestic to external lifelines After leaning heavily on domestic borrowing for most of the year, Ecuador is now receiving a wave of support from international lenders in the final stretch of 2025. By the end of October, internal debt […]

Once-trusted leaders now clash over loyalty, identity and the future of Ecuador’s largest opposition force. A political relationship that endured nearly two decades has collapsed into public recriminations, ultimatums and now a widening purge. Marcela Aguiñaga — a former minister, party president and today prefect of Guayas — has walked away from the Citizen Revolution, […]

Vice president takes charge of hospitals while navigating new social policy agenda and growing turmoil. The office of the Vice President has returned to the center of government action—this time not as a silent partner, but as a primary responder in Ecuador’s deepening health crisis. María José Pinto, who took office in May 2025, has […]

Repeated equipment failures, pipeline risks and leadership turmoil deepen Petroecuador’s crisis. A widening gap from official targets Ecuador’s oil sector closed November with another disappointing result: national extraction averaged just 467,800 barrels per day, slipping farther from the government’s ambition to hit 500,000 barrels per day by year-end. The figure represents a 1.65% decline from […]

Project boosts travel capacity and aims to spread tourism benefits beyond the city center. A larger, more modern Mariscal Sucre International Airport is now officially in operation. After six years of construction delays, pandemic interruptions, and phased delivery, Quito inaugurated its expanded passenger terminal on December 3rd, marking a major milestone for the capital’s ambitions […]