Eight new power plants needed; Gasoline prices rise on Friday; Assassination fee was $200,000; Citizens Revolution considers four candidates, Correa says

The National Electricity Operator (Cenace) said Monday that the country needs as many as eight new power plants online by March 2026. “If these are not operating by that date, Ecuador’s electricity crisis will deepen,” it said. “Due to the lack of generation capacity and ongoing problems at the Coca Coda Sinclair facility, we must begin immediately to add capacity.”

Cenace said the plans for new hydroelectric, wind, solar and thermoelectric plants have been in place for years but have not been funded. “The country’s financial shortfalls have resulted in delays but we cannot afford to put off action any longer,” the agency said.

Former president Rafael Correa says he is considering four potential presidential candidates for Citizens Revolution.

The Cenace statement added that the installation of temporary, offshore thermal generation ships is a “only short-term solution.” It said that at least one ship will be operational by late September or October.

Gasoline prices rise Friday
The price of Ecopaís and Extra gasoline will increase Friday by 26 cents a gallon, rising from $2.46 to $2.72. Beginning in July, the price will increase from 5% to 10% on a monthly basis until it reaches international market levels.

Taxi drivers and transport vans are eligible for subsidies through direct bank deposits. According to the Transportation Ministry, 27,511 vehicles had registered for the subsidy as of Monday of an estimated 84,000 that are eligible nationwide.

According to the Finance Ministry, elimination of the gasoline subsidy will save the government about $600 million in 2024 and $1.3 billion in 2025.

Villavicencio Assassination trial underway
The price to kill former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was $200,000, according to testimony in the assassination trial that began Tuesday. Carlos Angulo, alias ‘Invisible’, accused of being an organizer of the murder, said the price was set following a series of meetings with members of the Los Lobos gangs and “other actors.”

Angulo said that Villavicencio’s movements and the activities of his security team were tracked for several weeks before the assassination was carried out. He claimed members of the government of former president Rafael Correa had ordered the murder.

On Wednesday, Natalia Salazar, lawyer for the Villavicencio family, complained that much of evidence from the investigation was not being used at the trial, including that which showed the possible involvement of current and former government officials and National Assembly members.

Citizens Revolution considers four presidential candidates, Correa says
In a Wednesday interview, former president Rafael Correa said his Citizens Revolution will name a presidential candidate soon. “We are waiting to see what the other movements do, but we have four strong possibilities to choose from,” he told Radio Pichincha.

The choice will be between Luisa González, Paola Pabón, Gustavo Jalkh and Augusto Verduga, Correa said. González lost to Daniel Noboa in last year’s cross death election; Pabón is the prefect of Pichincha Province; Jalkh is former president of the Judiciary Council; while Verduga serves on the Citizen Participation and Social Control.

Correa had special praise for Verduga, calling him a “brilliant young man who brings new ideas to the national discussion.”

About his own plans, Correa insisted he will return to Ecuador. Convicted of corruption in 2019, he has lived in Belgium since 2020. “This is a complicated situation due to the judicialization of politics in Ecuador, but if we win the presidency in 2025, I will come home,” he said. Otherwise, he said his return is “only a matter of time.”

Correa said he is pursuing other options to reverse his conviction. “The Human Rights Committee of the UN is reviewing the case but this could take years,” he said. “The best possibility is a victory in the election.”