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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.
The National Assembly approved a law making financial education mandatory across all levels of Ecuador's education system, from early childhood to university. The curriculum will cover electronic fraud prevention, safe digital platform use, and AI literacy. Revolución Ciudadana voted against despite one legislator calling it 'objective and technical.'
Environment and Energy Minister Inés Manzano announced leadership changes at both CNEL (the national distribution utility) and CENACE (the grid operator) this week after widespread blackouts and what she called 'slow and inefficient' responses. Juan Carlos Blum — a mechanical engineer with a background in multilateral energy work — is the new CNEL general manager.
New numbers from Colombia's DIAN show Colombian exports to Ecuador fell 27% in January–February 2026 as Ecuador's security-tariff regime ramped up. Between February and March, the fall steepened to 57%. Ecuador's tariff escalates again on May 1 — from 50% to 100%. Here's the picture and what it means for consumer prices.
Ecuador's April 9 imposition of a 100% tariff on Colombian products — targeting $2 billion in annual bilateral trade — has triggered the deepest institutional crisis the Comunidad Andina has faced in its 57-year existence. Former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe publicly warned Ipiales is "in ruin."
The IMF raised its 2026 GDP growth projection for Ecuador from 2% to 2.5% in the latest World Economic Outlook, presented at the Washington spring meetings. That puts Ecuador above the 2.3% South American average. For context, Ecuador posted 3.7% growth in 2025.
The April 12 fuel price hike is already flowing through to family budgets on the coast. One south Guayaquil family reports their nephew's round-trip school transport jumped from $50 to $60 per month. The coastal school year just started — and the cost structure changed with it.
President Noboa said on April 13 that he has "no great hope" that Colombian President Gustavo Petro will change course on border security or commercial reciprocity. Ecuador will wait for Colombia's next administration before attempting a long-term solution. The trade war continues.
In the Ietel neighborhood of north Guayaquil, residents have been without electricity for more than 15 hours since Sunday afternoon. Some families have resorted to sleeping inside their cars with the AC running. The heat wave turned a utility failure into a survival problem.
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.
Italian singer Laura Pausini will perform in Quito on April 24, 2026 at the Coliseo General Rumiñahui as part of her international tour. Tickets are available through standard Ecuadorian ticketing channels.
Gunmen opened fire at a sports complex on Avenida 25 de Julio in southern Guayaquil, killing multiple people and wounding several others, including minors. The attack bears the hallmarks of gang violence and underscores why southern Guayaquil remains Ecuador's most dangerous urban zone.
