Worldcrunch
👋 ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ* Welcome to Thursday, where Iran’s nuclear sites are reported to be “severely damaged,” Gaza mediators are intensifying ceasefire efforts, and our daily quiz question is related to a very old discovery from a Polish cave. Meanwhile, Inma Mora Sánchez for Ethic outlines the issues surrounding women’s self-esteem, from the housewives’ awakening of the […]
Ecuador’s exceptional Galapagos archipelago has been at the heart of an ambitious decades-long preservation policy to protect its unique fauna from too many visitors. Could it serve as a model for others for how to resist overtourism?
The Vilcabamba, the Atrato or the Whanganui have achieved recognition as living entities with rights. More and more rivers are achieving this type of legal protection (and respect). In Spain, the Tins was the first river to have its rights recognized.
Ecuador’s forced entry into Mexico’s embassy has been roundly condemned, but its worst effect in Latin America may be to undermine a regional tradition of dissidents seeking protection in an embassy in their country.
April 8 – April 14, 2024
Since Ecuador’s president declared a state of emergency in January, military violence has increased. For Agência Pública, Ecuadorian journalist Thalíe Ponce talks to the families of three of those who were killed by the military.
The crisis of gang violence in Ecuador is being driven by international drug trafficking, a major illicit economy that exists because of the ban on drugs. It and other Latin American countries are paying a high price for this unjust ban, and must unite to call for its end.
January 22 – January 28, 2024
Ecuador’s President has called in the army to fight the country’s rampant drug gangs. Sadly he can at best sever the fingertips of a criminal hydra, as big as the world itself.
In southern Ecuador, a women-led agricultural program offers valuable lessons on sustainable farming methods, but also how to end violence.
Pummeled by the pandemic, the fragile economies of Latin America are desperate to recover. But is turning to China for loans and as a market for raw materials the best long-term solution?
Welcome to Monday, where South Africa halts AstraZeneca vaccine after poor results on local variant, 180 are feared dead in India glacier collapse, and Tom Brady makes Super Bowl history. We also look at the unlikely feud involving Indian farmers, top cricket stars — and Rihanna. • COVID-19 latest: South Africa halts use of AstraZeneca […]
When Ecuador ditched its currency for the dollar in 2000, it deprived governments the possibility to overspend, and gave ordinary people control of their money.
Moreno is now reversing course on austerity measures that provoked nearly two weeks of mass protests. But it may be too little too late to salvage his reputation.
Partisans of political moderation are mistaken if they are looking for the ideals of the European liberal tradition in today’s neoliberalism.
Paúl Rivas was a 45 year-old Ecuadorian photographer. He was kidnapped last April and later killed because of his investigations on drug-related border violence for Ecuadorian daily El Comercio. On the occasion of the “International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’ and in partnership with UNESCO, OneShot helps keep his story alive. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/embed/vPsNE58VjHY expand=1] Slain Photojournalist – UNESCO — © Paúl Rivas / OneShot In the past twelve years, more than 1,050 journalists have been killed for reporting the news and bringing information to the public. The United Nations proclaimed November 2 as the “International Day to […]
The flood of people fleeing Venezuela’s dire economic and political situation is more than any one country can handle. But so far, there’s been little effort to organize a coordinated reaction.
Taking pictures at the vibrant marketplace in Otavalo, Ecuador required more than just pointing and shooting: I also had to avoid getting trodden on by one of the many, many pigs for sale.
QUITO — Stashes of cocaine kept in boats and dinghies in the remote Galápagos Islands. Dozens of operatives transporting narcotics on rivers across the border into Colombia. Over the past three years, powerful Mexican drug cartels have systematically moved supplies and operations into Ecuador. According to Quito-based daily El Comercio, at least four Mexican cartels […]
El Universo, May 24 Wheelchair-bound politician Lenín Moreno assumed Ecuador’s highest office today, nearly 20 years after a shooting attack left him paralyzed. “Lenín’s big day,” as the front page of Wednesday’s El Universo reads, gives Ecuador its first new leader in a decade. Moreno, 64, replaces leftist Rafael Correa, whom he served from 2007 […]
It was rather quiet when we got to the indigenous town of Otavalo, in northern Ecuador, and I was able to take my time photographing a woman using a big spinning wheel. The image ended up looking something like a Flemish painting.
