Ecuadorian police have arrested two suspects in the killing of soccer player Mario Pineida, who was shot in an attack this week that also killed his partner and wounded his mother, underscoring the rising violence in the Andean nation.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States is designating two Ecuadorian gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the entire southern border wall with Mexico is being painted black to deter illegal immigration.

Police say the family of Ecuadorian soccer player Jackson Rodríguez has been rescued after being kidnapped from their home in the coastal city of Guayaquil.

Daniel Noboa stunned voters in 2023 when he won a snap election for a 16-month presidency after only a brief stint as a lawmaker and with no established political machinery.

Ecuador’s Ministry for Energy and Mines says it has begun to dismantle infrastructure on a controversial oil drilling block in Yasuni National Park, home to the Waorani Indigenous people.

A failure in an energy transmission line has produced an blackout throughout Ecuador, the government reported, days after announcing that there would be new power outages in the country due to production problems.

Ecuador is defending its storming of Mexico’s Embassy in Quito last month.

Ecuador has filed a complaint at the top U.N. court over what it called Mexico’s illegal decision to grant political asylum to a former Ecuadorian vice president, which led to Ecuador’s highly criticized raid on the Mexican Embassy earlier this month.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered the closure of his country’s embassy and consulates in Ecuador in solidarity with Mexico in its protest over a raid by Ecuadorian authorities on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

Mexico has released security camera video of the moments when Ecuadorian authorities forced their way into Mexico’s embassy, pushed a Mexican diplomat to the ground and carried out Ecuador’s former vice president who had been holed up there.

International leaders have condemned Ecuador after police in the capital, Quito, broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former vice president who had been granted political asylum.

Mexico’s government has severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president.

Ecuador’s high court has decriminalized euthanasia and ordered lawmakers and health officials to draft rules and regulations for the procedure.

A bomb threat has sent an anti-explosives unit into a bustling area of Ecuador's tense capital as the South American nation staggers under a spike of violence blamed on drug gangs.

A convicted leader of one of the most powerful drug gangs in Ecuador has vanished from the prison where he was serving his sentence.

Ecuador’s youngest elected president faces a practically impossible task.

The fragile security of Ecuador has been underscored by the explosions of four car bombs and the hostage-taking of more than 50 law enforcement officers inside various detention facilities.

The vote count in Ecuador's special presidential election points to a leftist backed by the country’s fugitive ex-president likely facing a runoff with the son of a banana tycoon.

Ecuadorians will choose a new president Sunday, less than two weeks after the South American country was shaken by the assassination of one of the candidates.

Ecuador will hold six Colombian men for at least a month as the country probes their involvement in the slaying of a presidential candidate whose life’s work was fighting crime and corruption, the national prosecutor’s office said Friday.

An Ecuadorian police report says the six men arrested as suspects in the assassination of an anti-corruption presidential candidate are Colombian nationals.

A 76-year-old woman who had been declared dead and surprised her relatives by knocking on her coffin during her wake earlier this month has died after seven days in intensive care.

Ecuador’s National Electoral Council has announced that early presidential elections would be held on Aug. 20 after President Guillermo Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree last week and brought forward the vote scheduled for 2025.

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has ruled the opposition-dominated National Assembly can take up the question of whether to impeach President Guillermo Lasso over allegations of crimes against state security and corruption.

Our journey with the Houston Zoo to the Galápagos Islands started early in the morning Friday. 6 a.m. breakfast, 7 a.m. pick up from our hotel in Quito and it was off to the airport, again. We had flown into Quito, Ecuador from Houston the evening before and caught a few hours of sleep before embarking on the final leg of our trip which would take us to Galápagos for our first day on the Islands.

Ecuador’s government and the country’s main Indigenous group have reached an agreement to end 18 days of often-violent strikes that had virtually paralyzed the country.

The Indigenous organization leading protests in Ecuador has agreed to discuss with the government possible solutions that could lead to the end of a strike that has paralyzed parts of the country for two weeks.

Violent protests by Indigenous people demanding a variety of changes, including lower fuel prices, have paralyzed Ecuador’s capital and other regions, but the government has rejected their conditions for dialogue.

A rain-weakened hillside has collapsed in Ecuador’s capital, sweeping over homes and a sports field.

Ecuador says vaccination against the coronavirus will be mandatory for most citizens.

Former banker Guillermo Lasso was sworn in as president of Ecuador, saying he will escalate efforts to vaccinate people to protect them from COVID-19 and work to revive an economy hit hard by the pandemic.

The famed Darwin’s Arch in the Galapagos Islands has lost its top, and officials are blaming natural erosion of the stone.

A U.S. health panel says it’s time to resume use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, despite a very rare risk of blood clots.

