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☆ Explainer: Why has Ecuador become so violent?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A view of the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Ecuador was reeling on Thursday from the slaying of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio the night before, less than two weeks before elections were to take place. The killing of Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and drug crime that have beset Ecuador, underlines a deteriorating security situation in much of South America. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SECURITY IN ECUADOR? Verisk Maplecroft similarly attributed an "unprecedented surge in brutal criminality" to growing " trans-national drug-trafficking organizations and violent street gangs."

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, Karen Toro, Villavicencio, Verisk Maplecroft, Guyaquil, Guillermo Lasso, Villavicencio's, Lasso, Luis Donaldo Colosio, Colombia's, Luis Carlos Galan, Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner, Jair Bolsonaro, Oliver Griffin, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: REUTERS, Colombia's Liberal, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, South America, ECUADOR, Colombia, Europe, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, Argentine

☆ Reaction to killing of Ecuador presidential candidate Villavicencio
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

QUITO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - The following are reactions to the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on Wednesday. Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio speaks during a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. AMBASSADOR TO ECUADOR MIKE FITZPATRICK"I am deeply dismayed to learn of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, presidential candidate and fighter against the corruption and narco-criminals who have done so much damage to Ecuador." PARAGUAY'S PRESIDENT-ELECT SANTIAGO PENA"We repudiate and condemn the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. HONDURAN PRESIDENT XIOMARA CASTRO"We strongly condemn the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, GUILLERMO LASSO, Mayor Intriago, Fernando, RAFAEL CORREA, LUISA GONZALEZ, DANIEL NOBOA AZIN, XAVIER HERVAS, Karen Toro, MIKE FITZPATRICK, SANTIAGO PENA, XIOMARA CASTRO, Alexandra Valencia, Isabel Woodford, Valentine Hilaire, Caroline Pulice, Lincoln Organizations: OF, AMERICAN STATES, REUTERS, U.S, AFFAIRS MINISTRY, Ecuadorian, MINISTRY OF, Thomson Locations: QUITO, OF ECUADOR, Ecuador, Quito, Government, Chile, Ecuadorian Government, Mexico City

Police officers work outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The murder of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has made some voters more wary of going to the polls on Aug. 20, making an unsettled election even harder to forecast. Voters said they were afraid of more bloodshed, with some weighing whether to comply with mandatory voting rules. "I am scared and I'm thinking about whether to go vote," said Quito manicurist Margarita Alvarado, 45. "The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio complicates what is already an atypical and complex political crisis in Ecuador," said Verisk Maplecroft chief analyst Jimena Blanco and lead Americas analyst Eileen Gavin in a note.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, Karen Toro QUITO, Margarita Alvarado, couldn't, Alvarado, pollster Cedatos, Verisk, Jimena Blanco, Eileen Gavin, Villavicencio's, Villavicencio, Luisa Gonzalez, Teneo, Rafael Correa, Gonzalez, Correa, Guillermo Lasso, Lasso, Paulina Recalde, Perfiles, Recalde, Fernando, Santiago Avilez, Alexandra Valencia, Tito Correa, Julia Symmes Cobb, Brad Haynes, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Voters, Twitter, Albanian mafia, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, Americas

☆ Ecuador presidential candidate Villavicencio assassinated
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

QUITO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday evening during a campaign event in northern Quito, authorities said. The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers. [1/5]Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio speaks during a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. This vile act will not go unpunished!," presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party, said on X.Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez said he had decided to suspend his presidential campaign and demanded the violence stop in a video posted after the incident. May God have him in his glory," presidential hopeful Jan Topic said on X, before also suspending his campaign.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, Villavicencio, Guillermo Lasso, Construye, Karen Toro Villavicencio, Rafael Correa, Correa, Luisa Gonzalez, Yaku Perez, Otto Sonnenholzner, God, Jan, Alexandra Valencia, Valentine Hilaire, Isabel Woodford, Julia Symmes Cobb, Lincoln Organizations: Local, Interior Ministry, Albanian, Manta, REUTERS, Lasso, Thomson Locations: QUITO, Ecuador, Quito, Andean, Chimborazo, Alausi, Peru, Belgium, Carolina

Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waves an Ecuadorian flag as he attends a rally in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Fernando Villavicencio, the Ecuadorean presidential candidate gunned down in Quito on Wednesday, was no stranger to threats and intimidation from powerful figures in Ecuador. Villavicencio also denounced high-ranking executives in Ecuador's oil, mining and power industries – and even big foreign companies including Chinese oil behemoths, Brazilian engineering firms and global oil trading firms. The murder is the first of a presidential candidate in Ecuador's history. A year later, in 2014, Villavicencio went on the run to avoid imprisonment for alleged defamation of then-President Correa.

Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, Karen Toro, Long, –, Rafael Correa, Correa, Villavicencio, I'm, Villavicencio's, Guillermo Lasso ., Steven Grattan, Joshua Schneyer, Brad Haynes, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Mexico's, Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, Prensa, The Workers Press, National Assembly, Lasso, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, Belgium, Mexico's Sinaloa, Peru, China, London, New York

☆ Ecuador names new prisons director following July violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso walks on the day of his annual report to the nation, a week after dissolving the National Assembly and calling for early elections, in Quito, Ecuador, May 24, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro/File PhotoQUITO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso on Tuesday named a new director for the country's prison agency, SNAI, following renewed violence in one of the nation's most violent prisons. Lasso has regularly declared states of emergency in prisons as he tries to tackle violence that has surged since 2021, claiming the lives of at least 400 prisoners. The latest 60-day emergency declaration began in late July, after violence at Guayaquil's Penitenciaria del Litoral. Luis Ordonez, a retired soldier and intelligence expert, will replace Guillermo Rodriguez as the prison head, Lasso's press office said in a statement.

Persons: Guillermo Lasso, Karen Toro, Lasso, Luis Ordonez, Guillermo Rodriguez, Rodriguez, Ordonez, Alexandra Valencia, Julia Symmes Cobb, Leslie Adler Organizations: National Assembly, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, QUITO, Lasso's

☆ Ecuadorean votes could bar oil output in Amazon reserve, mining near Quito
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But oil and mining guilds say their industries are needed to shore up Ecuador's battered economy and that bans would expose the areas to illegal mining and deforestation. Outgoing President Guillermo Lasso, who moved ahead elections after lawmakers attempted to oust him, has failed to raise oil production or attract more mining investment as violence and social problems have worsened. A "yes" vote in both referendums could complicate finances for his successor. State oil company Petroecuador says a "yes" on the Yasuni referendum would cost the country $13.8 billion in income over the next two decades. But residents say mining will threaten high altitude wetlands, water and animals like the spectacled bear.

Persons: Read, Ecuadoreans, Guillermo Lasso, Santiago Pérez, Ramon Correa, Correa, Rafael Correa, Pedro Bermeo, Bermeo, Petroecuador, Australia's SolGold, Maria Eulalia Silva, Morelia Fuentes, Alexandra Valencia, Tito Correa, Karen Toro, Julia Symmes Cobb, Marguerita Choy Organizations: ITT, Environmental, Reuters, Voters, of Mining, Mining, Thomson Locations: Orellana, Orellana province, Ecuador, QUITO, Quito, Choco, North America, State, Pastaza

☆ Death toll from violent incidents in Ecuador's prisons hits 18
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Clashes between organized criminal gangs have taken place since Saturday at the prison, one of the most dangerous in Ecuador. In other prisons, inmates took nearly 100 guards hostage and prisoners in some jails began hunger strikes, without explaining why. Ecuador has long been plagued by prison violence. Military intervention in Ecuador's prisons will continue until control has been retaken and there is no threat to prisoners or officials, the government said. Lasso has regularly declared states of emergency in the country's prisons as he tries to tackle violence that has surged since 2021, claiming the lives of hundreds of prisoners.

