Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has made a proposal that has been attracting attention world wide: instead of exploiting the oil reserves under Yasuní National Park, a UNESCO biosphere reserve, he has asked for donations of $350 million in exchange for a promise not to extract any oil from the area.

“Vive Yasuní” - Campaigners protesting against [...]

The Bolivian precedent bodes ill for Ecuador’s constitutional assembly
Bolivian Congressmen have been fighting (physically) over control of the judiciary in La Paz on Wednesday, the BBC reports. But not just that, the Constitutional Assembly has also been disrupted by protests in Sucre (This link deserves a click just because of the site’s cheesy music - [...]

Following threats from Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa against the Ecuadorian press, the Spanish newspaper El País will have an interview with Francisco Vivanco Riifrio, president of the Ecuadorian critical newspaper La Hora. Readers can submit questions for Vivanco on-line. Correa’s threats come at a very difficult time for freedom of speech in Latin American as [...]

Crude oil exploitation in Ecuador has long been one of my favourite rant subjects, ever since I’ve seen it in person. But it seems that other people are on it, too: Sting’s wife, Trudy Styler, co-founder of the Rainforest Foundation, has just been there and has reported back on the experience.

A child plays next to [...]

When, in 2006, Rafael Correa was elected President of Ecuador, I was hopeful. Unlike some of his colleagues in the region, the man seemed reasonable: an economist who had studied in the US but hadn’t just absorbed pure economic theory, he seemed to be leaning towards the left. And he seemed to have concepts.
But now, [...]