Latest Ecuador News

As Christmas nears, Ecuador's homes get a break from power cuts but companies still face rationing

Dec. 21, 2024 17:46 PM EST

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — As Christmas approaches and people decorate their homes with lights, Ecuadoreans are getting some relief from the severe power cuts that have hounded the country this year with President Daniel Noboa saying there will be no power rationing for residential areas - for the...

Ecuador's government will stop rationing electricity nationwide just before the holidays

Dec. 10, 2024 14:28 PM EST

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador’s government will stop rationing electricity services just before the holidays, President Daniel Noboa — who was heavily criticized for the cuts resulting in three months of daily interruptions — announced Tuesday. Normal service will resume on Dec. 20. ...

Power shortages in Ecuador are melting away the future of a small town’s ice-cream industry

Dec. 04, 2024 00:12 AM EST

SALCEDO, Ecuador (AP) — Ice-cream production in Salcedo, a quaint town in Ecuador's central highlands, began in the mid-20th century, born from the ingenuity of Franciscan nuns. Locals say the sisters would drink fruit shakes made with milk from the region’s dairy farms until one...

Death toll of riot in Ecuador's largest and most dangerous prison rises to 17

Nov. 13, 2024 13:00 PM EST

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The number of inmates killed in a riot in Ecuador’s largest and most dangerous prison rose to 17, authorities said Wednesday, a day after the goriest prison episode under the watch of President Daniel Noboa broke out. Noboa handed control over the most...

At least 15 inmates killed in a fight in Ecuador's largest prison

Nov. 12, 2024 22:35 PM EST

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — A fight among inmates in Ecuador’s largest and most dangerous prison left 15 dead and 14 wounded, authorities said Tuesday, in the bloodiest prison episode faced by President Daniel Noboa’s government. Authorities attributed the outbreak to internal...

Ecuador's VP suspended for 150 days deepening rift with president as February election looms

Nov. 09, 2024 13:17 PM EST

QUITO (AP) — Ecuador's Vice President Veronica Abad was suspended Saturday for 150 days accused of “unjustified abandonment” of her duties. It comes during a public rift between Abad and President Daniel Noboa that could have implications for Ecuador 's February elections. ...

A truck crashes in Ecuador's Amazon killing 10 people

Nov. 03, 2024 11:43 AM EST

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ten people died Sunday when the truck they were traveling in on the Ecuadorian Amazon fell into a ravine, law enforcement authorities in the South American country said. Police in the Amazonian province of Morona Santiago, in the country’s southeast, said...

Desperation over gang violence fuels a surge of migration from Ecuador to the US

Oct. 30, 2024 11:52 AM EDT

SAN MATEO, Ecuador (AP) — Oswaldo Angulo is a born fisherman, like generations before him. The oldest of his brothers, he dropped out of high school in Ecuador to learn the trade with his father. When he isn’t at sea for weeks at a time, Oswaldo, 36, lives with his parents. He can’t imagine...

In Ecuador, power-dependent patients wait in anguish as the government imposes hours-long blackouts

Oct. 26, 2024 00:08 AM EDT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The first time the electricity went off at night, Linda Vidal went into panic mode. For more than a year, the 52-year-old Ecuadorian woman suffering from Hodgkin lymphoma and a chronic respiratory disease has relied on an electricity-powered oxygen concentrator to breathe...

Ecuador expands power cuts to 14 hours a day due to drought

Oct. 25, 2024 12:28 PM EDT

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador has announced an increase in daily power cuts as the severe drought impacting the nation keeps lowering water levels for the key hydroelectric plants, the source of more than 70% of the country's electricity. Acting Energy minister Inés Manzano said...