Topic: Ecuador | VivirLatino

Ecuador Passes New Constitution

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:06:39 -0500

Ecuador's voters approved a new constitution by about 70%. In the new constitution, there are certain provisions that are more progressive and protect more rights than the U.S. Constitution.

The new constitution guarantees civil rights for gays and lesbians, including civil unions affording all the rights of marriage... Preliminary results showed 65 percent support with 5 percent of the vote counted, mirroring earlier exit polls and quick counts that indicated overwhelming voter approval...

Pero, before you get all excited and plan to move to South America....

Ecuadorians Number 4 Latino Group in NYC (Especially in Queens)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:24:58 -0500

As a born and bred Queens, NYC Latina, I sure don't need statistics to tell me that the Ecuadorian population is steadily growing. It's the reason there are more Ecuadorian food trucks and carts from Jackson Heights to Flushing. It's the reason my own daughter loves guatita y sopa de bola. Markets blast Ecuadorian music and flyers glued to the wood planks outside of new buildings advertise such talent as Caramelo Caliente. the numbers tell me what I have been living.

Census figures show about 102,000 Ecuadorean immigrants, more than from any other Latin American country, live in Queens.

With a population of about 162,900 citywide, Ecuadoreans are New York’s fourth largest Hispanic contingent, behind Puerto Ricans (770,100), Dominicans (587,330) and Mexicans (260,620), according to the census.

Ecuador to Take in 50,000 Colombian Refugees

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:37:16 -0500

We hear a lot of talk about big countries like the U.S. offering aid to neighbors and other countries of interest, but I always raise an eyebrow when I hear these reports. We are supposedly "helping" Irag, remember? But when a small, poor country extends a helping hand to neighbors there is something significant in the act. Ecuador, a nation which has seen its share of hard times and has in turn seen a large exodus of its citizens, has announced that it will now return that favor to Colombian refugees living on the border of the two South American countries. Reports Venezuela's El Universal:

The government will initiate in September a program to grant formal refugee status to some 50,000 Colombians living in the border zone, nearly three times the number currently registered, announced Chancellor María Isabel Salvador on Wednesday.

The "Colombian refugees registered are currently 18,000 but we will extend refugee status to at least 50,000 more."

The Chancellor told reporters that "Ecuador is a country that looks to help everyone", and from the statistics it looks like that's a philosophy they are actually living by. El Universal reports that Ecuador has taken in more Colombian refugees fleeing the armed conflict than any other in the hemisphere.

Via / El Universal

Need a Hug? Ecuador is Giving Them Away!

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 08:00:21 -0500

Maybe it's the New Yorker in me, but I generally don't like hugging strangers, especially strange gringo tourists but the Free Hug movement went to Ecuador and seem to be well received even if their background hugging it out theme music is questionable (as in I hate it).

Via / Global Voices and Cobertura Digital

Venezuela to Colombia : A U.S. Base on the Border Means War

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:17:27 -0500

With the lease of the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador expiring next year and Ecuador's President Rafael Correa vowing not to renew, the United States Ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, suggested that the Ecuador base could be moved to La Guajira inside Colombia, who maintains friendly diplomatic relations with the U.S. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, not one to take a "wait and see" approach, said that placing a U.S. base in the region that spans northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela, would equal nothing less than a threat of war.

"We will not allow the Colombian government to give La Guajira to the empire," Chavez said, referring to the US during a speech to a packed auditorium of uniformed soldiers.
"Colombia is launching a threat of war at us."

While Chavez certainly will be called out because he is the only one crying "war" , what would a U.S. military base on the Colombia/Venezuela border mean?

Via / Al Jazeera

When Latino Corporate Fighters Win Awards, The Corporates Get Mad

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:07:06 -0500

What does a multi-national company do when two Ecuadorians fighting against them win an award? They launch a PR battle attack. Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza were named the 2008 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients for their 14 year grassroots struggle against Chevron and the contamination that oil company has done against the country and people of Ecuador, specifically in the Amazon region.

In response, Chevron issued a press release and hold a press briefing saying that the company objects:

to the Goldman Foundation over its selection of personal injury lawyer Pablo Fajardo and his associate, Luis Yanza, who were revealed today as 2008 Goldman prize recipients. Chevron regrets that the organizers of the Goldman Environmental Prize were skillfully misled into naming Mr. Fajardo and Mr. Yanza as prize winners.

Ecuadorian Modelo/Assemblymember Wants to Save the Environment but Not Rape Victims or GLBT People

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 11:52:12 -0500

Trying to show she's more than just a pretty face, Rosanna Queirolo, won a seat on the Ecuadorian National Assembly on a platform promising to protect the environment and to provide a bridge to the Ecuadorian immigrant community in the United States. Once comfy in her seat of power however, she showed her true colors in positions about rape, abortion and the GLTB community.

For those non-Spanish dominant peeps, translation after the jump.

Colombia and Venezuela Make Nice

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:03:51 -0500

After a week of rising tensions between Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Yesterday Venezuela announced that it was reestablishing diplomatic relations with Colombia. This followed a Friday meeting between the parties in the Dominican Republic where the presidents of Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia signed a declaration to end a crisis sparked by the attack, when Colombian troops killed a rebel leader and 21 others inside Ecuadoran territory.

