On November 15, 2021, five judges of the Constitutional Court visited the territory of the Cofán indigenous nationality, in Sinangoe, in the province of Sucumbíos. The Court must decide on two protection actions presented by this Amazonian people regarding the violation of their right to prior, free, and informed consultation and consent. The decision of the highest national court could create jurisprudence […]

Ecuador opens up to the world of investment as the regional development pole.  Last Thursday morning, the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso, inaugurated the business forum ‘Ecuador Open for Business 2021.’ The largest post-pandemic event in Latin America brought together 2,000 local and international investors; representatives from 51 countries; business leaders; high-profile experts in more than […]

A prison guard, who has worked in several prisons, talks about mafias in the Penitentiary, how they operate and what should change. Six days after the prison massacre of September 28, 2021, a prison security agent from the Litoral Penitentiary, the prison center outside Guayaquil, contacted a reporter to anonymously talk about the serious corruption inside […]

The late drug trafficker Óscar Caranqui described La Roca, Guayaquil’s dreaded maximum security prison, as “the graveyard of living men.” Reconditioning the maximum security prison in Guayaquil, known as La Roca—part of the prison complex in Guayas—with the goal of transferring highly dangerous prisoners to it, has been slow. Since 2020, authorities of the National […]

Like many people, I have some friends who have been in my life for a very long time. They have been with me during my highs and my lows, and likewise, I’ve been there for theirs. And in that small but very special group, there is one person who knows me best, and that’s Skeeter, […]

The Assembly has until November 28 to process the bill. The Economic Development Commission approved the report for the first debate on the government’s tax reform bill. The full name of the proposal is ‘Organic Law for Economic Development and Fiscal Sustainability after the Covid-19 Pandemic,’ and it makes several changes to the current tax legislation. In the […]

Among the eight proposals, two are Ecuadorian and the rest are from abroad. According to the Ministry of Transportation, the rehabilitation of the railway would cost $2.5 billion. The authorities of the transportation and tourism ministries insist that the intention “is not to privatize” the operation of the public company Ferrocarriles del Ecuador. According to […]

A prolonged gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador’s largest prison killed at least 68 inmates and wounded 25 on Saturday, and authorities said it took most of the day to regain control at the Litoral Penitentiary, which recently saw the country’s worst prison bloodbath. The last massacre occurred on September 28th, when 119 inmates died. More […]

At least five cases of money laundering were leveraged in the Sucre system. They all had the same modus operandi. After the extradition of Álex Saab, considered a front man of President Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, from Cape Verde to the United States, in Ecuador the investigative, judicial and even administrative processes regarding the money laundering network through the […]

The president of the Audit Commission, Fernando Villavicencio, says in his investigation that President Lasso no longer has a relationship with tax havens. In addition, he recommends dismissing the report of the Constitutional Guarantees Commission, due to lack of evidence. The Assembly has in its hands a new investigative report on the ‘Pandora Papers.’ The […]

Another prison massacre. It’s difficult to believe how out of control Ecuador’s prisons have become. This has not been an overnight thing. The neglect of the situation has gone on for a long time. And now it seems like all the years of failing to do something about the problem are finally biting us in […]

60 thousand km2 is added to the existing marine reserve. The Galapagos archipelago is made up of a series of islands that were generated after the eruption of several volcanoes thousands of years ago. On its surface they house millions of species that exist only in this part of the world, just as it happens at […]

The report recommends that the plenary session of the Assembly verify if President Lasso breached the Ethical Pact Law 2017 The Friday release report of the Constitutional Guarantees Commission regarding President Guillermo Lasso’s name appearing in the Pandora Papers, has caused several reactions. Between Saturday and Sunday, several political parties and government agencies reacted on the recommendations of […]

The Madrid Charter is an initiative of the Spanish far-right group, Vox “Count on me,” said Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador, at the invitation made by Javier Ortega Smith, deputy and secretary of the Spanish far-right group, VOX, to sign the Madrid Charter, an initiative of Vox for the” defense of the freedom and democracy in […]

