Last-minute legislative change bans quarrying in the National Park while shifting oversight to local governments. A reform approved by Ecuador’s National Assembly has altered the legal landscape for extracting construction materials in the Galápagos, formally banning quarrying inside the National Park while allowing municipalities to authorize the extraction of aggregates and stone elsewhere on the […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

New scheduling plan promises faster access but exposes deeper shortages, mounting debt and strained hospitals. A system already at the breaking point In the crowded corridors of the Carlos Andrade Marín Hospital (HCAM) in Quito, the promise of faster medical appointments rings hollow. Patients describe months of waiting, repeated system failures, and a sense that […]

Rising levies spark border paralysis, business warnings and diplomatic pressure as governments trade blame. Ecuador’s decision to raise tariffs on Colombian imports to 50% has transformed a security dispute into a full-scale economic confrontation, exposing deep fractures in border management, trade dependence and political trust between the two Andean neighbors. The higher tariff, which took […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Approval gaps across South America widen, with migration pressures and enforcement tools shaping who gets through. A divided visa map in South America Tourist visa outcomes for South Americans seeking entry to the United States continue to show stark contrasts, with Ecuador and Venezuela at one end of the spectrum and Uruguay and Argentina at […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.