Daily coverage from across the country, written for the expat community
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Ecuador’s 2026 vehicle-registration calendar moves to plates ending in 6 during July. Owners should check local transit-agency portals, pay pending values and complete technical review before the month ends.
Ecuador’s Constitutional Court issued a favorable opinion on the state of exception declared by President Daniel Noboa. The measure validates Executive Decree 423, signed June 16, for 60 days.
Ecuador has placed 17 provinces, 143 cantons and 491 parishes under a preventive yellow alert for a possible El Nino event. Local governments have until June 23 to submit action plans, but only three municipalities had filed plans as of June 15.
El Universo reports the government proposed transit-law reforms that would give the National Police control over the national road network and strengthen access to toll-road images and cantonal transit-agency information.
Ecuador's May 3-18 curfew now covers 105 cantons across 9 provinces and 4 jurisdictions — including 17 cantons that have recorded zero homicides in all of 2026. Interior Minister Reimberg: no exceptions. Here's the updated list and what it means.
After system intermittencies on April 20, Ecuador's SRI has extended the income tax, VAT, and currency-outflow tax filing deadline to April 23 for taxpayers whose RUC ninth digit is 5 or 6. Filing late during the extension incurs no penalties, surcharges, or interest.
Economy Minister Sariha Moya presented Ecuador's fiscal efficiency formula at the IMF Spring Meetings in Washington on April 14. Her headline numbers: international reserves up from $3 billion to $11 billion, poverty down from 28% to 21% in 2025, and local-government payment delays cut by 85%. She credited the fuel subsidy phase-out that ran from June 2024 through September 2025.
Ecuador's Constitutional Court ruled unanimously (9-0) that President Noboa cannot fast-track the bilateral investment treaty with the UAE. The ISDS provisions trigger constitutional review, and the treaty must be approved by the National Assembly. Investors tracking the UAE corridor should expect delays.
After Colombia's President Petro asked Noboa to release former Vice President Jorge Glas during a meeting in the Galápagos, Ecuador's government pushed back hard — rejecting the 'political prisoners' framing and affirming that Glas is detained for corruption, not politics.
Police K-9 units intercepted nearly 22,000 dried shark fins weighing 1,905 kilograms at Guayaquil's Jose Joaquin de Olmedo International Airport on April 2. The shipment -- 75 bundles disguised as fish bladders -- was bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is one of Ecuador's largest shark fin seizures in recent years.
Ecuador's 2026 local elections will determine mayors, prefects, and city council members across the country. Contested races in Quito, Guayaquil, and Cuenca could reshape municipal governance in the cities where most expats live.
