CuencaHighLife

We have devalued the word “awesome” to mean something between good and great. If a perfect pizza or clever Netflix series is now “awesome,” witnessing tens of thousands of Canadian monarch butterflies fluttering among the pines of the Mexican state of Michoacán is cosmic. Transcendental as if making eye contact with evolution. I don’t know...

Twenty years ago this week, Ecuador abandoned its national currency, the sucre, and switched to the U.S. dollar. The change resulted from an economic crisis that saw the collapse of dozens of banks, high unemployment and an inflation rate approaching 100 percent. “We had no choice but to make the transition,” former president Jamil Mahuad...

Four members of the National Assembly have left Ecuador for Mexico where they have been granted political asylum. The Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday that the group, aligned with the Citizen Revolution and supporters of former president Rafael Correa, left the Mexican embassy in Quito on Wednesday and flew to Mexico City. Assembly members Gabriela Rivadeneira,...

Following the resignation Tuesday of Ambassador to the United States Francisco Carrión, the National Assembly’s Committee on Sovereignty is demanding information about U.S. air surveillance of Ecuadorian territory. Committee members say they are in the dark about any agreement governing the flights and voted unanimously to call Foreign Minister José Valencia, Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrín...

Ecuador ambassador to the U.S. Francisco Carrión submitted his resignation Tuesday, saying he disagreed with the government’s decision to allow U.S. surveillance flights without a signed agreement. “These flights have been conducted over Ecuadorian territory since September 2018 without rules or restrictions,” he explained. In its announcement that Carrión has stepped down, the government claimed...

Groups representing Ecuador’s indigenous population are at odds on several key issues including the National Assembly’s recently passed tax law and the organization of new protests. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie), which represents hundreds of local organizations, and the Cotopaxi Indigenous and Peasant Movement (MICC) are calling for sanctions against four indigenous assemblymen who...