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Vice President Jorge Glas said Saturday that Ecuador is requiring “state-of-the-art” precautions to make sure the mining operations cause as little environmental harm as possible. “We are protecting the water and the land better than any government ever has,” he said...
An Ecuadorian opposition journalist convicted of libeling President Rafael Correa said on Thursday that he is broke and must take up a public collection to pay the $141,000 judgment. Fernando Villavicencio displayed a piggy bank at a news conference and said he will...
Ecuador said Thursday that it will allow Swedish prosecutors to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy. A date will be set for the interview within one to two weeks, according to an embassy official. Although he has not been formerly charged,...
Cuenca Mayor Marcelo Cabrera said Thursday that there is no definite start date for the resurfacing of the runway of Mariscal La Mar Airport, although he says he hopes work will begin between August 16 and 20. He blamed the delay on contract details. An airport...
A Turkish port operator says it will transform Puerto Bolivar near Machala into Latin America’s largest container terminal. The port is currently the country’s primary export point for bananas and seafood. According to the Istanbul-based Yildirim Group, the...
By Brian Buckner I can’t imagine that there are too many people in the world who don’t like ice cream. It’s like the national dessert in Ecuador. Here, an indigenous woman and her daughter pause for a break at the parque, enjoying some cold and sweet refreshment!...
Although Diez de Agosto is officially the independence day for Quito, it is unofficially considered Ecuador’s national independence day. When independence was declared in 1809, Quito was the administrative center, or Royal Audience, of a broad region that included all...
Ecuadorian police said Tuesday that robbers shot and seriously wounded a U.S. man as he was playing Pokemon Go in a Guayaquil park. The victim, Mitchell Cleve Williams, had come to the South American country recently to marry an Ecuadorian woman, police said. He was...
By Susan Burke March According to National Geographic, dogs have accompanied humans for more than 10,000 years, and are probably the first domesticated animal. Besides the companionship that owning a dog brings to your life, dog owners tend to be healthier than the...
A man arrested for allegedly raping of two British tourists in Montanita may be involved in several others, police say. Although the rapes occurred in May, police only took the man into custody last week. They say they have been investigating the case since the two...
A magnitude 4.6 earthquake rocked Quito Monday night, collapsing a bridge and triggering landslides that closed several roads. The quake, centered six miles northeast of the city in the town of Puembo, also caused power outages and broke water lines. A spokesman for...
By Scott Fugit “Jaime is a very safe driver,” Bill assured me – or was it Bob – as he pulled the napkin out from under his fourth margarita and scribbled down the name and number. “Sounds like a good contact. Thanks,” I said. It was our third driver recommendation...
By Sebastien Malo Almost four months after a devastating earthquake hit Ecuador, a leading government minister has appealed to tourists to return to the financially-struggling Andean country. Nearly 700 people were killed and about 6,200 injured on April 16 in the...
Following several lean years, Cuenca’s Panama hat makers say that local and international sales remain strong in 2016, continuing a trend that began in 2014. Several companies report that they are ramping up production. Homero Ortega, the city’s oldest and largest...
Proposed legislation that would require health insurance companies and pre-paid health plans to provide coverage for congenital diseases as well as pre-existing, catastrophic and chronic conditions is not just about eliminating discrimination. It is also about...
According to Cuenca’s transportation office, educating the public about tranvia rules is essential for keeping accidents to a minimum. “The tranvia is a large, heavy moving vehicle and pedestrians, cyclists and drivers will need to know how to safely maneuver around...
The National Transportation Agency (NTA) has approved the operation of 20 vans between Cuenca’s Mariscal La Mar Airport and Guayaquil and Quito. The airport will be closed for 30 days for runway resurfacing. The 20-passenger Mercedes Benz vans will be operated by...
By Susan Burke March Although our local Ecuadorian cuisine is wholesome, it is often lacking in pizzazz. I find myself reaching for the aji even before tasting. But Thai food is quite different. How to describe it? Cookbook author and celebrity chef known as “McDang”...
Under a proposed provision of Cuenca’s new noise ordinance, the private gas trucks that cruise residential neighborhoods would be required to use music instead of beeps to alert their customers. For as long as anyone can remember, the trucks and crews that replace...
By Brian Buckner In Ecuador, the siesta is generally observed between one and three in the afternoon. However, nobody seems to really be counting. Naps, cat or otherwise, are grabbed whenever the opportunity presents itself. The indigenous peoples of Ecuador maintain...
