Skip to content

Ecuador

As Elections Near, Ecuador’s Poor, African And Colonized Under Siege

March 21, 2025 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
As Ecuador heads into a very important run-off election on April 13, the issue of security and state violence, as well as the economy, remains at the forefront for many Ecuadorians. In January 2025 alone, over 750 homicides were registered in Ecuador. Economic dollarization and submission to U.S. dictates the proliferation of arms shipments through privately owned ports, and the expansion of international drug cartels to enforce an atmosphere of violence and a military presence to combat them have all combined to make the living conditions of the poorest and vulnerable unbearable, especially for African and Indigenous communities with a constant war directed at them from the militarized structures of the state.

Daniel Noboa Asks For Foreign Troops To Enter Ecuador

February 21, 2025 Pablo Meriguet, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
On February 19, the Communication Secretariat of the Presidency stated that the government of the right-wing Daniel Noboa “proposes, temporarily and in the context of the war declared against narcoterrorism, the incorporation of special forces from allied countries to support and strengthen the actions of the Armed Forces and the National Police. In this sense, President Noboa ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to…make the approaches to coordinate efforts and establish cooperation agreements for this purpose.”

US Puppet Narco State: CIA/State Department Control Over Ecuador

February 9, 2025 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
On January 3rd, Black Agenda Report contributor Clau O’Brien Moscoso interviewed economic analyst Juan Fernando Terán on the deadly war on crime that President of Ecuador Daniel Noboa has imposed on the Ecuadorian people, with fatal consequences for African, indigenous and poor communities. One such case is that of the Guayaquil Four , four young African boys forcibly disappeared then murdered by members of the Ecuadorian Air Force on Dec 8, 2024. The following is the second part of the interview

The Safest Country In Latin America Became A Money Laundering Hub

January 30, 2025 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
Once on track to be the safest country in Latin America, now Ecuador finds itself mired deep in gang violence, robberies, assassinations and insecurity. Under the last three neoliberal governments of Lenin Moreno, Guillermo Lasso, and current president Daniel Noboa, there has been a surge in violent crime that has derailed any of the gains made during the leftist Correa government. On January 3rd, Black Agenda Report contributor Clau O’Brien Moscoso spoke to economic analyst Juan Fernando Terán to discuss how the surge in violence in Ecuador has political, economic and geostrategic dimensions, with implications for the whole region.

Ecuador’s Coastal Ecosystems Have Rights, Constitutional Court Rules

January 20, 2025 Paige Bennett, EcoWatch. , , , , ,
The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has determined that coastal marine ecosystems have rights of nature, including the right to “integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes,” per Chapter 7, Articles 71 to 74 in the country’s constitution. This is not the first time that Ecuador has established legal rights for nature. In fact, Ecuador was the first country in the world to establish that nature held legal rights, Earth.org reported. In 2008, Ecuador added rights for Pacha Mama, an ancient goddess similar to the Mother Earth entity, in its constitution.

The War On Africans In Ecuador

January 16, 2025 Clau O'Brien Moscoso, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Following the forced disappearance and extrajudicial killings of four AfroEcuadorian boys aged 11 to 15 in Las Malvinas neighborhood in southern Guayaquil, a predominantly African and impoverished community, families of the murdered boys, friends, human rights organizations and AfroEcuadorian popular organizations have come together to forcefully denounce this horrific state crime. On January 8th, one month after the disappearance of the boys, a chigualo commemorative march was held throughout the neighborhood of Las Malvinas.

The Unrelenting Violence Against Black Youth In Latin America:

January 11, 2025 Janvieve Williams Comrie, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The December 2024 murders of four Afro-Ecuadorian boys in Guayaquil’s Las Malvinas neighborhood have laid bare the entrenched racism and neglect faced by Black communities in Ecuador. Ismael and Josué Arroyo, of 15 and 14 years of age, Nehemías Arboleda, 15, and Steven Medina 11, disappeared on December 8th, their dismembered bodies discovered days later near a military base. This heinous act has drawn national and international condemnation, with demands for justice and accountability growing louder. The government’s response—a state of emergency and curfew in Guayaquil and other areas until at least March 3, 2025—has been criticized for its misplaced focus.

BAP Condemns Ecuadorian Authorities For The Disappearance Of Four Black Children —

December 31, 2024 The Black Alliance for Peace. , , , , , ,
December 30, 2024 - The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) is concerned and outraged that four Afro-Ecuadorian children, between the ages of 11 and 15, can go missing for almost two weeks after coming into contact with members of the armed forces without any concerns or official statements provided by government officials. The children (the “Guayaquil Four”) are from the Las Malvinas neighborhood, a largely Black and impoverished community, in Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil. BAP supports the demands of AfroEcuadorian and human rights organizations for the safe return of these boys and a transparent investigation.

