Daily coverage from across the country, written for the expat community
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Ecuador's Interior Ministry sent 30 police agents to seize operational control of Guayaquil's municipal security entity Segura EP on Sunday night, citing 'shadow structures' provoking violence and alleging sensitive surveillance data was stored with a private company. The takeover comes amid three major fires in one week and deepens the confrontation between the Noboa administration and Guayaquil's opposition-aligned municipal government.
A team of 30 chefs prepared approximately 9,500 servings of mote pata in the Plaza de San Francisco, earning Cuenca an official Guinness World Record and cementing the city's status as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. The record was the centerpiece of Cuenca's 'Carnaval de los 4 Ríos' celebrations.
A major landslide at kilometer 36 of the Calacalí–La Independencia highway on Friday night has completely shut down one of the two main routes connecting Quito to the coast. Travelers face 7-hour detours via Alóag–Santo Domingo as Carnival weekend begins.
Everything expats need to know for the February 14-17 long weekend: tourism VAT drops from 15% to 8%, all bank branches close for four days, three highways are completely shut from landslides, domestic workers get double pay, and nearly 47,000 police officers are on the streets.
An international arbitral tribunal adjusted Ecuador's compensation obligation to Chevron downward by $5.7 million, landing at $215 million. The decades-old Amazon environmental dispute continues to drain government coffers in a tight fiscal year.
Quito has approved a new urban development plan for La Mariscal — the city's historic expat and tourist district. The centerpiece: Avenida Amazonas will revert to two-way traffic as part of an economic revitalization strategy.
Ecuador’s monthly fuel price band adjusted at midnight. Extra and Ecopaís gasoline rose to $2.76/gallon, Súper Premium dropped to $3.19, and diesel barely moved at $2.70. The new prices hold through March 11.
The National Assembly approved the Organic Law for Strengthening Cybersecurity with 82 votes. The law requires mandatory cybersecurity education in schools, establishes incident reporting obligations for organizations, and aligns Ecuador with international standards like ISO 27000 and the Budapest Convention.
Ecuador’s second-largest city lost its mayor. Aquiles Alvarez was ordered into preventive detention on organized crime and fuel trafficking charges as part of the ‘Caso Goleada’ investigation. He was transferred to Latacunga prison — 11 others arrested across Guayas province.
Ecuador's health regulator ARCSA ordered the preventive withdrawal of 34 lots of Alula Gold Premium infant formula after an international alert flagged possible contamination with cereulide, a bacterial toxin that causes digestive illness. No health effects have been reported in Ecuador.
Quito residents are reporting water bills that tripled or quadrupled overnight after the municipality shifted garbage collection fees from the electric bill to the water bill starting February 1. The mayor says the charges are correct — the sticker shock comes from how shared meters divide the cost.
Ecuador's largest city lost its mayor in a pre-dawn raid on February 10. Prosecutors detained 11 people — including Alvarez and his two brothers — on charges of organized crime, money laundering, and tax fraud. The vice mayor called it political persecution.
