Thousands of fraudulent driver’s licenses could be cancelled; Expat deported on child pornography charges; AC consumes 11% of country’s electricity

The National Traffic Agency (ANT) said Monday that it has cancelled more than 3,000 professional driver’s licenses it claims were fraudulently issued. The agency says it expects to suspend “many thousands more” licenses, including non-professional licenses.

The suspensions are the result of an investigation of ANT offices that revealed the sale by ANT employees of licenses to people who did not meet driver requirements and who had not passed the required exams. Prosecutors believe that as many as 30,000 licenses may have been sold.

Air conditioning consumes 11% of the country’s electricity and the demand is growing rapidly.

New ANT executive director Luis Darío Villacrés said the license cancellations will be “progressive” as the investigation continues. In addition to ANT personnel who sold the licenses, Villacrés said that those who purchased licenses may face prosecution. “Those in possession of these licenses knew they were committing an illegal act when they paid for them,” he said.

Cuenca expat faces deportation on child pornography charges
A 76-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested Tuesday morning and faces deportation to the U.S. to face child pornography charges. The suspect, identified as David Buzzard, was escorted from Casa Azul restaurant on San Sebastián Plaza to his apartment on Calle Mariscal Sucre where National Police seized two computers, a tablet and a cell phone.

According to a police officer, the charges against Buzzard were filed in the U.S. state of Virginia, where he will be transferred. The officer said Buzzard will arrive in the U.S. early Wednesday.

An immigration official who assisted in the arrest said Buzzard “represented a threat to public security” in Ecuador based on the legal filings against him in the U.S. The official added that Buzzard’s legal residency was current.

Buzzard had lived in the Mariscal Sucre apartment for four years.

Air conditioning consumes 11% of country’s electricity
Air conditioning Ecuador’s coastal region requires 11% of all the electricity generated in the country and, according to the National Electricity Corporation, the demand is growing rapidly. By comparison, in 2023 air conditioning consumed less than 6% of the country’s power.

There are two simple reasons for the increased demand, says university professor and energy consultant José Sampietro. “Temperatures are rising and people are buying more air conditioners,” he says.

National Meteorologic Institute statistics show the average annual temperature in Ecuador has risen by one degree (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) since 2022. “In Guayaquil, this means more days of 32, 33, and 34 degrees, and with the humidity factor, it can feel like 40 degrees,” says Sampietro. “This is why sales of air conditioners has increased 25% in recent months.”

Sampietro worries that the government is not factoring in the massive power demand for air conditioning. “We are already in a crisis situation with electricity, and this puts even greater burden to the power grid,” he says.