Mass Indignation In Ecuador Sparked By Disappearance Of Four Children

December 31, 2024 Pablo Meriguet, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , ,
Four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, disappeared after they were arrested by state forces on December 8. The news of their parents desperately searching for their underage children has dominated the news in Ecuador for the last several weeks even amid the festive season. On December 8, Ismael and Josué Arroyo (15 and 14 years old), Saúl Arboleda (15 years old), and Steven Medina (11 years old) were detained by a military contingent patrolling the area where the boys were playing football. The four young Afro-Ecuadorian boys have not been seen since then.

Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands Now Open To US Military

December 20, 2024 Pablo Meriguet, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
The national government of Daniel Noboa approved a resolution that enables US ships and crews to use the Galapagos Islands for control and patrol activities in the area. On February 15, 2024, Noboa signed a series military cooperation treaties with the US government, allowing ships, military personnel, armament, equipment, and submarines to be installed in the natural reserve, which UNESCO declared a World Natural Heritage Site in 1978. In doing so, Noboa ratified the Washington Agreement, signed by former President Guillermo Lasso. The agreement grants US soldiers and their contractors several privileges, exemptions, and immunity in Ecuadorian territory, similar to those enjoyed by members of diplomatic missions as agreed on in the Vienna Convention.

Applying/Misapplying Gramsci’s Passive Revolution To Latin America

October 17, 2024 Steve Ellner, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The second wave of progressive Latin American governments that began with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico in 2018 does not have the aura of excitement surrounding the first, dating back to Hugo Chávez in 1998. It is not only characterized by pragmatism, but lacks the slogans and banners of radical change associated with Chávez and Evo Morales. As stated by former Bolivian vice president Álvaro García Linera in the face of challenges from an aggressive right, the second-wave left “turned up to the fight in an already exhausted state.”

Indian Fighting Today: Gibson, Dunn And Crutcher

October 15, 2024 Winona LaDuke, Portside. , , , ,
The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,” manifest destiny, and “merciless Indian savages” are all phrases which underscore the deep hatred of the American Empire for Indigenous peoples. After all, this is our land, indakiingimin, the very land to which we belong., And to make America, it’s important to steal it. That’s pretty much history — a lot of theft: land, cultural items and people. And where possible, the laws themselves. It starts with hating and expands to war. Welcome to the modern Indian Wars. Some of them are in the courtroom.

Ecuador Voted To Stop Drilling In The Amazon

October 15, 2024 Adem Ay, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
Environmental activists rarely get to celebrate a major win for the planet, but that’s what happened in Ecuador last year. After a decade-long struggle between activists and the government, a referendum was held in August 2023 on whether to continue drilling for oil in a protected part of the Amazon. The people voted to kick the oil industry out. The government and the state oil company, Petroecuador, had tried every trick in the book to get a different result. There was a disinformation campaign, threats of austerity, even an attempt to void hundreds of thousands of signatures that were collected for the referendum to happen.

US Government Announces Entry Ban On Rafael Correa

October 13, 2024 Pablo Meriguet, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
On October 9, the US State Department published a statement declaring former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, as well as his former vice-president Jorge Glas, as ineligible to enter the country. According to the United States, the measure was taken due to the alleged “involvement in significant corruption during their time in public office”. In 2020, Correa and other politicians close to his party were sentenced to prison in Ecuador for allegedly committing acts of corruption. Correa was not arrested and imprisoned because he was living in Belgium, a country that has, on several occasions, ruled out apprehending and deporting him for the charges he faces in Ecuador.

The Urban Gardens Where Gender And Climate Justice Grow

September 15, 2024 Peter Yeung, Next City. , , ,
Up in the lung-busting altitudes of Quito, Ecuador’s capital city, 71-year-old Maria Achiña and 70-year-old Alegria Irua are busy digging up soil and plucking weeds from their modest allotment of kale, onions, broccoli and cilantro. The green-fingered pair are part of a group of local women who till the land beside the neighborhood’s health clinic, which is free to them under the city’s celebrated participatory urban agriculture project focused on gender, climate and food justice. “It gives us good food to eat and a bit of income to help pay the bills,” says Achiña, who lost both her husband and daughter in recent years. “And besides, us old ladies, we need to fill our time with something.”
«12345678910»
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.