Ecuador News

In what was considered a major surprise, Guadalupe Llori of the indigenous Pachakutik party was elected president of Ecuador’s National Assembly Saturday afternoon. She received 71 votes, one more than necessary, and becomes the first indigenous president of the 137-seat Assembly. “Most members expected a very long night, with multiple votes and many hours of...

The National Assembly meets for the second time Saturday afternoon after Friday’s effort to elect a president fell one vote short. In a surprise move, President-elect Guillermo Lasso’s Creo party pulled out of an agreement with the Social Christians and the Correista Unes party that would have elected the Social Christian Henry Kronfle. With members...

As the newly elected National Assembly meets today for the first time, it already faces controversy. In a deal only revealed late Wednesday, the Assembly’s two conservative parties, Creo (Creating Opportunity) and the Social Christians, have formed an alliance with the leftist Correista Unes (Union of Hope) party. Assembly members from both the right and...

An angry President Lenín Moreno blasted pharmaceutical companies Wednesday night for delays in shipments of Covid-19 vaccines to Ecuador. “We have contracts for these doses that were signed months ago. We have made our payments and have the dates we should receive them and yet the vaccine makers are shipping to wealthier countries, in some...

President-elect Guillermo Lasso’s proposal to use Ecuador’s election system to administer Covid-19 vaccines is being praised by health professionals and politicians. Diana Atamaint, president of the National Election Council said the plan is “workable” and she is ready to commit her resources to a mass vaccination program. National Assemblymen Salvador Quishpe of the leftist Pachakutiks...

By Karl Sweetman In a recent opinion piece published here on CuencaHighLife, the author complained of being “tired of all the sickness, the anti-science, the hatred and the idiocy.” Well, I’m tired too. I’m tired of baseless insults. I’m tired of attitudes like those in this article; a non-stop litany of disparaging smears and downright...

By Vincent Ricci Women’s rights advocates have hailed a recent court ruling that will ease restrictions on abortion in cases of rape in Ecuador, the latest country in Latin America to be swept up in the “green wave” abortion rights movement. In a 7-2 vote on April 28, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador deemed unconstitutional...

Minister of Health Camilo Salinas announced Friday that it has negotiated the delivery of millions of additional doses Covid-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies in Russia, China and the U.S. He said that CanSino will deliver three million doses of its Ad5-nCoV vaccine by July and that Gamaleya will send eight million doses of the Sputnik...

By Cal Montesino In the lush province of Esmeraldas, on Ecuador’s northern border with Colombia, farmers are proud to say they produce “black gold.” They are not talking about oil, Ecuador’s main export, but cocoa beans. The smooth, bitter-tasting paste extracted from the beans is the key ingredient in chocolate and one of this Andean...