Ecuador News

Only two weeks ago, medical professionals said it would be almost impossible for Guillermo Lasso to fulfill his presidential campaign promise to vaccinate nine million Ecuadorians within 100 days. Almost overnight that has changed. “Since last Wednesday and Thursday, we’ve received word that large shipments of Covid-19 vaccine shipments are on the way and that...

It should not be up to the government to determine if the news media is telling the truth and opinions should not be subject to criminal penalties. That is the basis of changes to the national communication law that the President Guillermo Lasso sent to the National Assembly on Monday. “We are making needed repairs...

The leaders of land transport federations, the unions representing trucking company owners, said Thursday they could call a nationwide strike on June 4 if the government doesn’t agree to discuss rising fuel costs. The owners are demanding that the government restore fuel subsidies or allow transport companies to adjust shipping rates based on market prices...

Ecuador has confirmed that a giant tortoise found in 2019 in the Galápagos Islands is a species considered extinct a century ago. The Galápagos National Park is preparing an expedition to search for more of the giant tortoises in an attempt to save the species. The turtle was found two years ago on Fernandina Island,...

Ecuador’s health care system is in ‘deplorable” condition and needs immediate attention, according to Vice President Alfredo Borrero. “The new government will begin the repairs immediately but we need the collaboration of citizens, government, and the private sector to make them work.” Trained as a family practice physician, Borrero said the public health and IESS...

The Indigenous Federation of Imbabura set up roadblocks on the Pan American highway in several locations in Imbabura Province Tuesday morning in protest of higher diesel and gasoline prices. The Federation is demanding that President Guillermo Lasso reinstate the subsidies eliminated last year by the government. The roadblocks are in the cantons of Otavalo, Cotacachi...

Acknowledging the “brutal impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic depression, President Guillermo Lasso told Ecuadorians Monday that he will act quickly to “restore the country to good health.” In his inaugural address, he repeated a campaign promise to vaccinate nine million residents within his first 100 days in office and to eliminate all vestiges...

One of the biggest challenges facing President-elect Guillermo Lasso will be allowing gasoline and diesel prices to rise to international market levels while reducing the impact on bus and trucking companies. Energy Minister René Ortiz says there can be no return to subsidized fuel and Lasso agrees. “Ecuador can longer afford the subsidies and must...