Several groups of indigenous peoples of Ecuador say that they were not consulted on the policy that aims to double the country’s oil production, which would directly affect their territories and ways of life. While the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, was congratulated at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) for approving the expansion of […]

Minister said that Ecuador would return to international financing markets, but in an orderly and predictable manner. On Friday, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Simón Cueva, highlighted that the 2022 budget proforma goes in the direction of continuing to lower the fiscal deficit with permanent resources, to give sustainability to public finances, give an image […]

We have seven dogs, well to be honest we have eight dogs. Seven of them were all abandoned in the street by locals here. See, out in Yunguilla the locals have female dogs that get pregnant all the time because they don’t spay them; they also don’t neuter the males. So that means a lot […]

The Secretary for Human Rights, Bernarda Ordóñez, who chairs the board of the Technical Agency of the National Social Rehabilitation System, spoke about the prison crisis in Ecuador. After three prison massacres, on October 1st, President Guillermo Lasso designated the Human Rights Secretariat as the institution responsible for presiding over the board of directors of […]

The “Pristimantis lojanus” is a small amphibian between 26 and 44 millimeters. These animals live on branches, leaves of shrubs and trees, in the interior of forests. Researchers from the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) presented a new species of frog in Loja called “Pristimantis lojanus,” whose name honors the town from which it […]

In Cuenca, as of this Monday, it will now be possible to renew vehicle registration completely online. You can do this in the system of the Mobility Company (EMOV EP), of the Municipality of Cuenca. To do this, you must first enter the website www.emov.gob.ec, then select the services button and click on the option that […]

A friend of mine, who used to live here and now lives back in the US, called me to tell me he had been in a horrible car accident (his car was hit from behind and rolled over on its side) but fortunately he had walked away from it with only bruises and some minor […]

The new reserve will be 60,000 square kilometers and will extend the protection of the archipelago’s ecosystems.  There is a new marine reserve in Galapagos. This was announced by President Guillermo Lasso, Monday morning at a press conference at COP26 – the conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – […]

A project presented this week in the National Assembly aims to regulate abortion for rape with a view away from Human Rights, and against what the Constitutional Court ordered. A project with a name and content contrary to what the Constitutional Court ordered in April 2021, was presented last Monday in the National Assembly with a bombastic […]

I wrote about this issue a couple of years ago. I thought it was a one-time deal and that I wouldn’t run into a person like this again, especially not one blaming the same magazine, but I have. At the Quito airport last Wednesday. So, I am updating this column from March of 2019 to […]

With a trade agreement, Ecuadorian exports to the United States could grow by about 40%. The visit to Ecuador of the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, has been cataloged as a sample of “the fruitful and productive relationship” between the two countries, according to the Government of President Guillermo Lasso. This […]

Judge Laura Cabrera, from the Pastaza Judicial Unit, accepted the action for the protection of the Sapara Nationality of Ecuador (NASE). However, the Ministry of Agriculture will appeal. “We won!,” wrote the Sápara Nationality of Ecuador (NASE) in a Facebook post on the night of Monday, October 18, 2021, after learning that Judge Laura Cabrera, from the Pastaza […]

The inhabitants of Quito consume twice as much water a day as recommended by the World Health Organization. Carmita Cajías is a housewife and lives in Turubamba, a neighborhood in the south of Quito that is full of winding alleys and narrow streets. Carmita has lived there for more than 30 years and has never had […]

Former President Correa faces a new preliminary investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office for payments of $500,000 he received from an offshore company in Uruguay to pay for his safety and that of his family in Belgium. The individuals involved in the money transfer were former President Rafael Correa and his friend Ricardo Oglietti, who was […]

Pressure from the indigenous movement, transporters and other groups led the Government to suspend the price band system for diesel and Extra and Ecopaís gasoline. A gallon of diesel will cost $1.90 and a gallon of Extra and Ecopaís gasoline (low octane) will be sold for USD 2.55 as of Saturday, October 23. The prices […]

President Guillermo Lasso announced that he will present to the National Assembly the tax and labor reforms at the same time this week, and both with an urgent economic nature. According to article 140 of the Constitution, “while a project classified as urgent is being discussed, the President of the Republic may not send another, […]

