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New national rules for condominium and housing development have sparked a firestorm of protest from developers of large real estate projects. On Thursday, Ecuador's Superintendency of Companies said that developers would be required to have all financing and...
By Michael Shifter Editor's note: Michael Shifter is president of the Inter-American Dialogue and adjunct professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University. Since President Rafael Correa came to power seven years ago, U.S. relations with Ecuador have been...
Only days after Ecuador’s weather service issued a drought alert for the sierra, heavy rains have caused flooding in Quito and areas to the north of the city. Cuenca, which had negligible rain fall in November and December also received day-long rains on Monday and...
The campaign for hundreds of public offices officially kicked off on Tuesday and President Rafael Correa has taken official leave to stump for candidates from his Pais political party. The election for municipal and provincial offices is Feb. 23. Correa began his...
Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health (MSP) plans to hire more than 5,000 public health doctors in the coming months, it announced on Tuesday. MSP said it was focusing on the areas of anesthesiology, emergenciology, epidemiology and physical medicine as well as general...
By Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott Organized crime is adaptable and profit-driven, and in 2014, that could mean moving beyond Mexico and Colombia to a more diverse set of nations. We can already identify some of the trends that are likely to mark the evolution of...
There were no sacred cows at Sunday afternoon’s Day of the Innocents parade. Politicians, government policies, television personalities, expats, and even the dead, were lampooned during the three-hour procession down Cuenca’s Av. Huayna Capac. The parade, sponsored by...
Cantonal officials are asking citizens to conserve water due to low river and reservoir levels. They say that despite the light rain that has fallen since Saturday, low river levels will probably continue to be the norm for several weeks. The Cuenca utility company...
National Police are cracking down on sex trade workers near the bus station and along Av. Huayana Capac but say identifying prostitutes is often difficult. Authorities say that the sex business attracts crime and presents a bad image for the city. In addition to...
By David Luhnow There are two Latin Americas right now. The first is a bloc of countries—including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela—that faces the Atlantic Ocean, mistrusts globalization and gives the state a large role in the economy. The second—made up of countries...
Education Minister Augusto Espinosa says that the government plans to reduce the number of public schools from 18,000 to 5,564 over the next 10 years. “Our educational system was designed to meet the needs of the last century,” he said. “It is time we move ahead to...
The government has launched an effort to make Ecuador a more attractive destination for Chinese tourists. According to Patricio Tamariz, Deputy Minister of Tourism, the plan involves increasing advertising aimed at the Chinese market. The tourism ministry reports that...
Ecuador's foreign debt in October totaled $18.33 billion, up 16% from a year before, the central bank said. The amount is equivalent to about 20% of Ecuador's $90 billion gross domestic product forecast for 2013. According to current law, the country's debt-to-GDP...
It’s barely been a month since Uruguay moved to legalize marijuana, and yet the effects of the decision are already being felt well outside of its borders. Neighboring Argentina, a long-time proponent of keeping marijuana illegal, gave its first indication that...
In a year-end interview, President Rafael Correa said he intends to make streamlining government paperwork a priority for 2014. Although the original intent was to reduce the steps and time required to establish and operate a business, Correa said that red tape needs...
Police are turning up more cases of a new fad among the city’s youth: getting drunk by gum drops. Apparently imported from the U.S., the practice involves soaking gum drops in heated liquor before they are consumed. Several parties where the loaded gum drops were...
City lawyers are finding it slow going purchasing property along the route of the Av. Ordoñez Lasso reconstruction and widening project. Work is scheduled to begin in February on the 6.5-kilometer on the route that begins at the Av. Las Americas redondel but...
Although the National Transit Agency has set December 31 as the deadline for installing meters in the country’s taxis, the lack of a new rate schedule will delay the implementation of the new system in Cuenca for two to three months. A commission of taxi companies,...
President Rafael Correa warned Monday that reports that U.S. intelligence played a role in a 2008 Colombian attack on FARC rebels in northern Ecuador could threaten regional peace efforts. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that a secret Central...
According the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the economic condition of Ecuadorians has improved for the fifth consecutive year. The year-end improvement, per capita, is estimated at 2.1%. Victor Hugo Alban, President of the College of...