Persons: Guillermo Lasso, Karen Toro, Lasso, Los Rios, Agustin Intriago, Alexandra Valencia, Oliver Griffin, Valentine Hilaire, William Maclean, Bill Berkrot Organizations: National Assembly, REUTERS, Ecuador, Duran, Sunday, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, QUITO, Guayaquil, Manabi, Los, Manta

☆ Ecuador declares state of emergency amid violent clashes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Lasso declared the state of emergency in the provinces of Manabi and Los Rios and in the city of Duran, near Guayaquil, after Agustin Intriago, the mayor of coastal city Manta, was shot dead on Sunday. It also comes on the back of riots over the weekend in the prison Penitenciaria del Litoral, in Guayaquil, involving clashes between gangs inside the prison. Lasso has frequently resorted to declaring states of emergency as Ecuador struggles with prison riots and waves of violence throughout the country. The state of emergency will last for 60 days in the provinces, while the curfew will vary during that period, the government said. Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Guillermo Lasso, Karen Toro, Lasso, Agustin Intriago, del, Prisoners, Alexandra Valencia, Carolina Pulice, Sonali Paul Organizations: National Assembly, REUTERS, Monday, Rios, United Nations, Inter, American, Human Rights, Thomson Locations: Quito, Ecuador, QUITO, Manabi, Duran, Guayaquil, Cotopaxi, El Oro, Napo

☆ Ecuador president dissolves legislature, bringing elections forward
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso testifies at the National Assembly, as part of the impeachment process against him for alleged corruption, in Quito, Ecuador May 16, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, May 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly in a decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he presented his defense in an impeachment process against him. Ninety-two votes form the 137-member legislature would have been needed to remove Lasso from office. Those voted into power in the early elections would only serve until the regularly-scheduled 2025 elections take place. The impeachment process was the first against a Ecuadorean president in decades.

This would see Lasso resign, triggering snap elections for both the presidency and the National Assembly, according to a clause in the Ecuador’s constitution. While Ricachon believes Ecuador’s president Lasso should complete his mandate, Zamora thinks the president’s time is up and that the country’s problems require a new leader. Once the president wraps up his defense on Tuesday and leaves the legislature, each of Ecuador’s 137 National Assembly members will be accorded ten minutes to speak. Then Saquicela, the National Assembly president, will set a date within five days for the impeachment vote. Members of unions and civil society groups demand that Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso leave office amid rising crime and insecurity, in Quito, Ecuador May 1, 2023.

And Ecuadorian authorities have struggled to tackle this public security crisis “efficiently because it is mired in (a) political crisis,” González says. Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso is at the center of this storm, and his popularity has tanked amid widespread discontent with spiraling crime rates. Before President Guillermo Lasso took office, Ecuador had already become a key transit hub for cocaine due to its location between Peru and Colombia. Lasso told Ecuador’s legislative commission investigating him that he had not evaded taxes and that his tax trajectory was legally supported. Members of unions and civil society groups march on International Workers' Day to demand that Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso, who is facing an impeachment process, leave office on May 1, 2023.

☆ 'More than enough' evidence to remove Ecuador's President Lasso -opposition
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Assembly members attend a hearing as lawmakers seek to remove Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso from office over alleged embezzlement, in Quito, Ecuador April 26, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, April 26 (Reuters) - There is more than enough evidence that corruption at a public company was allowed by Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso, justifying his removal from office, an opposition lawmaker testified to congress on Wednesday. Opposition lawmakers have pushed impeachment hearings against the conservative former banker, alleging Lasso disregarded embezzlement connected to an oil shipping contract between public company Flopec and a private sector business. Lasso did "nothing" when warned about irregularities in the contract, opposition lawmaker Viviana Veloz testified to the congressional oversight committee tasked with recommending whether or not Lasso should be removed. Another opposition lawmaker said they have complained to the attorney general's office over Lasso's alleged connections to Flopec corruption.

☆ Digging with scant hope, families search for dozens missing in Ecuador landslide
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] People dig amid debris as they look for relatives, following a landslide, in Alausi, Ecuador March 28, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroALAUSI, Ecuador, March 28 (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. Some 64 people were missing as of Monday night, according to Ecuador's disaster agency, and around 32 survivors had been rescued. Using spades, relatives dug through the dirt in spots they believe their loved ones were when the landslide hit. President Guillermo Lasso visited the area on Monday night and offered to extend the rescue efforts to find the missing.

