Suspects in Ecuador assassination are Colombian, police say
Quito, EcuadorReuters One dead suspect and six others arrested in the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombians, Ecuadorean police said on Thursday, and the government said it was pursuing the “intellectual authors” of the murder. The fatal shooting on Wednesday night, less than two weeks before the election, has sent shockwaves through […]
Death toll from violence in Ecuador prisons hits 31
Updated: 12:30pm (AEST)Quito, EcuadorReuters Ecuador’s Attorney General raised the death toll from a wave of violence over the weekend in one the country’s most dangerous jails to 31 late on Tuesday, after the government earlier declared a 60-day state of emergency for the country’s prisons. The emergency declaration seemed to set off violence in the […]
Ecuador: Surging Guayaquil violence highlights security ahead of presidential vote
YURY GARCIA and ALEXANDRA VALENCIA, of Reuters, report…
Nearly a sixth of Ecuador’s prisoners held without sentence – census
Quito, EcuadorReuters Nearly a sixth of the inmates in Ecuador’s prisons have not been sentenced, a national census showed on Monday, as President Guillermo Lasso urged the judicial system to be speedier to help ease the burden on overcrowded jails. People gather outside the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison after a riot, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on […]
Postcards: Spooked by crime, Ecuadoreans train to carry guns for self-defence
ALEXANDRA VALENCIA, of Reuters, reports from Quito…
Ecuador could hold early elections on 20th August: electoral court
Quito, EcuadorReuters Ecuador could hold early legislative and presidential elections on 20th August, the electoral court said on Thursday, a day after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree and brought forward the vote scheduled for 2025. Lasso invoked the constitution’s so-called “two-way death” provision on Wednesday, which allows the President to call […]
Ecuador President Lasso dissolves National Assembly, triggers early elections
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections and heading off an attempt by opposition politicians to impeach him. Police and military decked in riot gear guarded the National Assembly building from behind barricades in capital Quito, allowing no-one inside. Ecuador’s President […]
Digging with scant hope, families search for dozens missing in Ecuador landslide
Alausi, Ecuador Reuters Families and rescue groups in Ecuador worked to find dozens of people still missing after a landslide smothered buildings and a stadium in the small city of Alausi, with the official death toll of seven expected to rise. An avalanche of earth ploughed into Alausi, in Ecuador’s Andean Chimborazo province, on Sunday […]
Ecuador, Peru authorities assess damage after earthquake that killed at least 15
Reuters Ecuadorian and Peruvian authorities worked on Sunday to assess the damage caused by the previous day’s strong earthquake that shook the region, leaving at least 15 dead and hundreds injured. The 6.8 magnitude quake struck the Ecuadorian coastal province of Guayas at midday on Saturday, with residents reporting shaking in much of the country […]
Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes Ecuador, at least four deaths reported
Quito, Ecuador Reuters A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a coastal region of Ecuador and northern Peru midday Saturday, leaving at least four people dead and resulting in some structural damage. “I call for calm and for people to get informed through official channels,” said Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in a tweet. A damaged car and […]