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Under growing budgetary pressure, Ecuador’s National Assembly is proposing a 100% tax on the purchase of gas-burning appliances, including stoves and hot water heaters. The tax is part of legislation intended to produce $200 million in income for the government. The legislation, according to its sponsors, is needed to help offset losses due to the...
By Andrew Ross At the point where the lazy, blackwater Cuyabeno runs into the faster currents of the Aguarico, carrying a chill from their Andean source, sandbars stretch out from the verdant banks. These are the Playas de Cuyabeno, and the name has attached itself to the indigenous Cofan community in this region, deep inside...
By Frances Robles The Obama administration overturned a ban preventing a wealthy, politically connected Ecuadorean woman from entering the United States after her family gave tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic campaigns, according to finance records and government officials. The woman, Estefanía Isaías, had been barred from coming to the United States after being...
According to several constructions workers at the Coca Codo Sinclair hydro-electric plant east of Quito, employees have been warned by project managers not to discuss last weekend’s deadly cave-in on the site with the media. The 1,500 megawatt plant is scheduled to become operational in early 2016. The accident in a pressure chamber killed ten...
By Kate Kilpatrick Latin America’s top officials appeared unanimous in their celebration Wednesday of a new chapter in United States-Cuba relations, which will witness the renewal of diplomatic ties and the easing of sanctions that have helped raze the Cuban economy. Latin America has long lobbied the U.S. to lift its 55-year embargo against Cuba....
On the banks of the Aguarico River, where the only respite from stifling humidity and the blazing sun is a dip in the contaminated water, Eduardo Silvio Chapal’s grandchildren splash, oblivious to the decades-long battle over who is responsible for cleaning up their jungle playground. Chapal, 64, was born and raised here, in Ecuador’s Lago...
Cuenca municipal police and national transit police continue to chalk up arrests for drinking in public and driving under the influence. Since the new city ordinance outlawing drinking in public places went into effect three weeks ago, municipal police report making more than 70 arrests. This includes 15 arrests Friday and Saturday nights, most of...
Following up on earlier warnings that Ecuador will need to reduce its national budget, the administration of President Rafael Correa has ordered government ministries to prepare for tough times. The administration says the cuts will amount to $1.5 billion. It also said it plans to sell $1.7 billion in 20-year treasury notes and seek loans...
A week after Costa Rica celebrated the 66th anniversary of the abolition of its armed forces, President Luis Guillermo Solís criticized growing arms spending in Latin America during a speech at the Ibero-American Summit in Veracruz, Mexico, on Sunday. In his remarks Solís noted a “troubling” tendency in the region toward militarization. “When I look...
The city transportation office has opened an information kiosk in Civic Plaza, adjacent to the Nueve de Octubre market. According to Gerard Fernandez, Cuenca transportation chief, the kiosk is intended to inform the public about details of the tram, including its route, station locations, technology and construction plans. The kiosk will be manned by transportation...
Eco-warriors on the front lines of climate diplomacy often frame the environmental conflict between the developed and the developing world as a version of the notorious skirmish between Lawrence H. Summers and José Lutzenberger, which happened on the sidelines of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, widely seen as the official start...
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