Blog

Although firefighters say they are blocking its advance, a 300 hectare fire in the Sun Sun Yanasacha forest, just outside the Cajas National Park, continued to burn Wednesday morning. Smoke was visible from Cuenca during the day on Tuesday and was the orange glow of...

The government says it will proceed with with liquidation of assets of the failed financial cooperative Coopera without the participation of 667 unpaid investors, including 120 North American expats. Diego Aguilar, liquidator for the Superintendency Economía Popular y...

Cuenca’s 193 independence celebration officially wraps up tonight and organizers of the event say it has been the biggest and best yet. City streets have been aflutter with flags, packed with townspeople, tourists and expats, since Thursday. Parks and plazas overflow...

Since the start of the global economic crisis, left-leaning Latin American politicians and pundits have been foretelling the end of economic "neo-liberalism" in their part of the world. But now, five years after the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers, we may...

The celebration of the 193rd anniversary of Cuenca’s independence from Spain begins today with crafts and food fairs and a performance of the Cuenca Symphony Orchestra. The celebration continues through Sunday. The event, Cuenca’s largest festival, attracts about...

Ecuador president Rafael Correa arrived Tuesday in Moscow for a series of talks with Russican President Vladimir Putin. He used the occasion to criticize U.S. international spying activities. After a Tuesday meeting Correa said, commenting on the spy scandal that has...

Days away from opening, work on the new McDonald’s has been ordered stopped due to the removal of a Jacaranda tree. The restaurant is located on Av. Astudillo Florence, across the street from Parque de la Madre. The city says it had denied a request by the owners to...

From Casablanca to Athens, Doha to Prague, 28 finalists have been chosen in the New 7 Wonders Cities competition. Cuenca, which made it to the third round of 77 cities, did not make the final cut but Quito did. The competition, created by Swiss-born filmmaker and...

One of the cars for Cuenca’s new tram system, Tranvia de los Cuatro Rios, will be open to the public in Otorongo Plaza on Tuesday. In addition to the rail car, a model of a tram station will also be on display. Juan Zea, the Tranvia project coordinator, said the model...

The economic future is bright for most Latin American countries according to the director of the International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemisphere division. “Overall, we are expecting positive growth and a stable financial environment,” Alejandro...

Funding has been allocated for the repair and restoration of the Remigio Crespo Toral Museum on Calle Larga. The 110 year old building was included last month on a list of historic buildings of international value in urgent need of repair by the World Monument Fund...

By Simon Romero In the aftermath of Chile’s 1973 military coup, the Nobel Prize-winning poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda was found dead. Although he was long thought to have perished from prostate cancer, a judge recently ordered his remains exhumed from a grave...

Cuenca hotel owners are claiming that daily and weekly rentals of furnished condos and houses are hurting their business and are calling on the government to crack down on the practice. The president of the Association of Azuay Hoteliers, Daniel Hernandez, said his...

By Henry Chu Genevieve Besser knows that many people would kill to have what she's thinking of giving up. It's been her birthright for 52 years, something she's cherished and taken pride in. But being a U.S. citizen, she says, now seems more a penalty than a...

In an eight-hour hearing on Thursday, an Azuay provincial judge ordered nine defendants to stand trial in the Coopera money laundering and embezzlement case. Judge Miguel Arias threw out requests from the defendants' attorneys to drop charges. Also appearing at the...

By Christie Smythe One of the financiers of an environmental lawsuit that led to a $19 billion verdict against Chevron Corp. in Ecuador told a judge that he came to regret funding the case once after learning that it may be a fraud. Burford Capital LLC Chief Executive...

Cuenca's tourism foundation has signed an agreement with the University of Cuenca's School of Hospitality Sciences to develop more accurate tourism statistics. Gladys Eljuri, executive director of the foundation, says accurate numbers will help her office plan for the...

Ecuador qualified for a World Cup berth despite a 2 - 1 loss to Chile Tuesday night in Santiago. Chile also qualified as it and Ecuador finished third and fourth in the South American group. Uruguay defeated Argentina by a goal but needed a three-goal victory to push...