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On February 8th, President Lenín Moreno sent his first version of the bill for the Defense of Dollarization to the National Assembly. This bill would reform the Organic Monetary and Financial Code (Comyf). The President asked that this initiative be treated as an...
Friends here keep asking me what I think about the future of Ecuador, with the likelihood that Andres Arauz will win the April 11th Presidential run-off election. All I can tell them is that from what I read, Arauz will return the country to the ways of Rafael...
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, public institutions have varied in their schedules and forms of care. Below, is a list of public entities with high user demand and the detail of their current form of care in...
Last week, the Legislative Administration Council (CAL) of the Assembly sent the bill for the Defense of Dollarization back to the President because it had constitutional and legal errors. The corrected version of the text will be back in the hands of the Assembly...
In a late session yesterday, the National Electoral Council (CNE) cancelled the vote recount that had been agreed to between the two second place finishers in the February 6th election, and CNE President Diane Atamaint. The planned recount was to have started on...
Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: Updated for Tuesday, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 The numbers this week show signs of improvement, even though the rates of sampling and testing have fallen again. The rate of new cases is lower again for the second...
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is "open" to adjusting the program with Ecuador with the new president emerging from the ballot, "if the government so wishes," the director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the Fund, Alejandro Werner, said on Monday. "The...
Ecuador heads to the polls this week to elect its next President (and Vice president and some Assembly members), in what is likely to be an historic outcome, moving the country either slightly to the right or firmly back into the far left that ruled during Rafael...
Well, Ecuador elects a new president this Sunday. But the odds are that no candidate will get enough votes in the first round for outright victory (there are 16 candidates!). So, there will be a run-off in April. Oddsmakers say it will likely be between Rafael...
Photo gallery at the end of this article More than 9,000 olive ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) have been born on one of Ecuador's beaches in the course of recent months, in an explosion of life in the province of Esmeraldas under the protection of the Ministry...
Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: Updated for Tuesday, January 27, 2021 Last week we shared information from the El Universo newspaper that outlined the rate with which the coronavirus was continuing to spread throughout the country. The...
While it works on completing the processes to receive its certifications to fly, Ecuatoriana Airlines has set the month in which it will tentatively start operating in Ecuadorian territory: July. By July, the company expects to have its initial crews ready to begin...
Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: Updated for Tuesday, January 19, 2021 This week, in addition to providing our summary, we are also including information reported by El Universo newspaper that has taken a look at things differently than...
The United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has reached an agreement with Ecuador for $3.5 billion in funding for economic reactivation, in exchange for Ecuador excluding China and its companies from a role in its telecommunications networks....
Well, the day has finally arrived. The inauguration of a new President in the United States will happen tomorrow. Of course, what the day will look like is only known to a handful of people who a) are trying to make sure that it happens and that everyone is safe, or...
Last weekend, the National Electoral Council (CNE) held a mandatory presidential debate over two days, for the participation of 16 registered candidates for the February 7th elections. The debates took place on Saturday and Sunday evenings at the National Theater of...
On January 5, 2021, Wilson Tenorio, President of the Guayas College of Physicians, urgently asked that flights from Europe be suspended due to the increase in cases on that continent from the new strain of the coronavirus detected in the United Kingdom. The request...
After the declaration of unconstitutionality of the state of exception, which was reported on Saturday, January 2, 2021 by the Constitutional Court, the National COE issued new resolutions on Sunday, January 3, aimed at controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the...
Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: UPDATED FOR TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2020 THE NUMBERS In our last two reports, we were optimistic with the COVID-19 situation in the country; unfortunately, that optimism has been replaced with serious concern...
As many of you know, I lost two friends to COVID-19 last year. One in May and one in August. Some people didn’t believe me when I wrote about this, said it was all a hoax. With all the death and illness since then, I suspect many of those doubters have now been...
Last November 11th marked four years since the signing of the Multiparty Trade Agreement (MCA) between Ecuador and the European Union (EU). It was signed in Brussels before representatives of Colombia and Peru, who were already part of that treaty since June 26, 2012....
Single-use plastics and polystyrene containers will soon become extinct in Ecuador. On November 4, 2020, the National Assembly approved the Organic Law for the Rationalization, Reuse and Reduction that prohibits the use of single-use plastics in commerce. The law went...
A couple of weeks ago, we ran an article on Ecuador Verifica, an initiative in the country that brings together 14 media, 9 civil society organizations and 7 universities. Its objectives are to combat misinformation, verify the veracity of the speeches of the...
Last Tuesday, Ecuador and the United States signed a first-phase trade agreement in Quito. The government emphasized that this is the first firm step towards the achievement of a definitive trade agreement between both nations. This first phase of the agreement was...
At the end of 2016, the United States Department of Justice made it known that Ecuador was part of a corruption plot led by the Odebrecht company to obtain public contracts through the delivery of bribes. Last week, they clued Ecuador in to another scandal: between...
Last month, the National Assembly approved a bill that seeks to reduce the use and trade of single-use plastic material such as bags, straws, containers for beverages and food. The bill now awaits the signature of Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno for final approval....
Tracking the spread and outcome of the coronavirus in Ecuador: UPDATED FOR TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2020 The big question this week is where we stand with the spread of COVID-19 in Ecuador’s larger cities, and what does the government say about the numbers. Because the...
The new Unified Basic Salary (SBU) of the Ecuadorian worker for 2021 remains at $400. This was decided by the Ministry of Labor, after the workers and employers did not reach an agreement in the National Labor and Wages Council (CNTS), made last Friday. The...
Finance Minister Mauricio Pozo announced on Thursday that the country is negotiating the support of multilateral organizations to issue a bond in the international markets to support the private productive sector. Ecuador is in negotiations to issue an international...
“I’m thankful.” It’s the time of year for us to all look back on how things have gone, and are going for us, and hopefully feel that way. This year that will be difficult for so many people. Not just here, or in the US, but throughout the world. So many people have...
