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An 'urgent' efficiency law working through the National Assembly would force Quito to slash current spending and could eliminate 5,000 municipal positions. Mental health services, community dining, animal welfare programs, and even Metro expansion plans are on the chopping block.
Aquiles Alvarez, the sitting mayor of Ecuador's largest city, was arrested on organized crime and money laundering charges and transferred to Latacunga prison. Over 50,000 people marched in his defense while a massive commercial building fire burned just eight blocks away.
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.
