Ecuador

QUITO, July 9 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gustavo Manrique revealed that Ecuador is negotiating the construction of a migrant center to attend people who want to travel to the United States.    

Manrique affirmed he has held conversations with the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, so that the South American nation may be part of the initiative and have an office here.

QUITO, May 17 (Reuters) - Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly in a decree on Wednesday, bringing forward legislative and presidential elections, a day after he presented his defense in an impeachment process against him.

Lasso denies the accusation, saying his administration made changes to the contract signed years before he took office, in order to benefit the state, on advice from Ecuador's comptroller.

QUITO, May 10 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ecuador’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved a resolution to continue an impeachment proceedings against Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso on embezzlement charges.

Under the resolution with the support of 88 of the 116 legislators present, Lasso and his opposition rivals will have to each testify to the assembly’s plenary, before facing a final vote that could result in his removal from office.

QUITO, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from a March 26 landslide in central Ecuador's Chimborazo province rose to 43, the Attorney General's Office said Wednesday.

The agency said on social media that it had "ordered the removal of 4 (more) bodies from the landslide in #Alausi," a rural district in the country's Andean region.

"As of today, 43 people have died in the natural disaster," it added.

QUITO, April 17 (Reuters) - A scientific expedition has discovered a previously unknown coral reef with abundant marine life off Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, the country's environment ministry said on Monday.

"A deepwater scientific expedition has found the first totally pristine coral reef, approximately two kilometers (1.2 miles) long, at 400 meters (deep), on the summit of a submarine mountain," Environment Minister Jose Davalos said on Twitter. "Galapagos surprises us again!"

QUITO, March 24 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ecuador is taking measures to ensure smooth operation of port facilities amid immense flooding caused by heavy rains since Thursday morning in the coastal city of Guayaquil.

Guayaquil, an industrial center and port city in southwestern Ecuador, was hardest hit by the storms and subsequent flooding, landslides and disruptions of transportation and supplies.

QUITO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the 6.5-magnitude earthquake that hit the Ecuadorian province of Guayas has risen to 14, Ecuadorian authorities said Saturday.

Another 381 were injured following the earthquake, according to the Ecuadorian Secretariat of Risk Management.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Juan Vera lost three relatives when a strong earthquake that shook parts of Ecuador and Peru on Saturday brought down his niece’s home. The government has offered to pay for the woman’s funeral and those of her baby and her partner, but Vera wonders why local authorities allowed his relatives to live in such an old home to begin with.

QUITO, Mar 9 (NNN-XINHUA) – Ecuador registered 2,958 dengue cases and two related deaths this year, mainly in the coastal provinces of Guayas, El Oro and Manabi, the Public Health Ministry said, yesterday.

There has been an increase in the number of cases in recent weeks, due to the floods in tropical provinces, said Francisco Perez, undersecretary of national health surveillance of the Ecuadoran Health Ministry, at a virtual press conference.

“However, this dengue outbreak is not any bigger than previous years. It’s within expectations,” Perez said.

QUITO, Feb 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso, reshuffled his governing team and appointed four new provincial governors, after the ruling party got poor results in the nationwide local elections.

“The decision to renew my team is meant to strengthen actions, plans and projects, to continue building a better country for everyone,” Lasso said, at the presidential palace, describing the changes as “necessary adjustments.”