Read the latest news from regional and global sources, presenting different voices and perspectives.
In Ecuador’s Rainforest, Women Gather to Defend the Amazon With Law—and Sisterhood
LatinAmerican Post
·
July 3, 2025
Forty Indigenous leaders, lawyers, and organizers journeyed deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon last week, not for protest or spectacle, but to build a transnational legal shield. Their message from Sarayaku was urgent and straightforward: only...
Over 280 Ecuadorian and International Organizations Speak Out Against the Criminalization and Violence against Environmental Defenders Resisting Canadian Mining
Skillings Mining Review - Florida
·
July 3, 2025
Quito-Ottawa: Yesterday, July 2, 2025, 283 Ecuadorian, Canadian, and international organizations, unions, and coalitions sent a letter expressing deep concern about the systematic criminalization of 29 human rights and land defenders in Bolivar...
Ecuador law reforms spark concern for children’s rights
JURIST
·
June 28, 2025
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday warned that a newly enacted law in Ecuador threatens the rights and protections of children, particularly those recruited or used by organized crime groups. The Public Integrity Law, passed by the National...
Ecuador launches new national union for fishing, aquaculture sector
Undercurrent News
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June 27, 2025
Ecuador has officially launched the Union de Pescadores y Acuicultores del Ecuador, a new nationwide union aimed at uniting and strengthening the country's fishing and aquaculture sector, according to a press release by the Tuna Conservation Group...
Ecuador Apologizes to Abused Abacaleros, Plantation Remains Silent
Sourcing Journal - New York
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June 27, 2025
Ecuadorian government officials issued a public apology on May 31 to a group of the 300 “abacaleros” workers subjected to slave-like conditions for nearly six decades at the Japanese-owned abaca plantation, Furukawa Plantaciones. The textile...
Ecuador’s Kichwa language is kept alive in the US
El País
·
June 28, 2025
–Imanalla, ñukaka Micaelami kani (“How are you? My name is Micaela”), says the teacher at the start of the Kichwa class. –Ñukaka alli kani, yachachik Micaela (“I’m fine, Miss Micaela”), say the students. Today’s class is a review lesson in which...
Ecuador's indigenous Kichwa community celebrated in Belmont Cragin mural
Chicago Sun Times - Illinois
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June 27, 2025
Tucked away on a Belmont Cragin corner, a rich mural helps Chicago’s Kichwa Ecuadorian community honor and remember their homeland. A member of that community, a group indigenous to Ecuador, painted the mural. Fernando Lechón of New York spent...
Ecuador Gang Leader 'Fito' Captured, Faces U.S. Extradition
OCCRP
·
June 27, 2025
The leader of Ecuador’s Los Choneros gang—long considered the country’s most wanted fugitive—is set to be extradited to the United States after being captured 18 months after his escape from prison. Jose Adolfo Macias, also known by the alias...
Former Ecuador vice president sentenced to prison in embezzlement case
JURIST
·
July 2, 2025
The Tribunal of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador sentenced Jorge Glas, the former vice president, to 13 years in prison for embezzlement charges on Monday. The judges, Mercedes Caicedo, Marco Rodríguez Ruiz, and Javier de la Cadena, ruled...
Ecuador reveals how notorious gang leader 'Fito' hid in his hometown for 18 months after...
Dayton Daily News - Ohio
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Ecuadorian security forces recaptured the kingpin Wednesday at an underground bunker beneath a marble-walled house in the port city of Manta, some 260 kilometers (161 miles) southwest of the capital of Quito. In a remarks to reporters Thursday,...
Ecuador’s most wanted Narco found cowering under kitchen counter
Metro
·
June 27, 2025
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A criminal who escaped from prison in late 2023 was found in an underground bunker only accessible through a kitchen counter....
Ecuador reveals how notorious gang leader 'Fito' hid in his hometown after jailbreak
ABC News - New York
·
June 27, 2025
QUITO, Ecuador -- Ever since Ecuador's most notorious gang leader vanished from his prison cell in January 2024, authorities have been searching the world, offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Adolfo Macías, alias...
Ecuador’s Druglord ‘Fito’ Captured after Escape from Prison 18 Months Ago
The CSR Journal
·
June 27, 2025
After more than a year since his escape from prison in Ecuador, a fugitive drug trafficking criminal wanted by authorities in the Andean country and the United States was captured. Ecuador’s President, Daniel Noboa, announced on Wednesday that...
Ecuador recaptures gang leader wanted in US more than a year after his prison escape
New York Post
·
June 26, 2025
A fugitive drug trafficker wanted by authorities in Ecuador and the United States was recaptured more than a year after he escaped from prison in the Andean nation, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced Wednesday. José Adolfo Macías, alias...
Ecuador: Public Integrity Law Endangers Children
Human Rights Watch
·
June 27, 2025
(New York) – Reforms passed by Ecuador’s National Assembly and signed by President Daniel Noboa severely threaten children’s rights and fail to protect children who are recruited or used by organized crime groups, Human Rights Watch said today. On...
Ecuador reveals how notorious gang leader 'Fito' hid in his hometown for 18 months after jailbreak
WSOC 9 - North Carolina
·
June 27, 2025
QUITO, Ecuador — (AP) — Ever since Ecuador's most notorious gang leader vanished from his prison cell in January 2024, authorities have been searching the world, offering a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Adolfo Macías,...
Ecuador Recaptures Most Wanted Gang Leader More Than 1 Year After He Escapes Prison
The Epoch Times
·
June 26, 2025
Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive and the alleged leader of the Los Choneros criminal group was recaptured after escaping from prison more than a year ago, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on June 25. José Adolfo Macías, also known as “Fito,”...
Ecuador recaptures drug kingpin wanted in United States
World - North Carolina
·
June 26, 2025
Ecuadorean authorities on Wednesday arrested notorious drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías Villamar more than a year after he escaped from prison. Police and military authorities caught the criminal known as Fito using enforcement powers and...
Ecuador’s most wanted drug lord captured hiding in bunker
The Gazette - Colorado
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Ecuador's most wanted fugitive, a gang leader and drug-lord known as Fito, was captured after hiding out in a bunker underneath a house. Fito, whose real name is Adolfo Macías Villamar, is the leader of Los Choneros, a criminal gang known for its...
Xi meets with Ecuadorian Leader to discuss their bilateral ties
MENAFN
·
July 2, 2025
(MENAFN) Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa in Beijing on Friday, marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Xi highlighted the steady progress in their partnership, noting...