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A pair of jaguars discovered in a cage on a ranch exposed a cruel new fashion among Ecuador's drug lords. In the style of Colombian cocaine baron Pablo Escobar, they are erecting private, illegal zoos as a status symbol. In May, police came upon the sorry sight of the two endangered felines perched on a log surrounded by iron bars. They were held on a property owned by Wilder Sanchez Farfan — alias "Gato" (The Cat) — a suspected drug lord with ties to Mexico's Jalisco New Generation cartel and wanted in the United States. Farfan was arrested in Colombia...

My wife was born in Mexico so she is fluent in Spanish. Yesterday she came some immigrants from Ecuador and she began asking them a series of questions. Here's what she learned. These people spoke no English. She said they had just gotten off the bus this week. Some people told them to get onto a bus and come to USA. They did not know who these people inviting them were or what reason they wanted them to come. These immigrants were living inside a Holiday Inn, which of course was being paid for them. The woman from Ecuador said...

First Australia and New Zealand over the weekend, and now that it's Monday, it's another bad day to wake up a leftist. Over in Ecuador, where an assassination took out a conservative frontrunner to its presidential race just weeks before the vote, another rightwinger stepped up to the plate to openly and directly reject socialism -- and sure enough, got elected, 52.3-47.7.According to the Financial Times:Daniel Noboa has won Ecuador’s presidential election as the South American country battles an unprecedented crime wave and an ailing economy. Noboa, a centre-right former lawmaker, beat leftist rival Luisa González in a run-off election...

First Australia and New Zealand over the weekend, and now that it's Monday, it's another bad day to wake up a leftist. Over in Ecuador, where an assassination took out a conservative frontrunner to its presidential race just weeks before the vote, another rightwinger stepped up to the plate to openly and directly reject socialism -- and sure enough, got elected, 52.3-47.7. According to the Financial Times: Daniel Noboa has won Ecuador’s presidential election as the South American country battles an unprecedented crime wave and an ailing economy. Noboa, a centre-right former lawmaker, beat leftist rival Luisa González in a...

02:53 - Source: CNN Quito, Ecuador CNN — Six suspects arrested in connection with the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombian nationals and gang members, authorities have confirmed, as a former vice president demanded action over spiraling levels of violence in the South American country. Villavicencio, an anti-corruption campaigner and lawmaker who was outspoken about the violence caused by drug trafficking in the country, was shot dead at a campaign rally in the capital Quito on Wednesday. The killing of the 59-year-old came 10 days before the first round of the presidential election was set to take...

MSNBC’s Alicia Menendez began her program on a “personal note” Saturday as she declared that she’d stay clear of covering the indictment of her father, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). “Last week, a grand jury indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. This past week, dozens of members of his own party have demanded his resignation,” said the MSNBC anchor on her “American Voices” program. “I have been watching, along with all of you, as a citizen and also as his daughter. I will not be reporting on the legal case.” She then pointed to her own network’s reporting as she spoke just...

Six men suspected of killing Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been killed in prison. The prison authority in Ecuador reported this in a statement. Ecuadorian President Lasso writes on... Drug violence Villavicencio was shot dead in the capital Quito in August after speaking at a campaign rally, two weeks before the elections. The gunman was killed in a shootout after the attack. Shortly after Villavicencio's murder, six Colombians were arrested. They were linked to the Los Lobos drug gang. It is not clear whether these are also the six suspects who have now been killed. Villavicencio's death shocked the...

A murdered Ecuadorian cartel boss known as “El Fatal” was buried with hundreds of pistols, shotguns and rifles in his coffin so he could be “armed to the teeth in the afterlife.” Julian Sevillano, the 39-year-old reputed leader of “Los Fatales,” was with his 20-year-old daughter getting a regular car wash in Moroche last Wednesday when they were suddenly ambushed by gunmen, according to La Nacion. Both were killed in a hail of more than a dozen shots blamed on members of a rival gang, the outlet said. Sevillano’s relatives refused to leave the bodies for local police, however, instead...

In Guatemala the anti-corruption 'Progressive' candidate Bernardo Arevalo is the winner of the Presidential Runoff Election... Pakistan's President refusing to sign legislation designed to crack down on political opponents... The commander of a US Navy destroyer based in Japan relieved of command... In the Netherlands today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seeking US F-16 fighters...Zelensky arrived in Denmark later Sunday saying "we are moving forward in the F-16 issue"... Ukraine threatening Israel over what is says is poor treatment of refugees... A terrorist attack in Israel this weekend... Today was Election Day in Ecuador...Tonight's results in the election for President show...

