Ecuador

QUITO, Feb 1 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso met yesterday with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, in the northern Ecuadorian city of Tulcan, with the two sides vowing to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation.

Border security cooperation and joint crackdown on environmental crimes are high on the agenda, as violence fueled by drug trafficking gangs, armed rebel groups and other crimes are on the rise in their bordering area.

QUITO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso proposed Tuesday that Ecuador host the 2025 Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Plastic Pollution Treaty.

According to Ecuador's General Secretariat of Communication of the Presidency, the president, who is attending this year's World Economic Forum in the Swiss city of Davos, made the announcement at the bilateral panel "Defeating pollution by plastics," also participated by President of the Swiss Confederation Alain Berset.

QUITO, Jan 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China and Ecuador will sign a free trade agreement after almost a year of negotiations, Ecuador’s president said, with the deal expected to boost growth in the South American country.

“Good news to start 2023. The FTA negotiation between China and Ecuador has been successfully concluded,” President Guillermo Lasso said on Twitter.

“Our exports will have preferential access to the largest market in the world, our industries will be able to acquire machinery and inputs at lower costs.”

QUITO, Dec 9 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Violence continues in Ecuador, where 31 violent deaths were reported in just 24 hours despite the state of emergency issued in three provinces, according to local press.    

Territories where exceptional measures are in force are among those which reported the highest homicide toll: Guayas (12), Esmeraldas (3) and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas (2).

QUITO, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced on Thursday that 668 people have been arrested since Tuesday in the wake of violent attacks by criminal gangs during a prisoner transfer in the country.

Since Tuesday, Ecuador has experienced a series of attacks, including shootings, car bombs, in the provinces of Guayas, Esmeraldas and Santo Domingo, and five policemen and one civilian have been killed in the attacks.

QUITO, Nov 2 (NNN-Xinhua) — At least five Ecuadorean police officers were killed on Tuesday in explosive attacks in response to prisoner transfers from overcrowded and violent penitentiaries, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency in two provinces.

Lasso declared a state of emergency in the two coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas, which were hit by 12 attacks overnight.

QUITO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador reported 43 new confirmed cases of monkeypox on Wednesday, bringing the country's total confirmed cases to 185.

Of the 185 patients, 67 have been discharged from hospital, while the epidemiological fence for 308 contacts is maintained, the Ministry of Public Health said in a statement.

Sixteen Ecuadorian provinces have been affected by monkeypox, with Pichincha, Guayas and Azuay ranking top with 63, 61 and 19 cases respectively.

QUITO, June 28 (Reuters) - A soldier was killed in an attack on a convoy carrying fuel to Ecuador's largest oil field, the government confirmed on Tuesday, the latest incident of violence during more than two weeks of protests that have left at least eight dead.

Twelve others were wounded in the attack, the government said. The convoy was accompanying 17 diesel tankers from the Shushufindi refinery to the ITT oil bloc in the Amazon region when they were attacked by a group of people carrying guns, the defense ministry said in a statement.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced a cut in gasoline prices Sunday that appeared to fall short of the reduction demanded by Indigenous leaders to end a strike that has paralyzed parts of the country for two weeks.

The reduction cuts the price of gasoline by 10 cents per gallon. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador has demanded compliance with a 10-point agenda, including the reduction of the price of extra gasoline from 2.55 to 2.10 dollars a gallon and diesel from 1.90 to 1.50.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso on Saturday lifted a state of emergency he’d imposed in six provinces amid an Indigenous-led strike, a surprise move that came as lawmakers in the National Assembly heard an opposition petition to remove him from office.