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Thousands of spectators will be treated to a fast-paced variety show of law enforcement skills and talents in Alejandro Serrano stadium beginning at 10 this morning. Event sponsors expect a crowd of 18,000 to attend demonstrations of crime fighting techniques as well...
Do you find yourself spending more time waiting for a taxi? Cuenca’s transportation office says it is receiving complaints from passengers about slow taxi response time, some claiming that a new Internet-based program called Easy Taxi is to blame. Easy Taxi allows...
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Roberta Jacobson says that the U.S. may soon send Roberto and William Isaias back to Ecuador to face eight-year prison sentences. Jacobson was in Quito earlier this week to discuss a number of issues with...
Electronic money guidelines announced Ecuador’s Central Bank has set limits of $2,000 per month and $300 per day for transactions under its new electronic money system. For companies, the limit is $20,000 per month, but the amount can be extended with prior approval,...
National car sales show little growth Car dealers are blaming national tariffs and import quotas on continuing slow sales. In the first nine months of 2014, sales grew only 1.31%. The president of the Association of Automobile Companies, Diego Luna, says that growth...
A delegation calling itself the Cuenca Civic Collective is asking the country’s comptroller general to investigate the financial arrangements of the city’s light rail system, Tranvía de los Cuatro Rios. Collective members are demanding that the investigation begin...
Ordoñez Lasso construction to begin in early 2015 Ecuador’s Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MTOP) says it has almost completed right-of-way purchases for the expansion and reconstruction of Av. Ordoñez Lasso and work should begin in February or March 2015....
The British government has invited Sweden’s chief prosecutor to question Julian Assange, prior to a court hearing in Sweden, on whether to withdraw a warrant for his arrest on rape charges. The UK Foreign Office said it would “actively welcome” a request by the...
Although the date of Cuenca’s independence from Spain doesn’t arrive officially until Monday, holiday activities are already in full swing. Vendors of crafts, housed in white tents along Av. Doce de Abril, have been busy making sales since Tuesday. Doce de Abril...
President Rafael Correa highlighted advances in gender equality on Wednesday, acknowledging the recently released World Economic Forum report, Global Gender Gap for 2014. “Finally, gender justice in the country,” said President Correa via his Twitter account. Ecuador...
Voters in last weekend’s elections in Uruguay and Brazil have something in common: They were legally required to cast a ballot. Both countries have compulsory voting, under which failure to vote is punishable by a fine. Roughly 30 countries, and nearly a fifth of...
There will changes to the renovation plans for Cuenca’s San Francisco Square, the city says. The original design, developed during the administration of former Mayor Paúl Granda, had been criticized by vendors who work on the plaza and by some architects. Vendors in...
The administration of Cuenca Mayor Marcelo Cabrera is pressing ahead with plans for a six-lane freeway that would encircle the city despite cost projections that have increased from $519 million to almost $720 million since it was first proposed. Cabrera and his staff...
By Michael Fumento Step aside, EU! China is set to become Latin America’s second-largest trading partner in two years. And 13 years later it will be king of the hill according to the journal China Policy Review. Yes, having locked up Asia and Africa, the ever-hungry...
Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health has established steps to identify and treat international travelers arriving in the country who may be infected with the Ebola virus. It says that it has set protocols at the international airports in Guayaquil and Quito similar to...
More Coopera investors receive partial repayment In the fourth phase of repayments to investors in the failed Cuenca financial cooperative, Coopera, account holders with accounts of up to $102,000 are receiving payment of $46,875. The government said that, as of...
Cuenca transportation officials say they expect to receive a report from the International Council on Monuments and Historic Sites (ICOMOS) within a week that may include recommendations for tram construction through the historic district. ICOMOS, which works closely...
By Carlo Caraluzzo Ecuador has begun its experiment with virtual currencies. The government announced earlier this year that they would create a government-backed virtual currency in as a way to shore up a sagging economy that is currently being buoyed up by the U.S....
Underemployment affects 26% in Cuenca According to the latest statistics from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), more than a quarter of Cuencanos are underemployed. INEC defines the underemployed as those who want to work full time but cannot, and...
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador told an audience of hundreds that "subjugation of living, breathing human beings to the needs of capital" is not acceptable, in a damning critique of "an immoral and unjust world order" during a special lecture organized by the...
