Ecuador News

A conference of international prison experts concluded Saturday, offering a series of recommendations to Ecuador’s government of how to reestablish control of prisons. Among the recommendations offered at the International Conference on Prison and Citizen Security, were to create a specialized prison police force, revise laws governing the country’s judicial system and to accelerate the...

President Daniel Noboa said he and Attorney General Diana Salazar receive death threats almost daily. “She and I talk about this and compare the messages we get,” the president said Friday at a prison safety conference. “The messages we receive are an indication that we are doing our job by attacking the criminal organizations that...

Former Correista National Assemblyman Ronny Aleaga and 12 others are facing prosecution in the latest phase of the Attorney General’s Metastasis case investigation. Prosecutors said Friday there is sufficient evidence to begin proceeding against Aleaga, an alleged collaborated with drug trafficker Leandro Norero, alias El Patrón, and others said to be part of a criminal...

By Robyn White Archaeologists have shed light on the origins of chocolate by tracing the spread of the cacao tree. A new study published in Scientific Reports found that the cacao tree, which grows cocoa beans, seems to have begun spreading from the Amazon to other regions at least 5,000 years ago via human migration and trading routes. “Humans...

The president of Ecuador’s Judiciary Council calls Monday’s arrests at the Guayas Provincial Court headquarters a “good start” to uprooting corruption in the country’s justice system but says much more needs to be done. “If the allegations presented by prosecutors are proven – and the evidence is very convincing — they show the alarming extent...

Former Guayaquil mayor and leader of the Social Christian Party (PSC) Jaime Nebot denied a claim by former director of the Guayas Judiciary Council María Josefa Coronel that he was aware of the illegal activities of National Assemblyman Pablo Muentes. Muentes, a Social Christian, was arrested Monday on corruption charges related to activities in the...

A judge has ordered nine defendants, including National Assemblyman Pablo Muentes, held in pre-trial detention following Monday’s arrests connected to the Guayas Provincial Court. Attorney General Diana Salazar had asked that 11 of the 12 arrested on organized crime charges remain in jail but said she is satisfied with the ruling by Judge Javier de...