Pickup truck joyride down escalinata sparks outrage; Ecuador and Brazil play to a scoreless tie; Ecuador and Canada speed up negotiations for a trade deal

A pickup truck joy ride down the recently renovated Francisco Sojos Jaramillo escalinata by a drunken lawyer has sparked outrage from Cuenca officials. “This careless act will not be tolerated, and we intend to seek criminal charges against the driver and owner of the vehicle,” Mayor Cristian Zamora said Thursday.

Zamora said the Wednesday night event threatened pedestrians and caused damage to the stone steps and railing of the stairway that was reconstructed last year.

The pickup truck that drove down the Francisco Sojos Jaramillo escalinata Tuesday night was easily identified by its license plate. The driver, a Cuenca lawyer, was said to be drunk at the time of the incident.

Thursday morning, the truck was located in the Totoracocha neighborhood and taken into custody. Identification of the vehicle was easy, according to Cuenca Mobility office director Lenin Guzmán, since it displayed its license plates. Videos show the truck turning off of Calle Larga and descending the stairs to Paseo Tres de Noviembre.

According to Guzmán, the driver, who was “under the influence of alcohol” at the time of incident, was not the owner of the truck. “He is a local attorney who borrowed the Ford F-150 from another attorney,” Guzmán said. “The owner will also be held responsible since he was aware that his friend had been drinking.”

The driver and truck owner were not identified.

Ecuador and Brazil play to a scoreless tie in Guayaquil
Ecuador’s official qualification for the 2026 World Cup will have to wait. Despite Thursday night’s scoreless tie with Brazil, the Tri-Color remains in second place in the 10-team South American division, picking up a point for the tie.

Ecuador’s football team played a scoreless tie with Brazil Thursday night in Guayaquil. It plays again Tuesday against Peru.

Six teams in the division will qualify for World Cup competition that will be held next year in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

For most of last night’s game, played in Guayaquil, Ecuador was the dominant team but, once again, it failed to convert its advantage into goals. With top scorer Enner Valencia out with an injury, the team struggled to put together an effective offense near the Brazilian goal.

“It was true again tonight, that beyond Valencia, we lack a break-out striker near the opponent’s goal,” said Homero Valencia, director Ecuador’s Football Federation. “Although this is a problem to be resolved, we continue to exhibit the best defense in South America and probably one of the best in the world. To yield only five goals in 15 matches is remarkable in qualification play, and I understand it has never been achieved before. If the other team cannot score on us, we cannot be beaten.”

Ecuador plays Peru Tuesday night in Lima, with a win securing a World Cup spot. Qualifier competition concludes in September, with a home game against Paraguay and an away game in Argentina.

Ecuador and Canada push trade deal
Ecuador and Canada have signed a joint declaration to accelerate negotiations for a free trade agreement, the Trade and Production Ministry said Tuesday. “Due to the current international crisis in trade relations, an agreement is more important than ever,” the ministry said.

“We have agreed to conclude the talks within a matter of months,” said Trade and Production Minister Luis Jaramillo. “Canada and Ecuador have a long-standing friendship and agree this relationship should extend to bilateral trade,” he said. “We both agree we need certainty and stability given the current chaos within the community of nations and plan to conclude this pact in as short a time as possible.”

Among details to be worked out, Jaramillo said, was protection for Ecuadorian producers of artisanal products.