Boy, with everything happening in the news here lately, one must wonder, is Lasso threatening the “cross death” so that he doesn’t have to be President anymore?! Because as I see it, between the call for social mobilizations for next week, the fight over the Opportunities law, the constant cases of corruption, the struggle with […]

The Constitutional Guarantees Commission of the National Assembly is advancing with the investigation of the Pandora Papers, which revealed that before being president, Guillermo Lasso had links with 14 companies in countries or jurisdictions considered tax havens. Lasso said he had dissolved the companies in 2017, after a law was passed that prohibited officials and politicians […]

Ecuador is in position 92 out of 139 in a ranking that annually measures respect for the rule of law, a legal principle that, specifically, establishes that the law must govern, apply and protect all people who live in a country. It was famously condensed by the second president of the United States, John Adams, who said that […]

The mayor said that innocent people have the right to defend themselves against criminals. Here is what some experts think about his proposal. Cynthia Viteri, mayor of the port city of Guayaquil, said she agrees that citizens carry weapons. In a recent interview the mayor said, “I believe that innocents should carry weapons because now a criminal is approaching […]

Lasso says that he has not broken the law and that all his assets have paid taxes in Ecuador. The Assembly wants to corroborate that statement.  The journalistic investigation Pandora Papers continues to impact Ecuadorian politics and especially President Guillermo Lasso. The investigation revealed that Lasso had ties to 14 offshore companies that he got rid of in 2017 […]

The criminal process for organized crime faced by former President Abdalá Bucaram, his son Jacobo, and five other people has been one of the most followed media reports in 2021. In the most recent event of the case, a judge ruled that the Prosecutor’s Office could not prove the participation of the Bucaram in the […]

With all the talk of the Pandora Papers in the news here, it made me think back to the Pentagon Papers and the impact they had in politics in America. For those who don’t know, the Pentagon Papers were a government report from the office of the Secretary of Defense that laid out the extent […]

The extraordinary protection action presented by Santiago Guarderas was accepted Almost two months have passed since Jorge Yunda returned to occupy the office of the Mayor of Quito. Dozens of followers received him at the door of the mayor’s office with music and banners after he was removed from his post for 11 days. The atmosphere was triumphant. […]

The Biden administration this week announced a $150 million loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to support women-owned businesses in Ecuador, a step the White House sees as a model for the kind of projects the United States plans to support as it kicks off a new initiative to compete with China’s Belt and […]

The President of Ecuador is one of the three active Latin American heads of state that appear in the investigation called ‘Pandora Papers.’ Ecuador is once again in the news at the international level, and not only because of the prison crisis it faces. This October 3, 2021, President Guillermo Lasso was named as one of the three active Latin American […]

I’m sure that like me, sometimes you get on the internet and look for something, and that leads you to look at something else, and so on, and so on, and so on. You go down a rabbit hole, and sometimes you find simply amazing things. That happened to me today. And since I still […]

Update to: Attorney who won judgment against Chevron may get his day in courtPublished: Volume 3, Issue 20US Lawyer Sentenced for Contempt in Ecuador Chevron Case Steve Donziger’s sentence is the latest step in a long legal saga that goes back to his representation of Ecuadorean villagers trying to hold Chevron liable for water and […]

Ecuador’s debt with the IMF amounted to $6,174 billion thru July 2021, 19.44% more than the obligations with China, according to the Ministry of Finance. Meanwhile, the public debt with China fell by 37.1% between July 2016 and July 2021: it went from $5.431 billion to $5.169 billion. This is good news because the conditions […]

The proposed law also includes changes in maternity and paternity leave, flexibility in working hours and modifications to rest hours. The creation of employment is, according to the Government, the objective pursued by the draft Creation of Opportunities Law, delivered by President Guillermo Lasso to the Assembly on Friday, September 24. According to official data, […]

The 13 universities closed by the Rafael Correa government are asking that an investigation be started with the charge of ‘organized crime’ The legal representatives of thirteen universities that were forced to close during the government of Rafael Correa presented, last Wednesday morning, a criminal complaint for the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate former President Correa and three […]

