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By Rhett Butler In 1997, ornithologist Robert S. Ridgely discovered a previously undocumented bird species, the Jocotoco Antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi), in the tropical montane forests on the Amazonian slope of the Andes in southeastern Ecuador. This ground-dwelling...
By Sylvan Hardy Journalists are unanimous in their verdict that 2023 was not a good year for Ecuador. The headlines highlighted surging drug violence, the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, political gridlock in the National Assembly, the...
Bolivia's Constitutional Court has disqualified former president Evo Morales from running for re-election in 2025, reversing a ruling that had let him seek a fourth term in 2019. It said on its website that term limits provide "an ideal measure for ensuring that...
The Foreign Exchange Exit Tax (ISD) will remain at 3.5% and will not drop to 2% on December 31, as planned by former President Guillermo Lasso. President Daniel Noboa said Thursday he is “pausing” further reductions in the tax as a result of Ecuador’s budget crisis....
Energy Minister Andrea Arrobo announced Friday that electric power blackouts have been suspended until January 15 and could be extended further depending on weather conditions. Previously, the Ministry had planned to resume blackouts on January 2. Arrobo said recent...
By Emily Sohn It happens to everyone. With age come discomforts: achy joints, wounds that heal more slowly, and a rising risk for cancers, heart disease, dementia, arthritis, and other illnesses. Those changes follow an uptick in inflammatory molecules over the course...
A National Court judge agreed Thursday with prosecutors that Wilman Terán, former president of Ecuador’s Judiciary Council, should remain jailed until he goes on trial in 120 days. Terán was one of 31 people arrested in the Operation Metastasis investigation, accused...
US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has met with Mexico’s president, in an attempt to limit the surge of migrants reaching the US southwestern border. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said he is willing to help, but he wants to see progress in US relations...
By Garnett Stewart For our new 2024, I propose a well-known poem known as "Desiderata." It was discovered on the wall of the Episcopal Church of my family in Baltimore, Maryland. Unsigned and dated 1692. My family's plantation was established on land that is now part...
Following criticism that the new government's plan to combat crime is short on details, Interior Minister Mónica Palencia is “filling in the blanks” in a series of interviews. “I agree we need to provide more information but we have been in office for only a month and...
Rains that fell over most of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday have refilled rivers and reservoirs but have also caused landslides and flooding. “There is always the bad side effects of heavy rain but, on balance, this is very good news since it brings drought...
By Constanza Lambertucci Summoned by trade unions and other organizations, thousands of people gathered in downtown Buenos Aires this Wednesday to demand the halt of far-right-wing President Javier Milei’s “necessary and urgent” decree to dismantle the Argentine...
Cuenca is the case that proves the point, says parttime expat and retired criminology professor Martin Simmons, referring to a recent article in the Washington Post that called the crime situation in Ecuador a “tale of two countries.” “The story quoted a United...
Former Vice President Jorge Glas has officially requested political asylum in Mexico after taking up residency at the Mexican embassy in Quito last week. The former vice president faces corruption charges for mismanagement of reconstruction funds in Manabí Province...
By Mark Travers Have you ever wondered what your life would be like without a smartphone? Some may envision a life of peace without distraction, whereas some may see a life with less convenience and connection. Others, however, may feel terrified of the idea entirely....
Although early revelations of the Attorney General's “Operation Metastasis” focused on the corruption of judges, police and prison officials, the evidence also shows the influence a powerful crime boss exerted in national and local governments. Phone and text...
By Paola Lopez A hunchback with goiter, a child decapitated by a soldier, and a woman with a bloodied face are among the unusual figures in an Ecuador nativity scene that aims to provide a realistic depiction of historical life. The vast creche belongs to the...
By Andrea Rodriguez The Cuban government said Friday it will have to either increase prices for fuel and electricity or reduce rations for basic supplies. President Miguel Díaz-Canel said such difficult measures were needed for difficult times, after the minister of...
By José María Irujo A court in New York has ruled that UC Global and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) violated the constitutional rights and privacy of U.S. citizens when they met with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London. Four U.S....
During a Thursday visit to Cuenca, President Daniel Noboa announced that the city will host the 29th Ibero-American Summit in November 2024. According to Noboa, the city was chosen in part because of the interest of King Felipe VI of Spain, who has an ancestral...