☆ Ecuador lawmakers declassify documents in bid to impeach Lasso
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Legislators of Ecuador's National Assembly attend a session to debate a report recommending the opening of impeachment hearings against President Guillermo Lasso, in Quito, Ecuador March 4, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, March 14 (Reuters) - Ecuador's national assembly on Tuesday voted to declassify documents tied to investigations into allegations of corruption at public companies, in a bid to shore up impeachment charges against President Guillermo Lasso. Lasso has denied corruption accusations and said his government will cooperate fully with the investigations by the attorney general's office. Any impeachment process against Lasso - who survived an ouster attempt last year during anti-government protests - would also require approval by the constitutional court. The CONAIE Indigenous organization, which led protests last year, has called for Lasso's resignation but so far not backed national protests.

☆ Ecuador, Belgium sign deal to fight crime after mega cocaine bust
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Ecuador and Belgium on Monday agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in their fight against international organized crime, a day after Ecuadorean police seized nearly nine tonnes of drugs bound for the European country. Ecuadorean police found some 8.78 tons of cocaine hidden in a container with bananas, the organization said on Sunday. The size of the seizure over the weekend makes it necessary for Ecuador to further strengthen cooperation with the Belgian government, Ecuador's Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters. Of the 201 tonnes of drugs seized in Ecuador last year, almost 18% was destined for Belgium, specifically Antwerp, Zapata said. So far in 2023, Ecuador has seized some 39 tonnes of drugs, especially cocaine, according to police data.

☆ Ecuador Indigenous organization ends talks with gov't, calls for Lasso resignation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Leonidas Iza, leader of Ecuador's indigenous organization CONAIE, and leaders of the indigenous nationalities of the Sierra, the coast and the Amazon celebrate, on the day of a meeting held by Ecuador's top indigenous organization CONAIE along with other campaign groups to discuss a date for new protests against the government of President Guillermo Lasso, in Quito, Ecuador February 24, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A major Ecuadorean Indigenous organization said on Friday it will not continue talks with the government of President Guillermo Lasso, saying the government has not complied with accords, and called for Lasso's resignation over alleged corruption. The government has said it reached dozens of accords with the CONAIE indigenous organization, including a temporary moratorium on oil blocks in the Amazon and suspension of new mining concessions in ancestral territory until community consultation laws can be passed. "CONAIE breaks this process of dialogue and retires from monitoring efforts," its president Leonidas Iza told journalists after meeting with other Indigenous groups. "Mr. Guillermo Lasso for the dignity of our country, for your inability to govern and resolve the most important problems of Ecuadoreans, present your resignation," Iza said.

[1/6] Workers carry a mix of seized cocaine and coca paste with industrial waste to produce cement slurry to be used in a construction, at a waste treatment plant at an undisclosed location, in Ecuador February 10, 2023. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Huge quantities of seized drugs in Ecuador are presenting the Andean country with an unlikely new construction material: cocaine. The amount of drugs seized in Ecuador almost doubled in 2021 versus the previous year to more than 210 tonnes, mostly cocaine, according to the country's police. So far some 350 tonnes of crushed cocaine and coca paste - a cocaine precursor - seized between 2021 and 2022 have been used to fill the hole, according to plant technicians. Some 83 tonnes of cocaine are waiting to be encapsulated.

☆ 'I have no words': Ecuadoreans celebrate historic World Cup opener win
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Fans watch the open match Qatar v Ecuador during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in Ibarra, Ecuador November 20, 2022. REUTERS/Karen ToroQUITO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Thousands of euphoric Ecuadoreans celebrated on Sunday in various cities around the South American nation after the country's historic victory against host nation Qatar in the opening game of the soccer World Cup. The game marked the first time a host nation had been beaten in a World Cup opener. The first round of Group A games will be completed on Monday with the game between the Netherlands and Senegal. Ecuador will play again on Friday against the Netherlands, while Qatar will face Senegal.

☆ Demonstrators in Ecuador protest woman's killing, demand payment to pension system
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ecuadorians gathered outside police headquarters in Quito to protest the death of lawyer Maria Belen Bernal. Her husband, German Caceres, who the attorney general's office says is the main suspect in the killing, is on the run. Demonstrations against the killing followed earlier protests led by union leaders, who argued that the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute's (IESS) financial situation has muddled health services for users and put the retirement pension system at risk. "Social security isn't bankrupt, it's poorly managed," Mesias Tatamuez, one of the union leaders, told reporters. Ecuador's government reached an agreement last week to disburse $300 million through December to apply to what is owed.

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