Last Friday, President Guillermo Lasso handed over to the President of the Assembly, Guadalupe Llori, his bill for the Creation of Opportunities Law It will be an important week for President Lasso and his Bill for the “Law of Creation of Opportunities,” which he submitted on Friday to the Council of Legislative Administration, a body […]

Ecuador will begin vaccination against Covid-19 in children from the age of 5 in mid-October, the Minister of Public Health, Ximena Garzón, announced last Thursday. “We are going to start vaccinating from the age of 5 from the second week of October,” declared the health minister, stating that until then the current program to administer anti […]

After the agreement signed almost five years ago, imports have increased, exports even more Since the trade agreement Ecuador signed with the European Union (EU) five years ago, there is a greater diversification of products on the shelves of national supermarkets and pharmacies with cheeses, liquors, chocolates, sausages, oils, pharmaceutical products, among others. There have also […]

Humans arrived in America at least 7,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to new research findings The issue of the arrival of the first humans to the American continent has generated controversy for decades. Many researchers are skeptical of the evidence that humans existed in North America more than 16,000 years. Now, a team working […]

One of the best things that has happened for us while living in Ecuador has been meeting many people who end up leaving here to move to other countries. Because that means we have places and friends to visit! Having travelled all over the world for most of the last 15 years of my career, […]

In the last fifteen months, since the removal of subsidies, prices for extra gasoline, extra with ethanol (ecopaís) gasoline, and diesel fuel have experienced an increase of between 63 cents and 65 cents. It was in the last government of the government of Lenín Moreno, that Executive Decree 1054 was issued, which established that from May 20, 2020 a […]

A semi-desert area on the edges of Loja and Azuay, made up of plateaus, with dirt roads and little settled population, is the place where 14 wind turbines will be located in the coming months that will take advantage of the force of the wind to produce energy. This set of wind turbines – each […]

Debt with international bondholders reached $17.759 billion thru July 2021 Finance Minister Simón Cueva expects Ecuador to return to international markets for the issuance of new Global bonds in 2022, after the country was mainly financed over the last three years with credits from multilateral organizations. In a discussion with international investors, Cueva said that […]

I’ve been dealing with some health issues over the past year. They’ve not exactly been a secret, but I’ve not gone into detail about them with many people. That’s all about to change. Today, after a year of surgeries, medications, therapy, and a plethora of doctor’s appointments, I got a “cleaner” bill of health than […]

Update to: Chinese fishing boats approaching Galapagos: what’s being done, what species they endanger and who comprises the fleetPublished: Volume 5, Issue 3917 months later: the Fisheries Law still does not have a regulation. Why? Seventeen months have passed since the Organic Law for the Development of Aquaculture and Fisheries was issued and there is still no regulation to […]

The Minister of Public Health, Ximena Garzón Villalba, has overseen one of the greatest public health achievements of the national government: vaccinating 9 million people against COVID-19 in 100 days. The journey, of course, has not been easy. Beyond vaccination, her goal is to design and begin to implement the “Ten-Year Public Health Plan,” which she […]

The quick arrival of foreign resources will provide liquidity of $4.5 billion to finance various projects. President Lasso said in an interview last Thursday that his government had reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will unblock the disbursement of resources from abroad and will provide liquidity of $4.5 billion dollars for financing […]

Experts say disseminating scientific information based on human rights without religious biases is one of the mechanisms to reduce early pregnancy. Over the last year, the lack of contact between teachers and students has limited the guidance of sexual education in the education establishments of the country. Adolescent pregnancy and the country’s high maternal mortality […]

I’m watching with fascination how much China says it is willing to give to Ecuador in the future. It’s already the number one provider of vaccines to the country. And debt, and it’s even the number one importer of Ecuadorian shrimp. And now its ambassador says it wants to expand on all those things: give […]

Exporters see potential; manufactures and artisans warn of complications to compete. Almost 50% of the textile products sold in the local market come from China. The rest is shared between national production and those of other countries. This occurs without Ecuador having a trade agreement with the Asian giant. Due to their economy of scale […]

