Ecuador News

The National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) voted Thursday to eliminate the “traffic light” or alert code system used to track Covid-19 health risks in provinces and cantons. The system was eliminated at the request of Health Minister Ximena Garzón who said it is no longer needed due to improving pandemic conditions. In other action, the...

Under orders from the Constitutional Court, the National Assembly on Thursday approved a law allowing abortion in the case of rape. The bill passed on a second vote after its sponsors agreed to reduce the period in which a pregnancy could be terminated from 16 weeks to 12. For young girls and women living in...

Ecuador’s Health Minister Ximena Garzón said Wednesday that Covid-19 cases are dropping rapidly that the government will consider reducing or eliminating some health restrictions, particularly the outdoor masking requirement, as conditions improve. She said that the positivity rate of Covid tests has dropped from 65 percent in mid-January to 15 percent on Tuesday. “When we...

Ecuador’s National Assembly will consider pardons as soon as next week for 267 participants in the October 2019 anti-government protest. The 11-day protest resulted in six deaths, hundreds of injuries and an estimated $200 million in property damage in Quito, Cuenca, Guayaquil and Riobamba. Among those seeking pardons are 27 people arrested for destroying public...

Ecuador’s National Police on Monday said it is investigating the deaths of two people whose bodies were hung from a foot bridge Duran, a crime officers believe could be linked to a recent drugs seizure. The hangings are reminiscent of those in Mexico, where they an advertisement for cartel authority. Violence and crime, including within...

Mexico has acknowledged that the U.S. government has suspended all imports of Mexican avocados after a U.S. plant safety inspector in Mexico received death threats. The surprise, temporary suspension was ordered late Saturday on the eve of the Super Bowl, the biggest sales opportunity of the year for Mexican avocado growers — though it would...

The owner of a fleet of Ecuadorian flagged boats that allegedly provided support to cocaine-laden vessels in the Eastern Pacific has been extradited to San Diego from Spain to face drug conspiracy charges. Pedro Cornelio Pilligua Iduarte, 48, arrived in San Diego and made his first appearance in federal court on Friday. He was indicted...

The Paris ambassadors of Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic condemned “in the strongest terms” the sale of pre-Hispanic artifacts organized by auction houses, scheduled for early March. In their joint statement, they called for the auctions to be halted. They denounced what they said was the “continuation of practices linked to...

The National Assembly’s Justice Commission will present a new proposal to the full Assembly today in hopes of breaking an impasse on reforming Ecuador’s abortion law. According to commission president Alejandro Jaramillo, the new report will include time periods in which abortions to end pregnancies resulting from rape can be legally performed. The Assembly has...

In his first interview since returning from China, President Guillermo Lasso pledged that the details of negotiations with Beijing on trade and debt restructuring will be made public. “Information of all our talks with China will be made available to all Ecuadorians,” Lasso said Wednesday in Quito. “This was one of my conditions with President...

The national Emergency Operations Committee (COE) announced new reductions in pandemic restrictions Wednesday, including the elimination of the requirement that international travelers present a negative Covid-19 test entering the country. The change also applies to visitors to the Galapagos Islands. Health Minister Ximena Garzón said the country is “transitioning” to a new phase of the...