Relatives of inmates cry outside the Centro de Privacin de Libertad Zona 8 prison where riots broke out in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. Deadly riots broke out in prisons in three cities across the country due to fights between rival gangs, according to police. (AP Photo/Angel Dejesus)QUITO – Ecuador experienced its deadliest prison riots ever this week when seemingly coordinated fights broke out in facilities in three different cities, leaving 79 inmates dead as of Wednesday and exposing the limited control that authorities have over people behind bars. Television footage on Tuesday showed some prisoners jumping from high walls and others trying to force open prison doors. AdOver the past three decades, Latin American prisons have seen fires, riots, massacres and other forms of violence.

It remains undecided which of the two has the votes to advance to the run-off race in April to face frontrunner Andres Arauz. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO – Final results from a Feb. 7 presidential election in Ecuador confirmed that former banker Guillermo Lasso came second behind leading candidate Andrés Arauz, meaning the two will contest a runoff vote in April, election officials said Sunday. Pérez alleged fraud after the results that indicated he had fallen just short of defeating Lasso and making it to the runoff. The council “may declare fraudulent electoral results, but the true results are in the hearts of Ecuadorians who supported a new political project that reflects the dreams of a dignified and honest Ecuador,” Pérez tweeted. Indigenous communities led protests in October 2019 that forced Ecuador’s government to back down on a move to end fuel subsidies.

(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO – A young leftist backed by a convicted-but-popular former president led the field of 16 candidates in early returns from Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, which was held under strict sanitary measures due to the coronavirus pandemic. Arauz got 31.5% of the votes, while Pérez had 20.04% and Lasso had 19.97%, according to the Electoral Council of Ecuador. To win outright, a candidate needed 50% of the vote, or to have at least 40% with a 10-point lead over the closest opponent. Pérez's challenge to grab second place surprised some observers as he had trailed behind Arauz and Lasso in pre-election polls. That conviction barred him from running as Arauz's vice presidential candidate.

Supporters of presidential candidate Yaku Perez, representing the Indigenous party Pachakutik, take part in a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Voters in Ecuador are heading to the polls to pick a new president amid a deepening economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO – Evidence of the crisis in Ecuador is everywhere: shuttered restaurants, soaring oxygen tank prices and countless “for sale” and “for rent” signs hanging from buildings. Jaramillo said the top two challenges for Ecuador’s next president go hand in hand: A proper vaccination campaign of the majority of the population will be necessary to start the country’s economic recovery. The pandemic paralyzed 70% of businesses last year and left 600,000 unemployed, bringing the country’s unemployment rate to almost 68%.

Married couple Julio Mora Tapia, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, both retired teachers, pose for a photo at their home in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. The couple is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest married couple in the world, because of their combined ages. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marry Waldramina Quinteros one February day. There are longer marriages, but at the moment no other between people so old, according to Guinness World Records just short of a combined 215 years. Previously listed as the oldest were an Austin, Texas, couple, Charlotte Henderson and John Henderson who have a combined age of 212 years and 52 days.

(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)NEW DELHI Indias confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed 2.5 million with another biggest single-day spike of 65,002 in the past 24 hours. The average daily reported cases jumped from around 15,000 in the first week of July to more than 50,000 at the beginning of August. With 103 new cases reported Friday, this is the first time since late March that the daily increase surpassed 100 two days in a row. The state on Saturday reported four more COVID-19 deaths and 303 newly confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours. ___MEXICO CITY Mexicos number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 511,369, as health officials say they believe the country's infections have peaked.

A doctor informs a woman about the condition of her relative who was admitted with COVID-19 to the Seguridad Social hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

A doctor informs a woman about the condition of her relative who was admitted with COVID-19 to the Seguridad Social hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)QUITO Hundreds of people with breathing problems waited for hours in long lines in Ecuador's capital Tuesday seeking medical attention and tests to determine if they were infected with the new coronavirus. The result is that long lines of people observing social distancing snake from hospitals, with waits of up to four hours before they can undergo clinical examinations and a quick coronavirus test. Health Minister Juan Carlos Zevallos said Quito is in a critical situation.There is a very big demand for hospital beds and beds that have been adapted to care for critical patients who require ventilation and intensive care beds, he said. For Ecuador as a whole, 82,279 confirmed cases have been reported since the end of February, when the first COVID-19 case was detected.

People wait in line to get COVID-19 tests, outside a health clinic in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The Ecuadorian capital has experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases since the government started to reopen the economy last month. There have been 82,300 confirmed infections of the new coronavirus in Ecuador and about 5,600 deaths from the disease that it causes, COVID-19. Quito has registered 12,747 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 605 deaths. For now, many in Quito are waiting - for a better economy, for coronavirus test results, for news of hospitalized relatives.