The signing of trade agreements with several countries is a priority in the Government’s foreign policy. After one hundred days of government, in a recent interview Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo made an evaluation of the work carried out at the level of international relations and stated that the priority for the coming months is to […]

Vice President, Alfredo Borrero, and the Minister of Health, Ximena Garzón, announced on the September 1, 2021, that the goal of vaccinating nine million people in 100 days was met. On September 1, 2021, the government of President Guillermo Lasso fulfilled one of its first objectives: to vaccinate nine million people in its first 100 […]

Vice President Alfredo Borrero leads the vaccination against Covid-19 and the revamping of the public health system and says that the problems of the country’s hospitals have a common element: corruption.

The highest subsidy for fuels is in gas for domestic use which reaches $813 million.

Ecuadorian biologist Mauricio Ortega talks about the threats amphibians face in the region. His work with environmental DNA allows researchers to know about possible diseases that can attack them and to plan control strategies for invasive species such as tilapia, trout and bullfrog that are great threats to amphibians.

The Government aims to vaccinate 14.8 million people by the end of 2021 to achieve herd immunity. This goal includes children over the age of eight.

I heard from an old friend this week, we hadn’t talked in a year or so. What I like to call the “missing year” (or year and a half) that we all experienced in most of 2020 and more than half of 2021. I had talked to him about three months into the pandemic, and […]

For families with children, it will take 11 years to get out of poverty, three times longer than for households without children.

Update to: Financing proposal for expansion of Galapagos reserve still has no response from GovernmentPublished: Volume 5, Issue 26Ecuador analyzes debt swap for new reserve in Galapagos Ecuador is analyzing an environmental debt swap to create a new reserve around the Galapagos archipelago that will expand the limits to fishing through a negotiation between all the parties […]

Chronic childhood malnutrition (DCI) continues to be a problem in Ecuador, and in fact it has worsened over the last 7 years. In 2018 (the latest firm figures available), 27.2% of children under two years were underweight and height, compared to 24.8% in 2014. Specialists are saying that the situation worsened with the pandemic and now, one […]

From January to May of this year, $434 million worth of goods have been exported to Russia, third most in exports after the United States and the European Union.

This week Ecuador announced that it will administer a third dose of the coronavirus vaccine to people with weak immune systems and will carry out tests to determine if the rest of the inoculated population also needs a booster, Health Minister Ximena Garzon said on Tuesday. The government of President Guillermo Lasso is using Pfizer, […]

I’m in Florida now waiting for some medical appointments and wondering how things got so bad here in the US. By that I mean politically, socially, and even religiously. So much of those three things have merged together, with basis in the belief of many of the conspiracy theories going around the country. There is […]

Update to: In a surprise shift in the Quito mayoral saga, Yunda is returned to office by the Provincial Court of PichinchaPublished: Volume 4, Issue 43TCE says Guarderas is the mayor of Quito The Contentious Electoral Tribunal (TCE) ruled on Tuesday, August 10, and has ratified that the mayor of the city of Quito is Santiago Guarderas, […]

The project was stared in 2012 and has idled thru four mayors, seven managers and several postponements. The Quito Metro is like a brand new 21st century bus that lacks, at least, the driver, the turnstile for passengers to pass and pay, the entire technological system and the network of trans-shipment connections. Without this, the 22 kilometers of the tunnel built, […]

August 9th was the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, a date established by the United Nations in December 1994.

I watched President Biden’s speech yesterday regarding what was happening in Afghanistan amid his decision to pull the last of the US’s troops out of the country. Earlier, I had seen the images of people dying while trying to get on board a departing aircraft at the Kabul airport. So, I say these words with […]

Rocio Rosero, spokeswoman for the National Women’s Coalition, talks about the critical points that the bill that the Ombudsman’s Office presented to the National Assembly has encountered to decriminalize abortion for rape in the country.

As of last Wednesday, citizens of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru can reside, work, and move freely between these four countries, a “historic milestone” in regional integration, according to the Secretary General of the Andean Community (CAN), Jorge Hernando Pedraza. The so-called “Decision 878” promoted by the CAN, which establishes the Andean Migration Statute, opens […]