Ecuador News

President Guillermo Lasso declared the muerte cruzada, or the cross death, early Wednesday, claiming the decision is justified by “political crisis and internal commotion.” Under rules of the declaration, the National Assembly is dissolved and new elections for the Assembly and the presidency will be held. Article 148 of the Constitution allows Lasso to rule...

In a short but emotional speech, President Guillermo Lasso defended himself against embezzlement charges before the National Assembly Tuesday afternoon. Accompanied by his wife and presidential cabinet, Lasso claimed that his accusers had shown no proof that he committed a crime involving a public oil transport company and accused them of exhibiting “malicious inventiveness unparalleled...

Quito’s new mayor, Pabel Muñoz, held a series of meetings Monday and Tuesday aimed at resuming service of the city’s subway system, the Quito Metro. On Thursday, May 11, less than two weeks after the Metro opened to the public, the company operating it suspended service, citing infrastructure problems and contractual violations by the city....

By John Michael Greer Let’s start with the basics. Roughly 5% of the human race currently live in the United States of America. That very small fraction of humanity, until quite recently, enjoyed about a third of the world’s energy resources and manufactured products and about a quarter of its raw materials. This didn’t happen...

President Guillermo Lasso will appear before the National Assembly Tuesday to defend himself against charges of embezzlement, the basis of the impeachment trial that begins this week. According to his legal secretary, the president will insist he committed no crime and followed the recommendations of the national comptroller in the case involving the public company...

By Sylvan Hardy As the clock ticks down to an impeachment vote in the National Assembly that could remove President Guillermo Lasso from office, political and legal experts agree he faces three options. The first is to allow the impeachment trial to play through to the end in the belief the opposition does not have...

“Captain, bring your boat closer,” shouts an Ecuadoran naval officer aboard a launch patrolling the Gulf of Guayaquil on a route traffickers use to ferry drugs to the high seas. Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second largest city and its major port, has become a strategic point for the shipment of hundreds of tons of drugs, mostly cocaine,...

The new trade agreement between Ecuador and China, signed on Wednesday, will have a “massive economic impact” on the country’s agricultural, seafood and manufacturing sectors, according to the Ministry of Production and Trade. “We believe there will be an increase of at least $3 billion in exports in the first year of this arrangement,” the...

By Anna Flack Venezuela had the highest inflation rate for food of Latin America, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). As of September 2022 (the latest comprehensive report), the country saw an increase of 110.4 percent from the same month of 2021. Argentina had the second highest food...