Ecuador News

On May 11, Ecuador and China officially signed a free trade agreement that aims to boost bilateral trade, including that in the agricultural sector. The deal was signed by Ecuador’s Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries Julio José Prado and China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao during a video conference after a year...

Ecuador Attorney General Diana Salazar says she will not only ignore a call for her suspension by Ecuador’s Council of the Judiciary but will prosecute council members who support it. According to the Council’s discipline subcommittee, Salazar should be suspended without pay for three months while charges of plagiarism of her university thesis are investigated....

The driver of a soft drink trailer truck is blaming brake failure for a multi-vehicle accident that resulted in three deaths and 18 injuries Saturday afternoon on the Pan American highway north of Quito. Meanwhile, medical professionals claim that many of those who arrived at the scene seemed more interested in taking cell phone photos...

The list of candidates for president in the August cross death election grew by one over the weekend while previously announced candidates consolidated their support with new endorsements. Guayaquil business leader Eduardo Maruri, sponsored by the Democratic Center, added his name to the list of contenders Saturday, saying he believes voters need an alternative to...

The management of public oil company Petroecuador is going on the offensive against the public referendum that would end oil production in Yasuní National Park. “If this effort is successful, the country will lose billions of dollars in revenue and face large loss claims by contractors working in bock 43,” says Ramón Correa, Petroecuador general...

A poll released Wednesday by Click Research offers a first post-cross death look at how Ecuadorian voters feel about the prospective presidential candidates. It is also clarifies what they think of the cross death and the biggest issues facing the country. Among possible presidential candidates, the yet-unnamed nominee from the Corresista Citizen’s Revolution party leads...

Former National Police lieutenant Germán Cáceres was sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison Thursday for the murder of his wife, attorney María Belén Bernal. In addition to the sentence, the maximum allowed under the criminal code, Cáceres was ordered to pay Bernal’s family $234,000 in reparations. Cáceres admitted committing the murder during...

President Guillermo Lasso has signed his second urgent economic decree-law after invoking of the cross death that  dissolved the National Assembly. The “Attraction and Promotion of Investments for Productive Development” initiative, which provides for the creation of new duty-free trade zones, was sent on Tuesday to the Constitutional Court for its review and implementation. The...

By Sylvan Hardy In his May 24, 1981 speech commemorating the Battle of Pichincha and Ecuador’s independence from Spain, President Jaime Roldós claimed that the fight for independence continued for Latin American countries. Ecuador should not become involved in “inconsequential entanglements,” he said, a reference to pressure by the U.S. to oppose leftist insurgencies in...