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Ecuador has loaned 644,000 ounces of gold to the financial services company Goldman Sachs in exchange for short-term liquidity and support for public accounts. President Rafael Correa has reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs to receive $580 million. Ecuador, unlike...
Quito police get tough with speeders Beginning Wednesday, June 4, Quito traffic police are stopping speeders on the city’s streets and highways. The city says that more than 400 vehicles were pulled over in the first two days of the operation. For first offenses,...
A member of the British Parliament ignored Foreign Office advice about travelling to Ecuador and paid the price when she had her purse stolen after a thief in Quito slashed her rucksack. Tracey Crouch, the Conservative party member from Chatham and Aylesford in Kent,...
A court in Ecuador has sentenced former President Jamil Mahuad in absentia to 12 years in jail for embezzlement. The ruling comes two days after Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest. Mahuad denies any wrongdoing. Mahuad fled to the United States in 2000 after he...
Interpol has issued an international alert for the former President of Ecuador, Jamil Mahuad. Mahuad, a lecturer at Harvard University, is wanted in Ecuador over allegations of embezzlement during his time in office in the 1990s. The former president, who denies the...
A new report by four weather organizations have increased the likelihood of an El Niño later this year to 70%. Two weeks ago, one weather model said there was a 60% chance of the weather phenomenon caused by higher water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. President...
Ecuador’s customs service is stepping up enforcement efforts on the country’s highways. Customs says that 70% of smuggled goods come in over the Colombian and Peruvian borders, most of it going by car or truck to Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca. In the Cuenca area,...
Cuenca television manufacturer Motsur is entering a new production phase, incorporating the lastest technology into its new models. It has announced plans to produce a high-definition 55-inch television that can be operated by voice and hand and eye movement instead...
By April Holloway In 2012, a team of explorers and researchers discovered what they believed to be an ancient pyramid complex in a remote area of the Ecuador Amazonian jungle, one not known to the general public internationally or even within the country. Bruce...
By Ramiro Crespo Recently, we noted that the year-long slide of the dollar compared with the euro, the second biggest market for Ecuadorian exports, as well as the surprising resilience of oil prices provide some solace to the Ecuadorian economy. After some criticism...
Ecuador has declared an emergency in the Galapagos Islands, warning that a stricken cargo ship that ran aground last week threatens the archipelago's fragile ecosystem. The country’s environment minister Lorena Tapia Nunez said 19,000 gallons of diesel had been...
Ecuador expects to begin oil production in late 2015 or early 2016 at the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil block, which has estimated reserves of about 900 million barrels and will need investments estimated at $5.6 billion. The government’s decision to press ahead...
According to President Rafael Correa, Ecuador spends more of its gross domestic product (GDP) on higher education than any country in Latin America. Speaking yesterday at the University of Santiago in Chile, Correa also said that Ecuador commits the most resources to...
Editor's note: In the Latin American culture, a "paseo" is a break from the work-a-day world, most often a leisurely stroll or a casual get-together of friends. It can also be a horsemen's outing in the countryside that can be, as expat Nat Goodale discovered,...
Just when most Ecuadorians can’t wait for the end to the April - May rainy season, scientists say that an El Niño weather phenomenon may be forming in the Pacific. For coastal areas in particular, El Niño can mean devastation. Since early last week, record-setting...
Only days after Ecuador’s election commission rejected signatures that would have forced a national referendum on oil drilling in the Yasuni national park, the government has started to accept bids for preparation work at the drilling site. Geologists say that the...
Ecuador’s National Telecommunications Council (Conatel) has set July 1 as the deadline for the country’s cell phone providers to make a series of service improvements. Conatel says the upgrades are based on recommendations from the International Telecommunication...
Following the expulsion of military personnel attached to the U.S. Embassy in Quito last month, the U.S. plans to eliminate funding for Ecuador’s fight against illegal drugs. "I am quite prepared to acknowledge right now the INL section, which has been in Ecuador now...
Most Ecuador residential electric customers will see their electric bills increase by 10% to 12% beginning in June. Although Ecuador’s National Electricity Council (Conelec) is not saying so, the increase is intended to offset government electric subsidies, including...
By Susan Schenck “I could never happen to me,” you think. But then it does. You wake up in an unfamiliar place and slowly, you become aware that you’ve had sex. The last thing you remember is that you were having a few drinks with an acquaintance. Did you really black...
