The candidate for the Citizen Revolution Movement won 33% of the vote in the first round, while the businessman came in second place with 24%
The presidential election campaign has been marked by violence and the assassination of one of the candidates amid a wave of organized crime-related terror
A wave of violence in the run-up to Sunday’s ballot led candidates to end their campaigns screened by police escorts following the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio
Ecuador’s unprecedented violence has left people fearful of leaving their homes. Although voting is mandatory for most adults, people may stay home and pay the fine rather than risk going to the polls
The country is enduring a process similar to that experienced by Colombia in the 1980s and Mexico a few years later with an escalation of violence
Violent deaths quadrupled from 2019 in the lead-up to the assassination of a presidential candidate, locals are afraid to leave their homes and school classes have been suspended
More than 3,600 officers took part in the operation to transfer the inmate, who is the leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros, which has links with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel
The assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio has deepened the security crisis and shaken up the political landscape just days before the first round on August 20
The assassination of the Ecuadorian presidential candidate has revealed the scope of the criminal network gripping the country, where Mexican cartels and Colombian hitmen have gained a foothold
The Ecuadorian police have arrested six Colombians suspected of participating in the attack against the presidential candidate, during which the gunman was shot dead
More cocaine moves through Ecuador than any other country in the world, meaning cartels like Sinaloa and the CJNG need local criminal organizations to handle transport and logistics
The presidential candidate was assassinated while traveling in a state-provided vehicle that lacked armor despite the multiple threats he had received from organized crime
The killer fired at least 40 shots, injuring other people who accompanied the politician
As Mexican criminal groups battle over control of the territory, the country has been plunged into a deep security crisis
The politician claimed in a video that Los Choneros, a local arm of the Mexican organization, would attack him if he continued to refer to them during his presidential campaign
The politician, who was close to President Guillermo Lasso, was shot three times in the head after a campaign rally in Quito
Leaders and ministers from eight Amazon nations signed a declaration Tuesday that laid out plans to drive economic development in their countries while preventing the Amazon’s ongoing demise ‘from reaching a point of no return’
While fewer trees are being chopped down in Brazil and Colombia, the rest of the region continues to spiral. The environmental summit will be a key event for the leaders of Peru and Venezuela, who will face each other on the international stage for the first time
Relatives of the victims of the latest massacre at the Guayaquil penitentiary have been waiting for days to identify the bodies of their loved ones
The city of Manta’s local leader Agustín Intriago was shot during a tour of a construction site, while riots have broken out in at least four prisons in the country
The owner of UC Global, which held a security contract at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, also kept intimate images of a diplomat in his safe for alleged blackmail attempt
The organization, which is involved in crimes such as human trafficking, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking, is extending its tentacles in eight countries in the region
In the country’s central mountain range, mothers and wives are challenging domestic machismo and defending vital water resources
The vice president of Luminate talks about the crisis of representation, legitimacy and information affecting democracy in the region, but expresses optimism for the future
The petroleum industry has provided little benefit for local communities, who are now driving an ecological transition by sustainably tapping the wealth of the jungle
In a crime-afflicted area of Quito, locals stood up to a violent crew operating in their midst by throwing stones and setting fire to the home of the alleged ringleader, a woman known as ‘La Pastora’
Chinese are now the fourth-largest nationality crossing the dangerous jungle route through Panama. The number of Afghans, Indians and Bangladeshis is also increasing
