Posts:
By Christoph Wackher A few weeks ago, editor David Morrill sent me a satellite screenshot with a simple observation attached: on an awful lot of days, the Andean central valley — Cuenca, Quito, the whole sierra corridor — sits under open sky while a thick gray lid of...
By Matt Richtel and Irena Hwang In the early 1970s, the U.S. government launched what became known as the "war on drugs." The goal was to reduce substance abuse. The strategy: Crimp the demand for heroin, cocaine and other illicit substances by disrupting the supply...
Bored? - (De El Mercurio del martes, 25/8) Rock sinfónico llegará desde Loja a Cuenca (Symphonic Rock is coming from Loja to Cuenca) - The Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja will perform 2 concerts of symphonic rock in Spanish los 4 & 5/9 a las 20:00 in the Teatro de la...
The trade war between the United States and Canada has reached the stage at which mediation may no longer be sufficient. What they really need is a marriage guidance counsellor. The two countries have been together for more than two centuries. They share the world’s...
Singapore and Ecuador are looking to deepen cooperation in areas including food security, digitalisation and trade, as they seek to strengthen economic links between Southeast Asia and Latin America. The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding on...
By Michael Pooler and Ciara Nugent South American countries are hunting for global trade deals from Canada to the Gulf and Asia, as a historically inward-looking group seeks to hedge against rising geopolitical instability. Mercosur, the customs union comprising...
The U.S. State Department has updated its travel alerts to warn tourists to “reconsider” visits to Manabí and Santa Elena Provinces due to high rates of violence. Earlier, the State Department had issued a general travel advisory that tourists take “precautions” when...
Amnesty International has made a new request to the United States to conduct an “impartial and urgent investigation” into bombing attacks on three Ecuadorian fishing boats earlier in the year. Specifically, the human rights agency wants answers to the January bombing...
“That would never happen back home” is not necessarily an unfair thing for an expatriate to say. Sometimes something really does work better somewhere else. The problem begins when the place we left becomes the automatic standard for judging the place where we now...
By Brahma Chellaney China shapes global knowledge not just by blocking information at home, but by exporting censorship through economic coercion and diplomatic pressure. It is increasingly influencing what the rest of the world knows about its internal repression and...
Although the worst is still months away, Ecuador is already experiencing strong effects of the approaching El Niño. “The daily temperatures on the coast are higher than we have ever seen for this time of year and confirm the predictions that this will be the strongest...
Britain has recently been engaged in one of its periodic bouts of national pearl-clutching, this time over the late Professor Jason Arday. Arday became the youngest Black professor at Cambridge University in 2023 after telling an extraordinary story. Allegedly...
Ecuador’s National Institute of Biodiversity (Inabio) reports that researchers documented the presence of the terrestrial micromollusk genus Habeastrum in Ecuadorian territory for the first time and described three species new to science in Amazonian provinces. The...
By Jancee Dunn I’ve noticed two odd things about my feet lately: They’ve grown a shoe size, and walking barefoot hurts on flat surfaces such as my kitchen floor. Last year, I wrote a column about weird signs that you’re getting older, including shifting teeth and...
Bored? - (De El Mercurio del martes, 18/8) Ecuador podrá ver "el mejor eclipse de Luna" (Ecuador will be able to see “the best lunar eclipse”) - Ecuador, including the Galápagos will be able to see a partial lunar eclipse on el jueves 27/8 with the penumbral phase...
By Antonio María Delgado The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions Thursday on an Ecuador-based cocaine trafficking network accused of using commercial fishing vessels to move thousands of kilograms each month toward Mexico, where major cartels allegedly helped...
By Christoph Wackher Cuenca receives 1,971 hours of sunshine a year. That is less than Milan, which manages 2,302 and is not famous for its weather. It is well under Malaga's 2,936. Anyone who moved here expecting Mediterranean light has a legitimate grievance. The...
By Garry Vatcher Renting an apartment in Cuenca can seem remarkably simple. You find a place you like, agree on the rent, hand over a deposit, sign a contract, and move in. Then something breaks. That is often when you discover that the relationship between a landlord...
In the past 12 months, the United Nations, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and private crime tracking company InSight Crime have recommended that Ecuador focus on its ports in the fight against drug traffickers. “To effectively combat the current crime wave, Ecuador...
It is difficult to think of a more efficient immigration scheme. A pregnant woman obtains a tourist visa, flies to the United States, checks into a furnished apartment, gives birth in an American hospital and returns home with a newborn US citizen. There are...
Week of September 20
Ecuador turns to industrial power cuts to protect Mazar and keep homes from going dark.
Ecuador raises its 2026 growth forecast, but El Niño could spoil the outlook next year.
Cuenca retirees challenge medical and therapy changes at IESS senior center.
