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By Jim Wyss Two days after Christmas, masked and armed police raided the home of Fernando Villavicencio in the predawn hours, hauling away a lifetime of data and documents. Hours later, President Rafael Correa said Villavicencio — an opposition adviser who also writes...
The the Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE) has chosen Cuenca and Azuay Province for a pilot project using electronic voting machines. The machines will be used for the first time in the Feb. 23 provincial and municiapl elections. CNE plans to shift the entire...
Foreign tourists are staying longer in Cuenca, according to the city’s Municipal Tourism Foundation. A 2010 survey showed the average tourist stay was one day while the latest survey shows stays have increased to three days. According to Felipe Cardoso, spokesman for...
By William K. Black Editor’s note: This is a response to an earlier Wall Street Journal article by By David Luhnow. That article (“A divided Latin America faces an uncertain future; Pacific rim countries grow while Atlantic coast countries struggle”) was posted in...
Liquidator for the failed financial cooperative Coopera, Diego Aguilar, is seeking bids on several Coopera properties. Proceeds from the sales will go to settle debts to creditors and to compensate some of the coop members who have not be reimbursed, Aguilar said....
Cuenca’s new light rail system, Tranvia de los Cuatro Rios, has become a focus of the city’s mayoral campaign. Former Cuenca Mayor Marcelo Cabrera claims that businesses along the train route have not received adequate notice of construction plans and that their...
By James McKeigue In his book Basta de Historias! (Enough of the Stories!) Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer complains that Latin America’s endless glorification of past freedom fighters and early state-builders prevents the region from looking to the future....
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has unveiled the country’s first domestically made unmanned aerial vehicle. The drone is designed to help the country fight drug traffic and will also be for sale in South America, costing a fraction of its popular Israeli equivalent....
By Gideon Long For generations, the countries of Latin America have relied on the export of raw materials for their wealth. From Venezuela's oil, to copper from Chile, Argentinean soybeans, bananas from Ecuador, Mexican silver, and timber from Brazil -- the vast...
Complaints from shoppers have prompted the city’s Citizen Guard to investigate conditions of caged animals at the Feria Libre market. The animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens and cuys, are often kept in cramped metal mesh cages in unsanitary conditions....
Citizen complaints in Cuenca’s Cayambe barrio about brothels and sex workers have led to an increased police presence in the area. On Thursday, police examined the documents of two legal brothels and 22 prostitutes. The focus was determining that none of the sex...
A member of Coopera, the failed Cuenca financial cooperative, was arrested Tuesday when he attempted to get the attention of President Rafael Correa. Hernán Romulo was charged with “rebellion” and insulting Minister of Social Inclusion Doris Solís. Police say Romulo...
New national rules for condominium and housing development have sparked a firestorm of protest from developers of large real estate projects. On Thursday, Ecuador's Superintendency of Companies said that developers would be required to have all financing and...
By Michael Shifter Editor's note: Michael Shifter is president of the Inter-American Dialogue and adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University. Since President Rafael Correa came to power seven years ago, U.S. relations with Ecuador have been...
Only days after Ecuador’s weather service issued a drought alert for the sierra, heavy rains have caused flooding in Quito and areas to the north of the city. Cuenca, which had negligible rain fall in November and December also received day-long rains on Monday and...
The campaign for hundreds of public offices officially kicked off on Tuesday and President Rafael Correa has taken official leave to stump for candidates from his Pais political party. The election for municipal and provincial offices is Feb. 23. Correa began his...
Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health (MSP) plans to hire more than 5,000 public health doctors in the coming months, it announced on Tuesday. MSP said it was focusing on the areas of anesthesiology, emergenciology, epidemiology and physical medicine as well as general...
By Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott Organized crime is adaptable and profit-driven, and in 2014, that could mean moving beyond Mexico and Colombia to a more diverse set of nations. We can already identify some of the trends that are likely to mark the evolution of...
There were no sacred cows at Sunday afternoon’s Day of the Innocents parade. Politicians, government policies, television personalities, expats, and even the dead, were lampooned during the three-hour procession down Cuenca’s Av. Huayna Capac. The parade, sponsored by...
Cantonal officials are asking citizens to conserve water due to low river and reservoir levels. They say that despite the light rain that has fallen since Saturday, low river levels will probably continue to be the norm for several weeks. The Cuenca utility company...