Unknown gunmen killed presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio – running on a strong-on-crime, anti-corruption, anti-China platform – on Wednesday night before a massive crowd outside of a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates vying for the presidency of Ecuador. The election remains scheduled to take place on August 20, the result of current President Guillermo Lasso, a conservative, using a constitutional provision to dissolve the National Assembly (the federal legislature) in May and call for general elections. Lasso claimed the unprecedented measure was necessary because leftist lawmakers’ incessant attempts to impeach him had made the regular...

In a shocking incident that has sent shockwaves through Ecuador's political landscape, the notorious Los Lobos gang has carried out a violent action. Fernando Villavicencio, a prominent presidential candidate known for his staunch stance against corruption, lost his life in an armed attack just days before the scheduled presidential election on August 20th. The assassination of the presidential candidate was claimed by the Los Lobos gang, who released a video proudly displaying victory signs and shouting slogans of triumph. Villavicencio was fatally shot three times in the head by an assailant while getting into his vehicle after attending an event...

U.S. is sending FBI to Ecuador to help probe presidential candidate’s killing

Ecuadorian right-wing Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated at a campaign rally on Wednesday. Fernando Villavicencio was reportedly shot in the head three times. A grenade was also found at the scene. WATCH: Quedó grabado el Momento exacto en que matan a Fernando Villavicencio!! pic.twitter.com/7kpqUzwzQ4 — Emergencias Ec (@EmergenciasEc) August 10, 2023 According to local media reports, supporters of Fernando Villavicencio managed to capture a suspect after the assassination. WATCH: Simpatizantes de Fernando Villavicencio lograron capturar a un sospechoso del crimen al candidato. pic.twitter.com/juqh67WlYk — Ronald Vinces (@RonaldVinces5) August 10, 2023 Additional footage of the immediate aftermath and chaos was...

Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead during a campaign event in northern Quito on Wednesday night, according to Reuters. A suspect in the killing of Villavicencio later died from injuries sustained during a shootout, the attorney general's office said on Twitter. "A suspect, who was injured during the shootout with security personnel, was apprehended and moved, badly injured, to the (attorney general's) unit in Quito. An ambulance from the fire department confirmed his death, the police are proceeding with collection of the cadaver," the attorney general's office said. Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye said on armed men attacked its...

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been killed, the country’s president Guillermo Lasso has said, vowing the “crime will not go unpunished”. Local media had earlier reported Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5%, had been shot at a campaign event in Quito.

In Ecuador the President of the "Right" Guillermo Lasso dissolving the National Assembly in the face of an impeachment proceedings... Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signing legislation to ban "TikTok"... "fake world leader" "driven by Russia" Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan given those labels today by his opponent in the second round of Türkiye's (Turkey's) presidential elections a week from... Political parties opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say media reports of progress in the judicial reform talks are false... The Political Situation in the United States Republicans talking impeachment while their leaders cut a deal with Joe Biden to...

Archaeologists in the Peruvian Andes have discovered an Inca bathing complex built half a millennia ago, which they believe may have served the elite of the sprawling empire than once dominated large swathes of South America.Found near the "House of the Inca" in the Huanuco Pampa archaeological zone in central Peru, local archaeologists believe that the bath may have served a religious purpose for high-ranking members of the Inca empire, which 500 years ago extended from southern Ecuador to the center of Chile.Luis Paredes Sanchez, project manager at Huanuco Pampa, said the structure was similar to "more hierarchical, restricted and...

True. Open data on government spending shows that federal money was granted to CEN specifically for 12 drag theater performances held by the non-profit, although details of the performances are unclear.

People have inhabited the Andes mountains of South America for more than 9,000 years, adapting to the scarce oxygen available at high altitudes, along with cold temperatures and intense ultraviolet radiation. A new genomic study published in the journal iScience suggests that Indigenous populations in present-day Ecuador also adapted to the tuberculosis bacterium, thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans..."We found that selection for genes involved in TB-response pathways started to uptick a little over 3,000 years ago," says Sophie Joseph, first author of the paper. "That's an interesting time because it was when agriculture began proliferating in the...

The US Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 in the country’s coastal Guayas region. Its centre was about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Guayaquil, which has a metropolitan area of more than 3 million people. The Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, in a televised address said the earthquake killed 12 people. In a tweet, he also asked people to remain calm. The Peruvian prime minister, Alberto Otárola, said a four-year-old girl had died from head trauma she suffered in the collapse of her home in the Tumbes region, on the border with Ecuador. Cristian Torres, head...