"The Venezuelan government will send to Bogota, immediately, diplomatic personnel charged with representing the republic before the government of Colombia," the Venezuelan government said in a statement posted online Sunday. "In the same manner, the Venezuelan government has communicated to the Colombia authorities their disposition to receive in Caracas, in a short time, the diplomatic personnel of the sister republic."

The three presidents even shook hands. Awww.

Via / CNN

Are Colombia, Ecuador & Venezuela Ready to Get Their War On?

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:42:34 -0500

The media is all over the story that Ecuador and Venezuela are ready to declare war on Colombia. Ecuador and Venezuela have cut diplomatic ties with Colombia and sent troops to their respective borders with the nation run by Alvaro Uribe. Alvaro Uribe can indeed be seen as the cause of the war talk thanks to him allowing (some say officially ordering) his troops into Ecuadorian land to capture and kill FARC leader Raúl Reyes. In the raid laptops were captured, starting a war of documents on laptops as well. Colombia says that documents recovered reveal Hugo Chavez's support of the FARC in terms of money. Venezuela later displayed the laptop of a slain drug trafficker, which it said contained information implicating Colombia's national police chief in the cocaine trade.

Sea Lion Massacre in the Galapagos

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:50:31 -0500

Few people actually care when Latin American people get massacred but Latin American animals still get our sympathy. 53 sea lions, 13 pups, 25 youngsters, nine males and six females, were found with their heads smashed in on Pinta island, part of the Galapagos Islands, about 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. Sometimes the sea lions are killed and mutilated. The skin are hunted for, and the teeth and genitals of the male animals are removed for use as a supposed aphrodisiac in Chinese medicine but their was none of that here, just someone who wanted to kill animals.

Via / BBC

Ecuador's Prez Correa Declares Victory on New Constitution

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:13:08 -0500

The trend in Latin America is to push to rewrite constitutions with socialist flair. Jumping on this trend is Ecuador's President Rafael Correa. Unofficially, a quick count by a local citizens' group at thousands of polls indicated strong support for the president's party in a vote that happened yesterday. The official results won't be known for at least 20 days. Some of the changes proposed include letting presidents serve two consecutive four-year terms instead of the one allowed now.

Story and Image Via / AP

Belgian judge halts deportation of Ecuadorean family

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:55:28 -0500

A mother and daughter from Ecuador who had been living in Belgium without papers for 4 years were about to get on a plane bound for Quito, but after a grassroots campaign which brought to light charges of abuse, a Belgian judge decided to halt the deportation order.

Judge Moris said this Monday that the arrest of Angélica, who spent 29 days with her mother in a closed center for the undocumented, caused her "trauma which constitutes inhumane and degrading treatment" which violates Article 3 of the European Human Rights Convention.

The family's lawyer, Selma ben Khelifa, had presented as evidence a psychological report dated July 5, another from the 19th and the conclusions of the child's defender, Claude Lelièvre, who last week asked that the deportation order be nullified.

Ecuadorian air travelers get an eyefull

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:35:32 -0500

Flights can be tedious, and some of us are thankful for in-flight movies and the solace of our iPods to while away the hours. But passengers on Ecuador's Ícaro Airlines get a bit more than that, as the company has provided a group of scantily clad women who romp about the plane for the entertainment of the passengers. The video below will tell you all you need to know:

It seems objectification is a viable marketing tactic in Ecuador. But I guess this is no worse than the Hooters jet, though no mainstream airline here would dare this. Although Ícaro says it doesn't rule out the possibility of having male models on its flights as well.

Via / 20 Minutos

Daryl Hannah down for indigenous in Ecuador

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:57:25 -0500

Last year, Daryl Hannah was up in a tree with Joan Baez, trying to save an L.A. farm from being taken over by developers. This year, she's got her feet on the ground in Ecuador, for yet another environmental struggle:

...Daryl Hannah traveled through the thick Ecuadorian jungle on Monday to see for herself why 30,000 villagers and indigenous people of the Amazon are suing the oil company Chevron.

The oil giant faces a trial in this town, located 110 miles to the east of Quito, for supposedly failing to clean up the spill of hundreds of millions of liters of toxic water.

The inhabitants of Lago Agrio, Ecuador, are asking that Chevron pay 6 billion dollars in damages.

Via / El Universal
Image via Washington Post - AP

Galapagos being destroyed by tourists

Thu, 03 May 2007 14:43:15 -0500

Ecuador's Galapagos Islands -- the natural paradise that inspired some of Charles Darwin's most important writings on his Theory of Evolution -- are being destroyed by the massive influx of tourists to the protected area.

According to Spain's 20 Minutos, UNESCO director Koichiro Matsuura says his team conducted an inspection of the islands last April and found them in grave danger due to the "excessively high" number of visitors to the island, and the contamination of the natural flora and fauna by non-native plants and animals.

Ana Albán, Ecuador's environmental minister, says that the country will make this problem a "national priority", and meanwhile UNESCO is studying the possibility of putting the islands on their list of at-risk natural heritage sites.

Via / 20 Minutos