Thousands of people turned out for protest marches across Ecuador on Thursday to call for the ouster of President Rafael Correa just three days before a visit by Pope Francis. Full demonstrations were reported in the three biggest cities, Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, as well as other smaller cities. Correa claimed a 'coup' was on the making.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced he would temporarily withdraw two controversial tax bills from the legislature, saying he would give the public time to debate them. The bills, which would have raised taxes on inheritances and capital gains, generated uproar that led to mass street protests in recent days.
US cinema star Brad Pitt has been invited by the Ecuadorian government to observe the pollution in the country's Amazon region allegedly caused by Chevron. President Rafael Correa announced the invitation in his regular weekend report, saying that the oil giant is in preparation of spearheading a film with the movie star about an alleged case against the company.
After meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Tuesday, the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, told his two million Twitter followers that the pontiff had spoken enthusiastically about his coming visit to the country and had even told him a self-deprecating joke about the Argentines.
The Union of South American Nations, Unasur will celebrate this Friday its eighth anniversary with the official opening of the South American Defense School (Esude) created to instruct on defense and security issues, both at civil and military level, following 'the principles of a regional strategic vision'.
Full support also expressed for Venezuela against sanctions from the administration of United States President Barack Obama.
Ecuador's Deputy Minister of Aquaculture and Fisheries organized a workshop with representatives from various government institutions related to port and maritime fisheries control in the country in order to develop a National Action Plan to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Argentina's state-run energy company YPF closed on Wednesday an agreement with Ecuador's state-owned company Petroamazonas for the enhanced recovery of the mature field of El Campo Yuralpa which will demand an investment in the range of 170 million dollars.
Ecuador has apologized to an indigenous community for authorizing oil drilling on ancestral land without their permission. The apology to the Sarayaku community came two years after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the OPEC nation had violated the tribe's right to be consulted on oil concessions granted for their land.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent over two years inside Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, said on Monday he planned to leave the building soon, but his spokesman said that could only happen if Britain let him.