Prolific Galapagos giant tortoise Diego is being released back into the wild after being credited by authorities with almost single handedly saving his species from extinction. The 100-year-old tortoise, who was recruited along with 14 other adults for a captive breeding program, will be returned to his native island of Espanola in March, the Galapagos National Parks service (PNG) said on Friday.
Mexico granted political asylum on Thursday to four members of Ecuador's opposition holed up in its embassy in Quito since widespread social unrest in October, the foreign ministry said. The four lawmakers, including former Congress speaker Gabriela Rivadeneira, “took a commercial flight to Mexico” early Thursday, the ministry said in a statement.
The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved a delayed loan tranche for Ecuador, releasing nearly US$500 million under a three-year aid program. The IMF board gave the go-ahead for a US$4.2 billion loan in March to help support the oil-rich nation's economic reforms, but massive protests led by indigenous groups erupted in October when President Lenin Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies, causing gasoline prices to soar.
By Gwynne Dyer – Journalists don’t just travel in packs; they write in packs, too. And what they’re writing this week is endless pipe-sucking ruminations about what’s driving the seemingly synchronized outbreak of protests in a large number of very different countries around the world.
On Sunday, October 27, in Uruguay, a new president, and Parliament will be elected. According to pollsters, the same parties as in 2014, the official Frente Amplio (FA, Broad Front) and the conservative National Party, will go on second ballotage in November. However, the novelty is that the Legislature will be made up of a minimum of six parties (a historical record) and a maximum of nine.
Ecuador on Sunday said it had resumed crude oil exports curbed by violent protests that forced several wells in the Amazon to halt operations.
The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved on Tuesday the Declaration on the Defense of Democracy and Social Peace in Ecuador during a special meeting in which it received a presentation from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador, José Valencia.
President Lenin Moreno and leaders of Ecuador's Indigenous peoples struck a deal late Sunday to cancel a disputed austerity package and end nearly two weeks of protests that have paralyzed the economy and left seven dead.
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno on Friday proposed direct talks with indigenous leaders after deadly protests against fuel price hikes stretched into the 10th day. “It is essential to stop the violence,” Moreno said in a brief address on television. “I call on the leaders to talk directly with me.”
Hundreds of indigenous people and farmers clashed with Ecuadoran security forces on Monday as they marched toward the capital Quito to protest against rising fuel prices.