QUITO, ECUADOR - It’s been nearly three months since Ecuador President Daniel Noboa declared an internal war against armed groups operating in the country in an attempt to quell the recent escalation of violence. But a series of investigations has revealed how deeply entrenched organized crime has become in Ecuador’s highest levels of government, including its justice …
CITES Warns Ecuador: Crack Down on Illegal Shark Fishing, Now (Hakai Magazine)
QUITO, ECUADOR - Ecuador is, once again, in the hot seat. Late in 2023, officials from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, more commonly known as CITES, gave Ecuador an ultimatum: if the government doesn’t clamp down on illegal shark fishing and the sale of illicit shark fins, …
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A month of war: How did once-serene Ecuador descend into a nightmare of narco violence? (Courthouse News)
QUITO, ECUADOR - In November, Juana Francis Bone's 14-year-old niece went to the corner store for a minute and never came back. When her family filed a police report, they were told each officer had some 60 missing person cases on their shoulders. Her niece would be just one more. Francis is a law student …
‘Me and my menopause’: a view from women around the world (The Guardian)
Millions of women are being let down by lack of support during and after menopause. We asked six, from Brazil to Bangladesh, to share their stories of fighting stigma, dealing with symptoms and supporting others... Ecuador‘Hot flushes are referred to as bochornos, meaning embarrassment in Spanish’ Albeley RodrÃguez Bencomo, 51, Quito Her menopause symptoms are …
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Self-defense and strength in Ecuador (Ojalá)
QUITO, ECUADOR - In a dojo in central Quito, Ecuador, Ibeth Orellana Naranjo is learning how to throw punches, kicks and knock her opponent off balance. She has been taking private Muay Thai classes since November and already feels stronger. “I’m more confident in my body and ability to move. I realize that I won’t …
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Chaos in Ecuador as Gunmen storm live TV (CBC The Current, radio)
QUITO, ECUADOR I helped CBC out with this episode of The Current, collecting testimonies from people on the streets of Quito and their reaction to the violence in the country. In short: people are worried.Jordan, 23, from Esmeraldas said several of his childhood friends were killed last year. Others have stopped going out alone or going …
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Ecuadorians living in fear after presidential candidate’s killing (Al Jazeera)
QUITO, ECUADOR - It was business as usual on the streets of the Ecuadorian capital, as people made their way to work and students headed to school just hours after one of the country’s presidential candidates was fatally shot after a campaign rally. But it was hard to ignore the newspaper headlines, radio banter, and …
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Understanding Ecuador’s violent turn // Entendiendo el giro violento de Ecuador (Ojalá)
QUITO, ECUADOR - Pedro is a 51 year old father from the city of Esmeraldas, a largely Afro-Ecuadorian city on the coast of Ecuador, which has recently been named one of the most violent cities in Latin America. Esmeraldas has long had its fair share of violence, but over the past year, Pedro says it’s …
Will Ecuador’s illegal mining crackdown protect Indigenous people? (Reuters via Context)
QUITO - Kayaking down the Napo River in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, environmentalist Matthew Terry bemoaned how the once-lush riverbanks are now barren and full of dredges, excavating machines and bulldozers as illegal gold mining spreads across the region. In certain areas, miners have completely rerouted the river channel, while some smaller tributaries of the Napo …
First-ever regional court case involving rights of uncontacted peoples awaits verdict (Mongabay)
QUITO, ECUADOR - Deep in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest live the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous nations, the last two communities in the country who have never set foot outside of the jungle. They have long resisted all outsiders’ contact and continue fiercely defending their remaining territory. But over the years, three massacres in 2003, 2006 …
Kimberley (Michelle) Brown 