Ecuador

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$21M Found Stashed in Walls of Ex-Top Fraud Cop's Home

Spanish police say cash came from Oscar Sanchez Gil's alleged collaboration with gangs

(Newser) - Until recently, Oscar Sanchez Gil was head of the fraud and anti-money laundering division of Spain's national police force. Now, he's being held on charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption, and membership in a criminal group, along with his romantic partner. During a probe into Spain's...

Ecuador Suspends Vice President, Without Pay
Ecuador Suspends
Vice President
Nov 9, 2024 2:00 PM CST

Ecuador Suspends Vice President

Nation says Veronica Abad didn't follow order to return home immediately

(Newser) - Ecuador's vice president, Veronica Abad, was suspended Saturday for 150 days accused of "unjustified abandonment" of her duties. Abad's suspension without pay came at midnight, her lawyer Dominique Dávila told the AP . Dávila called the move "extremely serious" and claimed it may not have...

Ecuador Hit With Nationwide Blackout
Power Outage Hits
Entire Country
Jun 20, 2024 12:03 AM CDT

Power Outage Hits Entire Country

Ecuador had an hourslong blackout Wednesday

(Newser) - A failure in an energy transmission line on Wednesday produced an unexpected blackout throughout Ecuador, the government said, days after announcing that there would be power outages in the country due to production problems. Ecuador's Minister of Energy Roberto Luque said in a message posted on X that the...

Diplomacy Ends When Ecuador Storms Embassy

Police arrest former vice president who sought asylum in Mexican Embassy in Quito

(Newser) - Mexico's government ended diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president, an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats. Ecuadorian police late Friday broke through the external doors of the embassy in the capital,...

Ecuador's Youngest Mayor Assassinated

Brigitte Garcia, aide were shot dead in car

(Newser) - Ecuador's youngest mayor has been shot dead in what her party describes as an assassination. Brigitte Garcia, the 27-year-old mayor of the coastal town of San Vicente, was found dead in a car Sunday alongside communications director Jairo Loor, the BBC reports. Police say the shots that killed the...

FDA Has a Suspect in Contamination of Applesauce

Though it's not clear what, if anything, US can do to hold him accountable

(Newser) - Authorities have named a suspect in the tainted applesauce pouches that have left more than 400 American children sickened with lead poisoning, but it's not clear what, if anything, can be done to hold anyone accountable. Carlos Aguilera, a cinnamon grinder in Ecuador, is suspected to be responsible, according...

Prosecutor Probing TV Station Attack Shot Dead in Broad Daylight

César Suárez was ambushed on his way to court

(Newser) - The prosecutor investigating the storming of a TV station in Ecuador was shot dead in broad daylight in one of the South American country's most violent areas. César Suárez was in a vehicle heading to a court hearing in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, when he was...

How a 'Corner of Relative Peace' Came Undone
How an 'Island of
Peace' Came Undone
the rundown
Jan 10, 2024 11:05 AM CST

How an 'Island of Peace' Came Undone

Inside the deteriorating situation in Ecuador

(Newser) - "All I know is that it's time to leave this country and go very far away." So said the head of news for Ecuador's TC Television after armed masked men broke in during a live broadcast Tuesday and attempted to force a presenter to read a...

Armed Men Storm TV Station During Live Broadcast

Ecuador's president says country has entered a state of 'internal armed conflict'

(Newser) - Masked men broke onto the set of a public television channel in Ecuador waving guns and explosives during a live broadcast Tuesday, and the president issued a decree declaring that the South American country had entered an "internal armed conflict." The men, armed with pistols and what looked...

Ecuador Drug Kingpin Disappears From Cell

It's not yet clear if Adolfo Macias Villamar is hiding in prison compound or got out

(Newser) - Ecuador launched a massive manhunt and declared a state of emergency after the leader of a powerful drug gang vanished from the prison where he was being held Sunday and prison riots broke out across the country. Adolfo Macias Villamar, who the BBC reports was better known as Fito, was...

Banana Empire Heir Wins Ecuador's Presidential Runoff

Daniel Noboa's shortened term runs through May 2025

(Newser) - Daniel Noboa, an inexperienced politician and an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, won Ecuador's presidential runoff election Sunday held amid unprecedented violence that even claimed the life of a candidate. With about 96% of the votes counted, electoral officials said Noboa had 52.2% of...

Seventh Suspect in Slaying of Presidential Candidate Is Killed

All were slain in Ecuadorian prisons

(Newser) - A seventh man accused in the August assassination of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate was killed inside a prison in Ecuador's capital, authorities said Saturday, a day after six others accused of being linked to the crime were slain in a different lockup. The killing of the seven suspects happened...

Ecuadorians on Oil Drilling Near Uncontacted Tribes: Nope

As presidential election heads to a runoff

(Newser) - In a historic decision, Ecuadorians voted on Sunday against the oil drilling of a protected area in the Amazon that's home to two uncontacted tribes and serves as a biodiversity hotspot. With over 90% of the ballots counted by early Monday, around six in 10 Ecuadorians rejected the oil...

Ecuador Busts 6 Foreigners in Assassination; 7th Is Killed

6 Colombian nationals arrested in murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio

(Newser) - Six people have been arrested in connection with the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio , the Ecuadorian presidential candidate gunned down Wednesday, and they're all Colombia nationals. Citing a police report, the AP reports the men were found hiding in a home in Quito, Ecuador's capital, and that cops also...

Presidential Candidate Assassinated in Ecuador

Fernando Villavicencio shot dead at campaign event

(Newser) - A campaign event in Ecuador took a horrific turn Wednesday when gunfire rang out and opposition candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated. The former lawmaker was killed at a political rally for the Movimiento Construye (or Build Movement ) political party at a school north of the capital Quito ahead of...

Woman Who Revived in Coffin Is Now Dead

Ecuador's Bella Montoya made international headlines

(Newser) - A 76-year-old woman who had been declared dead and surprised her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake earlier this month has died after seven days in intensive care, her family said Saturday. Gilberto Barbera Montoya, the woman's son, told the AP that doctors at the state...

Woman Declared Dead, Then Found Gasping for Air in Coffin

Woman's son says her condition remains dire

(Newser) - An Ecuadorean woman was declared dead last week after suffering a stroke, only to be discovered hours later gasping for air in her coffin. Bella Montoya, 76, is now hospitalized in intensive care and the country's health ministry has opened an investigation into the matter, the BBC reports. Her...

Ecuador Leader Takes Drastic Step to Stay in Power

Guillermo Lasso deploys 'mutual death' mechanism

(Newser) - Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso took a drastic step to stay in power Wednesday—he dissolved the country's legislature before it could vote to impeach him. Under a constitutional measure known as the muerte crazada, or "mutual death," Lasso disbanded the opposition-controlled National Assembly effective immediately, the Washington ...

Earthquake Kills at Least 4, Traps Survivors
Earthquake Kills at Least 15,
Traps Survivors
updated
Mar 18, 2023 4:00 PM CDT

Earthquake Kills at Least 15, Traps Survivors

Downed power lines in Ecuador complicate rescue crews' searches

(Newser) - This story has been updated with the most recent death toll. A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 445, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines....

Town Elects Candidate Who Was Shot to Death

Mayoral winner was killed hours before the polls opened in Ecuador

(Newser) - A candidate shot to death the day before elections in Ecuador was elected mayor of the city of Puerto López. Omar Menendez, 41, was killed Saturday by gunmen while he was working in an office with campaign staffers, the BBC reports; a teenager also died of gunshot wounds. Menendez'...

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