Daily coverage from across the country, written for the expat community
Ecuador's health regulator found Listeria monocytogenes in a batch of La Artesanal chocolate ice cream made by Helados Novísimo. The lot has been pulled from shelves and the factory suspended. Here's the lot number and what to do.
ARCSA reviewed 2,100+ registered products and reclassified 30 active ingredients as prescription-only. If you're used to buying certain medicines at the farmacia without a receta, some of those purchases just got harder.
A threat actor published 17 million records from Ecuador's ANT, including cédula numbers, addresses, phone numbers, and vehicle details. The agency hasn't acknowledged the breach. Here's what was exposed and what to do.
ARCSA reviewed over 2,100 products and removed 30 active ingredients from over-the-counter status, including triclosán and mercury chrome. Some cold medications now require prescriptions. Here's the new reality at your local farmacia.
Mayor Pabel Muñoz says Quito has completed 1,900 projects worth $2 billion since taking office. The Metro extension to La Ofelia is moving forward with an $80M study contract, and another $700 million in works is planned for 2026.
Metro de Quito users are reporting waits up to 20 minutes in April 2026 — double the normal 5-6 minutes. The cause: wheel-resurfacing maintenance that's pulled units offline. Full wheel replacement isn't due until 2028.
Quito's Metro restarted normal operations Tuesday, April 21, after an 11-hour shutdown that began at 5:30 am Monday. The deeper story: manufacturer CAF has recommended replacing 864 train wheels, citing abnormal wear that partly triggered the outage. Mayor Pabel Muñoz is also investigating possible sabotage.
Ecuador's main Quito-to-coast corridor was closed Monday after a drainage structure collapsed at kilometer 83 of the Alóag-Santo Domingo highway. Expreso reports the closure at km 87; Teleamazonas places it at km 89. No official reopening time yet. Here's what you need to know if you're traveling this week.
The Quito Metro suspended commercial operations at 5:30 AM on Monday, April 20, after a technical incident. All stations were affected. No official timeline for restoration. Here's what commuters need to know and what alternatives exist.
Guayaquil's water utility Interagua will suspend service across large parts of the city and the Daule corridor this weekend for maintenance. Cuts run from Saturday April 18 at 10 PM through Sunday April 19, with some sectors out until 3 PM. Here's the sector-by-sector breakdown.
Ecuador's Ministry of Environment and Energy publicly labeled a circulating WhatsApp schedule of purported Guayas power cuts as "Falso." The fake document listed outages across Guayaquil, Samborondón, Machala, Daule, and Quito. The real, limited maintenance cuts are confined to two upcoming Sundays at the Dos Cerritos substation.
Interagua is cutting water to more than 30 sectors across southern Guayaquil on Tuesday April 14 from 6 AM to 2 PM to repair a pipeline leak in the Coviem sector. The full list of affected neighborhoods includes Jaime Roldós, Guasmo, Coviem, Santa Mónica, and dozens more.
