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 fleet Published: Volume 5, Issue 39 17 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 […]

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 Government Published: Volume 5, Issue 26 Ecuador 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 […]

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 Pichincha Published: Volume 4, Issue 43 TCE 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 […]

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 […]

Update to: Chinese fishing boats approaching Galapagos: what’s being done, what species they endanger and who comprises the fleet Published: Volume 5, Issue 39 Galapagos imposes a ban on sea cucumber fishing at the end of quota The Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) announced the closure of the sea cucumber fishery since the allowable catch […]

Peru has the highest number of COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants and is in last place in Latin America in terms of vaccinations given. However, as the government has just secured more vaccines, there is another virus that is especially affecting Indigenous people in remote regions of the country: disinformation and conspiracy theories about the vaccines. LatAm Journalism Review […]

Entrepreneurship and innovation are key factors for the reactivation of the country, reported the Ministry of Communication last week. For this reason, the Government supports all the actions that, from the private sector, academia and society, are promoted for the development of the country. With this in mind, last Wednesday evening, President Guillermo Lasso, attended the […]

What happened to customer service in the US? I mean, I know it took a deep dive over the last 20 years, but now it seems like the goal is just to make us go away, or at least give up talking to a person and go to a website that tells you to call […]

The natural phenomenon of regressive erosion in the Coca River is already located 7.9 kilometers from the catchment works of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, the largest in the country. The authorities of the electricity sector are concerned about the advance of the natural phenomenon of regressive erosion in the Coca River, which puts […]

When Columbus set sail from Huelva, he did not imagine meeting America and transforming the world. His purpose was to find an alternative route to reach the Indies from the East. He crossed that sea that filled him with new hope, “as sleep gives a man dreams” – according to a quote attributed to him. What […]

We are having work done at the house again and it’s one of those noisy days that makes it almost impossible for me to think about what I want to say this week. There is a jackhammer pounding away at an old foundation for the previous owner’s idea of a “waterfall.” It’s more of a […]

The mobilizations will start between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., said José Villavicencio, President of the General Union of Workers of Ecuador.

Foodborne diseases (FBDs) are still a major public health concern worldwide, despite the strict controls implemented in the food industry. Each year approximately 600 million illnesses and 420,000 deaths occur because of FBDs such as norovirus infections, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, listeriosis, and other enteric diseases particularly in developing regions. Among the most important FBDs, listeriosis, caused […]

On June 3rd, the Metropolitan Council approved the removal of Jorge Yunda a mayor of Quito, however on Friday, the Provincial Court annulled that decision and returned him to office. Two months after the removal of Jorge Yunda as Mayor of Quito, the capital is stuck in the legal dispute of their “two mayors,” Jorge […]

Juan Carlos Mariño is the plant manager at a tuna processing factory in Manta, one of Ecuador’s most vital maritime ports. He has been looking for a food processing technologist to help him at the plant for almost two months. However, his search has been unsuccessful despite high youth unemployment in the region and having […]

“Discrimination against some Jews harms all Jews worldwide,” says El Rosado Group CEO Johnny Czarninski. Ecuador’s largest supermarket chain, owned by El Rosado Group, has announced that it will no longer sell ice-cream manufactured by Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s. The company has more than 180 stores across Ecuador and is joining other supermarket […]

On the night of April 11, Guillermo Lasso and César Monge met on a platform at the Guayaquil Convention Center and there, excited, they hugged each other in front of the eyes of their euphoric followers. It was around 10 p.m. The former banker lead in the count of the electoral runoff vote and became the […]

Peru’s new President has said that “neoliberals” are enemies of regional integration The electoral victory of a radical leftist indigenist like Pedro Castillo has aroused interest and concern in Latin America. The schoolteacher with a career in union leadership is a member of the political party Peru Libre, which defines itself as “left-wing Marxist.” Castillo was also a […]

President Lasso’s “right-hand man,” César Monge died of pancreatic cancer this week. In reading about him, it’s clear that he was a big part of the reason why Lasso got elected President. It also became clear that he had good motives for getting involved in politics after a long history in business. From what is […]

Update to: In the middle of a fraud and now murder scandal, Abdalá Bucaram announces his candidacy for President Published: Volume 4, Issue 45 Court reinstates the case against Abdalá Bucaram and suspends Judge Verónica Medina The judges of the Provincial Court of Justice of Pichincha Ricardo Vaca, Miguel Narváez and Anacélida Burbano, unanimously accepted the appeal presented by […]

The member of the IESS César Rodríguez gave figures from the IESS on health debt and pensions. In health, the greatest weight is care for retirees and catastrophic events. The State maintains a debt of at least $7.381 billion with the Social Security Institute (IESS). These items, according to a report published by César Rodríguez, a member of the IESS […]

Through a press statement, National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) said that from 2020 until May 2021, it implemented several methodological changes associated with the size and distribution of the samples it collects, the level of representativeness of the estimators, and the construction of weighting factors. “These modifications affected the historical comparability of the […]

Update to: Lasso Announces 50% Internet Discount for Seniors Published: Volume 5, Issue 40 The Elderly Plan for the discount on internet and telephony, explained The Ministry of Telecommunications created the Senior Adult Plan to give a 50% discount on the payment for internet consumption and fixed and mobile telephony for people over 65 years […]

I’m in Florida writing this and it’s hot. And muggy. I had to come her for a family “emergency” that has all worked out okay. I’m quite happy for that and I am glad that I came. It was a rushed trip and I had to make a connection to get here which I never […]

Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: Updated for Tuesday, July 20, 2021 This week it is important to talk more about what is happening in the country overall, than any particular numbers that we track. First and foremost, the delta variant of the coronavirus—which is considered to be as much as […]

The national Assembly unanimously approved the ratification of the Inter-American Convention Against All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance. On July 13th, the Ecuadorian legislature approved with 126 votes the report of the International Relations and Human Mobility Commission to ratify this international instrument. Assemblyman Juan Fernando Flores, President of the Commission, said that “the convention is […]

In the best of cases, production could be increased to 610,000 barrels per day in 2025, which is still far from the million barrels announced by the authorities

On May 24, 2021, the government of Lenín Moreno officially ended and give way to that of Guillermo Lasso. Although his 4 years as President have ended, the results of Moreno’s policies on the country’s economic indicators have consequences that will last for months — perhaps years. It was not a surprise. In April 2020, at the […]