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☆ 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.

CNN —Ecuador’s embattled President Guillermo Lasso, who is facing a looming impeachment vote, has triggered a constitutional clause to dissolve government, a politically fraught move that could spark protests with the country already tackling a fragile security situation. Lasso, who took office in 2021, is accused of interfering in the negotiation of a shipping contract related to the export of oil products. The president’s decision to instate muerte cruzada means his government will remain in office until a new general election takes place in around six months. But calls for his resignation have grown louder in recent months, as Ecuador’s opposition and influential federation of Indigenous organizations accused Lasso of negligence in a country engulfed by a cost-of-living crisis and high rates of criminal violence. Will Freeman, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the application of muerte cruzada “would absolutely cause instability.”“Lasso is too unpopular to benefit from the impression that he’s overriding checks and balances to finally get something done,” he told CNN, before the announcement on Wednesday.

☆ Explainer: Ecuador's Lasso dissolved the legislature. What comes next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Police stand outside the National Assembly after it was dissolved in a decree by Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he... Read moreQUITO, May 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he defended himself in an impeachment hearing. WHAT IS PRESIDENT LASSO ACCUSED OF? Lasso, a former banker who took power in 2021, has denied the charges and says they are politically motivated. Ecuador's National Assembly began an impeachment hearing against Lasso on Tuesday, following a vote on May 9 to move forward in the process against him, which was passed with 88 votes from the 116 legislators present. Lasso invoked the "two-way death" on Wednesday, citing Ecuador's grave political crisis.

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.

☆ Ecuador assembly begins impeachment hearing against President Lasso
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

QUITO, May 16 (Reuters) - Ecuador's National Assembly on Tuesday began an impeachment hearing against President Guillermo Lasso, who could be removed from his post, though the process increases the likelihood he will dissolve the legislature to avoid a final vote. The opposition, including members of the party of ex-President Rafael Correa - himself accused of corruption - has been invigorated following the re-election of Virgilio Saquicela as president of the National Assembly on Sunday. "The Ecuadorean people want Guillermo Lasso (...) to go home," said opposition lawmaker Viviana Veloz while presenting a motion to vote on the censure and dismissal of the president. CONAIE, Ecuador's largest indigenous organization, backed the measure to remove Lasso in a statement, saying that "with Guillermo Lasso Ecuador doesn't have a future, only fear and uncertainty." The assembly voted to continue with the impeachment process last Tuesday with 88 votes in favor out of 116 legislators present.

☆ Ecuadorean authorities detain former energy minister in bribery probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, May 15 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean authorities have detained a former energy minister amid an investigation into alleged bribery linked to state oil firm Petroecuador, the attorney general's office said on Monday. An investigation of Xavier Vera, Ecuador's former minister of mines and energy, began last October following several corruption allegations, including that he arranged jobs at Petroecuador in exchange for bribes. "The attorney general's office, with the support from (Ecuadorean police) executed an arrest warrant against Xavier V., within an investigation for alleged bribery," the attorney general's office wrote in a message via Twitter, referring to Vera. He isn't running away from the investigation, he isn't running away from the process," Vera's lawyer, Carlos Sanchez, told local television channel Ecuavisa. Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito Writing by Sarah Morland Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ecuador lawmakers re-elect National Assembly president
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, May 14 (Reuters) - Independent lawmaker Virgilio Saquicela was re-elected president of Ecuador's National Assembly on Sunday, supported by politicians who want an impeachment process against President Guillermo Lasso to advance to a vote for his possible removal. Saquicela, who took over as president of the National Assembly in May last year, has become a principal figure in the process against Lasso, who is accused of embezzlement in an oil transportation contract. The assembly voted to continue with the impeachment process on Tuesday in a session convened by Saquicela with 88 votes in favor out of 116 legislators present. A majority of 96 lawmakers of the 136 present voted to re-elect Saquicela. He was supported by allies of former President Rafael Correa, who is convicted of corruption, as well as other opposition and independent parties.

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Ecuador sealed the world's largest "debt-for-nature" swap on record on Tuesday, selling a new "blue bond" that will funnel at least $12 million a year into conservation of the Galapagos Islands, one of the world's most precious ecosystems. Tuesday's $656 million "Galapagos Bond," as it has been dubbed, will run until 2041 and gave investors that bought it a 5.645% "coupon" or interest rate, its bankers said. Ecuador sovereign bonds currently yield from 17% to 26%, but the new bond has an $85 million 'credit guarantee' from the Inter-American Development Bank and $656 million of political risk insurance from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp (DFC), effectively making it less risky. The driver has been the remote Galapagos Islands, some 600 miles (970 km) off Ecuador's mainland coast, that inspired Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Scott Nathan, the chief executive of DFC, said people needed to "stay tuned" for similar deals in other countries and the Galapagos deal had been a long time coming.

