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The government has ordered Ecuador’s major banks to provide 5% mortgage interest rates, the lowest in the country’s history, to help finance low-cost housing. According Minister of Economic Policy Patricio Rivera, the banks will be reimbursed by the nation’s central...
Latin American countries should discuss removing all U.S. military bases from their soil, a top official of UNASUR suggested. The issue may be discussed later this week at the Summit of the Americas in Panama. The Summit of the Americas, to be held in Panama City,...
It’s the highest weather radar station in the world and, according to officials, will provide early warnings to water management personnel that will prevent flooding. The station, which will also provide data for air traffic and scientific studies, was constructed in...
By Edwin Mora Gen. John Kelly, the top U.S. commander in Latin America and the Caribbean, has warned lawmakers that over the last 15 years, Iran has been building influence in the region he oversees as the chief of U.S Southern Command (Southcom). Sen. Jeff Sessions...
British citizen James Jackson, 71, does not have the right to vote in his home country, a victim of a law preventing Britons from voting at home once they’ve lived out of the country for 15 years. The British law is not unique and other countries, including the U.S.,...
Editor's note: Aaron Marr Page is a plaintiff's attorney for indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon region in the case against Chevron-Texaco for environmental damage left by their oil production operations in the 1970s and 1980s. By Aaron Marr Page Nearly a...
When a group of stray neighborhood dogs showed up at the viewing and memorial service for a woman who devoted her life to taking care of homeless animals in Cuernavaca, Mexico, her daughter insisted that that be allowed to stay. According to daughter Patricia Urrutia,...
Ecuador’s National Assembly is considering legislation to eliminate some payment requirements within the country’s Social Security (IESS) system that President Rafael Correa says are requiring large government subsidies. The legislation, which would change previous...
By Karla Freeman Now that you’re an expat, how do you plan a life in Cuenca? Do you try to do the same things you did in your home country? Or, do you understand the need to adapt? For some advice, let’s turn to Paul Simon’s 1975 song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,”...
Reducing vehicular traffic in El Central was the primary recommendation of a UNESCO technical advisory team that visited Cuenca in August 2014. According to Mayor Marcelo Cabrera and Transportation Director Gerardo Fernández, the government is serious about fulfilling...
You can color Wednesday blue as the city of Cuenca celebrates the International Day for Austism Awareness with a march for those with autism and other disabilities. Marchers will be decked out in blue, the international color of autism support. Those wishing to...
Although Ecuador’s GDP growth of 3.8 percent for 2014 fell short of predictions, the country’s economy still performed better than most Latin American countries, which averaged 1.1 percent growth. The only countries showing higher growth rates than Ecuador in 2014...
President Rafael Correa may skip the Summit of the Americas in Panama next month to protest the comments made by the U.S. White House in a budget request to Congress. In the request for $2 billion for foreign aid to Latin America, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for...
By Wendy Jane Carrel From Paris to Muscat, and Guadalajara to Zanzibar, I’ve enjoyed finding my first meal of the day. When I visited Cuenca 20 years ago, and then again on my return three years ago, the choice was simple, either my place of lodging or other hotels....
Six people, four children and two adults, were killed Thursday night when a house, undermined by flooding, collapsed in Loja. Several other homes in the area were destroyed or damaged by flood waters, emergency service officers say. Authorities say that several rivers...
Ecuador’s historic trade agreement reached last July with the European Union could be in jeopardy. Foreign Trade Minister Diego Aulestia was summoned to Brussels this week to explain to EU officials why Ecuador has imposed tariff surcharges ranging from 5% to 45% on...
Ecuador national police arrested a 36-year-old man in connection to the Monday night murder of U.S. expat Steve Riley. The man, identified as Daniel Matias, had been held as a suspect since he was apprehended early Tuesday morning at Vicente Moscoso Corral Hospital...
At least 14 people have died due to heavy rains across Ecuador, most of the victims dying on a highway connecting Quito to Santo Domingo and the coast. Seven of the victims, including two Colombians, died when their vehicles were buried by landslides 30 kilometers...
A U.S. citizen, identified as Henry Dricker Riley, died of stab wounds Monday night in his home on Av. 27 de Febrero, near Tres Puentes. Friends and neighbors say the victim went by the name of Steve Riley. Police say that Riley, 64, received at least 25 stab wounds...
Ecuador has denied that President Rafael Correa had accused the United States of trying to destabilize his government by infiltrating it with spies, according to an official statement. Correa had said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was trying to “wear down the...
