Ecuador

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — It was a day like any other at the TC Television studio in Ecuador, with its mid-afternoon newscast underway, when masked gunmen burst in, unleashing at least 15 minutes of threats and fear — all broadcast live.

First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV station’s live transmission, followed by a second man with a shotgun, then a third and more. With the show’s “After the News” title behind them, station employees were brought onto the set and ordered to lie down. Screams could be heard followed by the sound of gunshots.

QUITO, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa on Monday declared a state of emergency for 60 days a day after the country's most-wanted prisoner disappeared from the jail where he was being held.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The state of emergency and surrounding events are among the first big security tests for Noboa, a young businessman who took office in November promising to crack down on soaring levels of violence in the South American country.

QUITO, Nov 27 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, unveiled his ministerial cabinet yesterday, with the first official photo of his work team, three days after assuming power for a short 18-month term.

The cabinet “is mostly made up of women and young people, who head strategic departments of the State,” said a press release issued by the General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Less than 48 hours into his term, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa on Friday repealed controversial guidelines established by the country’s left a decade ago that eliminated penalties for people found carrying illegal drugs under certain amounts.

Noboa’s decision fulfilled a campaign promise to fight drug trafficking. Consequences of the illegal trade, particularly cocaine, have kept Ecuadorians on edge as killings, kidnappings, robberies, extortion and other crimes reached unprecedented levels.

QUITO, Nov 18 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso delivered 15 Turkish-built Otokar armored tactical vehicles to the armed forces to help fight organized crime and violence.

The armored vehicles, each of which can accommodate nine soldiers, “have greater ballistic and mine protection. They also have technical characteristics for entering places that are difficult to access and highly dangerous in urban and rural settings,” Lasso said during the handover at Mariscal Sucre Air Base here.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Daniel Noboa has managed to do what his father failed at five times: Get elected as Ecuador’s president.

And he did it Sunday on his first attempt, winning a runoff in a special election against a leftist lawyer on the strength of his resume as a 35-year-old member of Ecuador’s elite, which has meant some schooling in the U.S., some entrepreneurial work, some dabbling in politics.

Now he must meet the universal demand of voters to make the South American country safe again, following a surge in unprecedented violence tied to drug trafficking.

QUITO, Oct 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuadorans vote for a new president Sunday in the midst of a bloody drug war and a rash of political assassinations that cut short the bid of a popular candidate.

The remaining finalists – lawyer Luisa Gonzalez, 45, and banana empire heir Daniel Noboa, 35 – campaigned in bullet-proof vests as a climate of fear grips the once-peaceful country.

Both have vowed to prioritise the escalating violence.

GUAYAQUIL (Ecuador), Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador extended by a month a state of emergency in place since the August assassination of presidential candidate and anti-graft crusader Fernando Villavicencio, the presidency announced.

The extension comes shortly after seven Colombians arrested over Villavicencio’s killing were found dead in prison.

Six of the suspects were killed Friday in the Guayas 1 prison in the port city of Guayaquil, while a seventh was found dead Saturday in a prison in the capital Quito.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Six Colombians arrested as the alleged assassins of a candidate in Ecuador’s August presidential election were slain Friday inside a prison in Guayaquil, officials announced, without providing details on what happened.

The prison authority said only that six prisoners killed inside Litoral Penitentiary were the men “charged with the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.” It identified them as Jhon Gregore R., Andrés Manuel M., Adey Fernando G., Camilo Andrés R., Sules Osmini C. and José Neyder L.

QUITO, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's National Electoral Council (CNE) began Thursday the nationwide distribution of 2,413 electoral packages for the second round of the early presidential elections in October.

"Each package contains ballots, electoral documents, ballot boxes, pens, markers, tape, fingerprinting pads and wax, stamps, LED flashlights, calculators, security items and electoral envelopes, among others," the CNE detailed in a press release.