☆ Ecuador deploys soldiers against illegal mines in Amazonian areas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, May 8 (Reuters) - Ecuador's government is deploying soldiers and police in nine provinces to combat illegal mining, officials said on Monday, in a bid to stamp out the unlawful mines mostly targeting gold and copper deposits. The announcement came after some 1,000 security forces destroyed machinery in a raid on illegal miners in the eastern Amazonian provinces of Napo and Orellana. Earlier this year, President Guillermo Lasso declared illegal mining a threat to national security, linking the practice to organized crime, including money laundering and arms and fuel trafficking. So far this year, raids authorized by authorities on illegal mines have documented the seizure of heavy machinery and even a helicopter. The government has not given figures on the increase in illegal mining, nor the total number of hectares (acres) affected in the most affected areas, but it has described it is a growing activity.

☆ Ecuador committee fails to pass report saying no cause for Lasso impeachment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The report, which says there is no cause for Lasso's trial or removal, was shot down by five of the committee's nine members. Despite the outcome of the committee vote, the report will now pass to the plenary of the 137-member assembly, which will decide whether to possibly remove Lasso. Other opposition parties are divided on whether to back Lasso's removal, while his allies have said they have enough votes to block the motion. Lasso's lawyer has said the opposition failed to establish what alleged loss of funds took place in relation to the contract. Under Ecuador's constitution, Lasso could call early presidential and legislative elections rather than face a removal vote.

☆ Ecuador committee report does not recommend Lasso removal, lawmaker says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, May 5 (Reuters) - The oversight committee of Ecuador's National Assembly will debate a draft report that concludes President Guillermo Lasso did not participate in embezzlement and recommends against his impeachment, a lawmaker said on Friday. Oversight committee president Fernando Villavicencio said the draft report is based on an analysis of all the evidence presented in hearings by the committee. "We have prepared and concluded the report which recommends that there is not cause to try or remove President Guillermo Lasso," Villavicencio told TV station Teleamazonas. Regardless of the committee's decision, the report will then pass to the plenary of the 137-member assembly, which will decide whether to hold hearings and possibly remove Lasso. Under Ecuador's constitution, Lasso could call early presidential and legislative elections rather than face a removal vote.

☆ Australia PM says 'frustrated' over continued detention of Julian Assange
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Leah MillisSYDNEY, May 5 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday he was frustrated for not yet finding a diplomatic fix over the continued detention of Julian Assange and that he remained concerned about the mental health of the WikiLeaks' founder. "I know it's frustrating, I share the frustration," Albanese told ABC television from London where Assange is being held pending a U.S. extradition case. Assange spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London after being offered refuge but was dragged out by British police in 2019. He has been staying in a prison in London while his extradition case was decided. Albanese has been advocating for the release of Assange, who faces a sentence of up to 175 years in a maximum security prison if extradited to the United States.

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.

☆ Ecuador launches debt buyback plan aimed at Galapagos protection
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Marc Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] A pelican is seen on Santa Cruz Island, part of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. REUTERS/Santiago ArcosLONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Ecuador has launched a long-awaited debt buyback plan that will free up money to protect its Galapagos Islands, one of the world's most precious ecosystems and the inspiration for Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution. "The Offeror is making the Offer... as part of a broader refinancing operation to channel savings and promote certain conservation and sustainability efforts," the buyback plan said. The operation is private, the country's finance ministry said in a message to journalists, and cannot be discussed. Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Explainer: Why are Ecuador lawmakers trying to impeach President Lasso?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Ecuadorean President Guillermo Lasso participates in an interview at Carondelet Palace, in Quito, Ecuador April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Santiago Arcos/File PhotoQUITO, April 24 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean opposition lawmakers and President Guillermo Lasso - or his lawyer - are scheduled to testify this week in impeachment hearings that could see the conservative former banker censured and removed from office. Lasso has denied the charges, pointing out the contract was signed in 2018, three years before he took office. Estupinan is a key witness for opposition lawmakers, who say the former manager claims to have warned Lasso about contract irregularities allegedly committed by Luque, but got no response. Lawmakers from the Revolucion Ciudadana party of former President Rafael Correa, fierce opponents of Lasso, have pledged to cast their 47 votes for removal.

☆ Coral reef discovered in Ecuador's Galapagos Islands
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Quito, Ecuador Reuters —A scientific expedition has discovered a previously unknown coral reef with abundant marine life off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, the country’s environment ministry said on Monday. “A deepwater scientific expedition has found the first totally pristine coral reef, approximately two kilometers (1.2 miles) long, at 400 meters (deep), on the summit of a submarine mountain,” Environment Minister Jose Davalos said on Twitter. “Galapagos surprises us again.”Scientists had believed that the only Galapagos reef to survive El Nino weather in 1982 and 1983 was one called the Wellington reef, along the coast of Darwin Island, but the new discovery shows other coral has persisted, the ministry said in a statement. The South American country last year expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles), an extension of the 138,000 square kilometers already in place, to protect endangered migratory species between the Galapagos and the Cocos Island in Costa Rica. The Galapagos, which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, are also home to giant tortoises, albatrosses, cormorants and other species, some of which are endangered.

