Suspension of transit services stalled deliveries nationwide, with losses mounting as authorities promise gradual normalization. Ecuador’s automotive sector has spent the past week in limbo, as the suspension of vehicle registration services rippled through dealerships, importers, and buyers, stalling sales and freezing deliveries across the country. What began as an institutional intervention at the National […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Colombian president links border security, drug trafficking, and energy integration while tariffs deepen a regional standoff. Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro has doubled down on the idea that borders must remain open to people even as governments coordinate security, a message delivered from Washington just as a trade dispute with Ecuador hardened into reciprocal tariffs and […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Oversight delays and weak enforcement leave key questions unanswered long after ballots are counted. Ecuador’s presidential campaigns continue to operate inside what election officials themselves describe as a financial gray zone, where spending is reported late, incompletely, or not at all, and where accountability often arrives years after voters have moved on. A growing list […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Government approval advances a long-delayed copper mine despite legal battles, community resistance and lingering consultation disputes. The Ecuadorian government has formally granted an environmental license to the La Plata mining project, a decision that clears a major regulatory hurdle for one of the country’s most contentious mining developments and reignites tensions in rural Cotopaxi. The […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Government removes dozens of officials after failed trust tests and internal alerts. A sweeping purge across Ecuador’s mining oversight institutions has removed dozens of senior officials, as authorities move to confront what they describe as deep-seated complicity with illegal mining networks. The shake-up was confirmed by Energy and Mines Minister Inés Manzano, who said officials […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.

Foreign seizures outpace domestic interceptions as scanner overload, delayed alerts, and offshore contamination reshape trafficking routes. Two out of every three cocaine seizures tied to Ecuadorian maritime exports are being made far from the country’s docks, underscoring a widening gap between detection at origin and enforcement at destination. In 2025, authorities seized 96.1 tons of […] To access this post, you must purchase The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Monthly or The Cuenca Dispatch Subscription – Annual.