Ecuador News

An investigation is underway following the arrest of five men and women in the parking lot of the Defense Ministry complex in Quito Thursday afternoon. Police say the five are associated with the so-called “Big Money” loan and money laundering operation in Quevedo in Los Rios Province, and were carrying suitcases filled with cash and...

The Ecuador Social Security Institute (IESS) and the Society for the Fight Against Cancer in Ecuador (SOLCA) announced Thursday that they had reached an agreement to allow IESS patients to continue to receive cancer treatments. Management of the SOLCA foundation threatened on Tuesday to suspend treatments if the government did not make arrangements to pay...

The National Assembly voted Tuesday to send President Guillermo Lasso’s revisions to the new abortion law to the Constitutional Court to determine their legality. The law was passed in March following a 2021 ruling by the court that Ecuador’s current law, which prohibits abortion in cases of rape, is unconstitutional. Lasso made 61 changes to...

Tourists and vendors in Playas are complaining about the mounds of driftwood littering local beaches. The logs, limbs and other trash that wash ashore during rainy season and then accumulate on beaches have been collected in piles as high as three meters but have not been removed by municipal cleaning crews. “This happens every year...

There will be no interruption of services for cancer patients, Ecuador’s Social Security Institute (IESS) said Monday. IESS health division officials said that arrangements are being made to pay a debt to the Solca cancer foundation, which provides treatment services to IESS. In a statement last week, Solca said it may end services to IESS...

Philip Hall takes photographs of classic cars. Or, at least, at first glance that’s what the observer might assume. However, on closer look, it becomes clear that while the classic (and sometimes not so classic) car is his predominant subject, it isn’t the only subject. In fact, what Hall does is use the classic car...

The leadership of the indigenous Pachakutik party has expelled six members it accuses of failing to support party positions and advocating the resignation of Assembly President Guadalupe Llori, a member of Pachakutik. Those expelled are Mario Ruiz Jácome, Mireya Pazmiño, Darwin Pereira, Peter Calo, Patricia Sánchez and Fernando Cabascango. “Under difficult circumstances, Guadalupe Llori has...

A day after announcing he could no longer work the with National Assembly, President Guillermo Lasso announced the appointment of a new Minister of Government who says one of his missions is to “build bridges” between the president and the Assembly. Francisco Jiménez, a member of Lasso’s CREO party, resigned his National Assembly seat Wednesday...

Former Ecuador comptroller Carlos Polit was arrested Monday in Miami on charges of money-laundering. The former official, who lives in a luxury high-rise on the Miami River, was convicted in absentia in Ecuador in 2018 for extorting millions of dollars from Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht S.A. U.S. attorneys say the the Miami and Ecuadorian cases...

Following last week’s defeat of his investment law by the National Assembly, President Guillermo Lasso said Tuesday that he will govern the country by decree and public referendum, bypassing the Assembly. “Given its refusal to participate in the revitalization of the country, I have no choice but to lead without the support of the National...

By Katie Surma Wild animals possess distinct legal rights, including to exist, to develop their innate instincts and to be free from disproportionate cruelty, fear and distress, Ecuador’s top court ruled in a landmark decision interpreting the country’s “rights of nature” constitutional laws. The 7-2 ruling handed down last month in Quito is believed to...

Health Minster Ximena Garzón defended the government’s decision to reopen most indoor businesses and events at 100 percent capacity on Monday, insisting that Ecuador could be the first country in the Andean region to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Since March 19, we have recorded only one death from the coronavirus and our hospital ICU...