‘Black Willie’ fights extradition from Spain; Tourism recovers in 2025; Final EU report confirms Noboa’s victory; 125,000 Ecuadorians migrated in 13 years

Although Spain’s National Court has agreed to extradite William Joffre Alcívar, alias Black Willy, to Ecuador, it is demanding that Ecuadorian officials guarantee his safety in prison. “We recognize the defendant’s concern that widespread violence in Ecuadorian prisons could put him at risk following the transfer,” the court said. “We are asking officials to outline the safeguards that will protect him.”

International tourism in such destinations as the Galapagos Islands is showing strong growth in the first five months of 2025.

Alcívar, former leader of the Los Tiguerones gang, is listed as the third most wanted criminal suspect by Ecuador’s Interior Ministry. He is believed to be the organizer of a January 2024 assault on the TC Television studio which prompted President Daniel Noboa to declare a national security emergency.

Last week, the Spanish court dismissed all of Alcívar appeals except for conern for his safety. “The evidence against the defendant is substantial and pending guarantees of his safety, the extradition will go forward,” the court said.

Tourism recovers in 2025
Minister of Tourism Mateo Estrella reports that the number of foreigners visiting Ecuador increased 17% in the first five months of 2025. “We expect this impressive growth to continue through the remainder of the year and have launched advertising campaigns to sustain it,” he said.

Estrella explained that tourism suffered in 2023 and 2024 because of the surge of violence in some areas of the country. “The news reports of high murder rates in coastal provinces had a dampening effect on international tourism but we are finally seeing a reversal of this trend,” he said. “We are promoting the fact that the majority of Ecuador remains very safe and welcomes visitors.” He added that destinations such as the Galapagos Islands, Mindo and Cuenca are among the safest in Latin America.

Estrella conceded that violence related to international drug trafficking has had a “strong negative impact” on tourism in coastal locations. “Compared to five years ago, the number of international tourists visiting Guayaquil, Manta and Salinas is down 15% to 20%.”

Final EU report verifies Noboa’s election win
Ecuador’s February and April elections were conducted “fairly and transparently” the European Election Observation Mission concluded in its final report. The mission reviewed claims of voting fraud made following the runoff election between President Daniel Noboa and challenger Luisa González and found “no basis for further inquiry.”

Gabriel Mato, head of the election mission, said his team reviewed the issue of the “walking ink” raised by the González campaign and found it to be baseless. “We checked hundreds of ballots and found no evidence that fraud had been committed due to ink smudging or transfers,” he said. “If there were rare instances where votes were changed by this problem they would not have favored one candidate over the other.”

González and former president Rafael Correa continue to insist that Noboa’s victory was fraudulent.

125,000 Ecuadorians migrated from 2010 and 2023
A total of 124,992 Ecuadorians left the country between 2010 and 2023, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration.

In the report, “Portrait of Emigration in Ecuador 2010-2023,” researchers found that 60% of departures in the period occurred from 2019 and 2023 due to lack of economic opportunity and rising levels of violence.

The cities with the largest number of out-migration were Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Ambato and Riobamba. The study concluded that most migrants had relocated to those cities from rural areas within five years of leaving the country.

The top destination countries for Ecuadorian migrants were the U.S. (55%), Spain (25%), Argentina (7%), Italy (5%), and Colombia and Peru (3%).

INEC estimated that an estimated 40% of the those who left the country between 2010 and 2023 eventually returned.