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, winner of the 2014 Pritzker, has used material like paper and cardboard to rebuild homes in disaster zones. The displaced of Ecuador await his singular eye.
ECUADOR INTRODUCES REBUILDING TAX Photo: Guillermo Granja/Reuters/ZUMA The death toll in Ecuador after Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake continues to rise and now stands at 570, with hundreds more still missing and as many as 4,000 wounded. And with the extensive damage the quake caused, estimated at $3 billion, authorities unveiled yesterday a new series of measures […]
The death toll from Ecuador’s worst earthquake in decades has topped 400, as rescue workers continue searching for survivors three days after the 7.8-magnitude quake hit the South American country’s northwest coast. The government put the death toll at 413 late Monday, including six foreign nationals. The total number of wounded has risen to 2,068. […]
DILMA LOSES IMPEACHMENT VOTE More than the necessary two-thirds of the Brazilian lower house of Congress voted in favor of starting impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. O Globo reports on yesterday’s momentous proceedings, as Brazil’s first woman president faces accusations that she manipulated budget figures to secure her reelection in late 2014. A total […]
Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa insists he will retire from politics when his term ends. Yet he has spent the past year lobbying to end presidential term limits, which a loyal parliament has now granted. Does he have a hidden agenda to remain in power?
Unlike Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa manages to keep his political crackdowns below the international radar.
-OpEd- BOGOTA — The government of Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa released a somewhat Orwellian video last month that tries to turn the concept of dictatorship on its head. The soundtrack of the video, which touts the administration’s various achievements, is a schmaltzy pop song that goes: “If this is a dictatorship, then we’ve been had. […]
They may look dignified and dedicated, but it seems that the guards of Quito’s Carondelet Palace, in the city’s centro histórico, are not doing a very good job: Over the years, the presidential palace has been looted several times.
The valleys of south Ecuador are lush, and the Andean foothills impressive. But 22 years ago, it was better to look up, not down because the amount of plastic waste along the roads was simply astonishing.
On Saturdays, the whole town of Otavalo becomes a gigantic market famous for its textiles, handicrafts, leather goods and spices. It draws people — and pigs — from the whole country and, together with the capital Quito and the Galapagos Islands, is one of Ecuador’s most popular tourist destinations.
Same brand, different technique: These Ecuadorian women were washing their clothes using Ariel, a brand of laundry detergent popular both in Latin America and Europe. Their washing machine was just slightly bigger than ours — the Ambato River, a stream that ultimately empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon.
Quito’s old market takes place right in front of the presidential palace, in the city’s centro histórico. It’s this colorful jumble of rowdy, narrow streets and dignified colonial buildings that makes the Ecuadoran capital one of the most beautiful Latin American cities.
Welcome to Ciudad Mitad del Mundo, the city in the middle of the world, about 30 kilometers north of Quito. My wife Claudine and I were standing on each side of a line symbolizing the Equator. Modern equipment has since shown that the Equator actually lies about some 240 meters north, but this stays between […]
With shrimp consumption booming in China and production falling in traditional exporters like Vietnam, Ecuador is stepping in. It’s the latest food chapter in a globalized world.
This Galapagos marine iguana looks like he was just fed up with living on a volcanic archipelago.
Contrary to what the name suggests, Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador; there are several explanations for the misleading moniker. In Cuenca, in the country’s highlands, we visited a factory where they made these traditional brimmed straw hats, weaving hundreds of plaited leaves together. There are various degrees of quality, but the superfino ones, […]
These unfriendly marine iguanas, found only on Ecuador’s uninhabited Galapagos Islands, are actually quite harmless: They are vegetarian and dive into the water to feed on seaweed. But they don’t like to be disturbed, and should you go too close, you expose yourself to powerful bouts of spitting …
A popular street food in the mountainous regions of Ecuador is hornado — a slice of roasted pig usually served with potatoes. If that doesn’t make your mouth water, you can still settle for a bottle of Coke. We’ve found the ubiquitous brand even in the most remote corners of the world.