☆ Gang clash leaves at least 12 dead in Ecuador prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, April 15 (Reuters) - At least 12 inmates were killed in an Ecuadorian jail amid a new clash between gangs, the SNAI prison agency said on Saturday, in the latest chapter in the South American nation's prison violence. The confrontation occurred on Friday in the prison known as La Penitenciaría, in the city of Guayaquil, one of the country's most dangerous. The entity added that the prosecutor's office and the police are in the prison for the identification of the dead bodies. Last year, a United Nations delegation found that the violence in Ecuador's prisons was caused by years of state neglect of the penitentiary system. Friday's clash follows the murder of three female prison officers outside the prison in Guayaquil.

☆ Ecuador's Lasso authorizes civilian use of guns, citing insecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 2 (Reuters) - Ecuador has authorized the carrying and use of guns by civilians, President Guillermo Lasso said in a televised broadcast, citing rising crime and insecurity in the Andean country. "We have a common enemy: petty crime, drug trafficking, and organized crime," Lasso said late on Saturday in a message also posted on Twitter. To fight rising insecurity, the government will allow civilians to carry and use guns, he added. "We've modified the decree that allows the possession and carrying of guns. Lasso did not say how long the state of emergency would last.

☆ Number of dead from Ecuador landslide rises to 23
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QUITO, March 31 (Reuters) - Ecuador's government on Friday raised the number of dead from a landslide in the Andean city of Alausi to 23, while rescue teams continued to look for missing people. The incident took place on Sunday night in a part of the city, which is located in the province of Chimborazo. The landslide has affected some 850 people and destroyed 57 buildings, according to official figures. The number of dead is growing gradually as rescue groups gain access to houses that were covered by huge amounts of earth. Ecuador's disaster agency had warned of potential landslide danger for a 247-hectare (610-acre) area in Alausi in February, which included part of the zone where Sunday's landslide hit.

☆ Ecuador's top court says Lasso impeachment hearings can proceed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, March 29 (Reuters) - Ecuador's constitutional court said on Wednesday that impeachment hearings for embezzlement against conservative President Guillermo Lasso, requested by opposition lawmakers over alleged corruption at state companies, can proceed. The decision may make it more likely that Lasso will dissolve the assembly and call early elections for both his post and legislators' seats. Fifty-nine opposition lawmakers formally requested the hearings in mid-March, accusing Lasso of involvement with embezzlement and bribery, which he has always denied. The court's approval enables the assembly to hold the hearings but does not constitute a backing of the claims by judges. The constitution enshrines so-called two-way death - allowing Lasso to call elections for both his post and the assembly instead of facing hearings.

☆ 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.

Donziger's lawyers argued that this appointment violated separation-of-powers principles set out in the Constitution delineating the authority of the three branches of the U.S. government. In 2011, an Ecuadorian court entered an $18 billion judgment that was later reduced to $9.5 billion against Chevron for contamination resulting from oil production. In 2014, Kaplan concluded in that case that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron in Ecuador was obtained fraudulently through a corrupt process, rendering it unenforceable in the United States. When Chevron suspected Donziger was violating a related ban on trying to monetize or profit from the judgment, Kaplan ordered him to turn over electronic devices and email accounts for examination. After federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to take the case, Kaplan in an unusual move tapped a private lawyer, Rita Glavin, to lead the prosecution of Donziger.

☆ Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes Ecuador, at least four deaths reported
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A damaged car and rubble from a house affected by the earthquake are pictured in Cuenca, Ecuador. REUTERS/Rafa Idrovo EspinozaQUITO, March 18 (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. In the community of Machala, three people were killed and multiple structures collapsed, including a two-story home and a wharf, while multiple communities lost power. The earthquake also led to structural damage in two other provinces, including a collapsed wall in a supermarket, and was felt in more than half of the country's 24 provinces, the Secretariat said. The initial quake was followed by two weaker aftershocks in the following hour, according to the Geophysics Institute of Ecuador.

☆ Declassified documents do not mention Ecuador's Lasso -regulator
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Alexandra Valencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, March 15 (Reuters) - Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso and his family members do not appear in declassified documents released by the country's companies regulator, the agency said on Wednesday, referring to files which opposition lawmakers had sought to shore up a possible impeachment bid. Lasso has denied corruption allegations and said his government will fully cooperate with ongoing investigations by the attorney general into alleged graft at state companies. "There is not one single clue or document that involved Mr. Guillermo Lasso in what was just declassified from the Superintendency of Companies," Pachakutik party legislator Ricardo Vanegas told journalists. "They are looking for ways to tie this soap opera to a reason to remove President Lasso," he said. "They want to keep Guillermo Lasso as president."

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