SINANGOE, ECUADOR – Early on the morning of Nov. 15, five Constitutional Court judges arrived by canoe to the Indigenous Cofan community of Sinangoe in Ecuador’s northern Amazon rainforest, wearing rubber boots and loose clothing to weather the intense jungle heat. This visit marked the first time in the country’s history that judges from theContinueContinue reading “Court convenes historic hearing in Indigenous territory on land consent issue (Mongabay)”
Tag Archives: human rights
How corruption has added to Latin America’s COVID death toll (The New Humanitarian)
QUITO, ECUADOR – After coming down with COVID-19 in December, Vinicio Sánchez visited three health centres in a single day. At the first, a clinic in the south of Ecuadorian capital, Quito, he was told he needed oxygen but they had none left to give him. He was referred to a specialist COVID-19 centre inContinueContinue reading “How corruption has added to Latin America’s COVID death toll (The New Humanitarian)”
In Carmen’s Hands (World Affairs, Podcast)
QUITO, ECUADOR – A few months ago, the California based World Affairs podcast contacted me to talk about a previous article I had written about Carmen Carcelen, an Ecuadorian woman who lives in the small town of Juncal, near the border with Colombia, and turned her home into a shelter for Venezuelans migrating through. ByContinueContinue reading “In Carmen’s Hands (World Affairs, Podcast)”
Colombian refugees in Ecuador trapped in loops of poverty and insecurity (The New Humanitarian)
QUITO, ECUADOR – Claudia’s* life changed the day she saw a paramilitary group kill a man in her hometown of Buenaventura, one of the most violent places in Colombia. Not only did she see the killers. Worse, they saw her. They threatened to murder her if she told anyone what she had seen. She promisedContinueContinue reading “Colombian refugees in Ecuador trapped in loops of poverty and insecurity (The New Humanitarian)”
‘I’ll never be ready for this port,’ locals say of Colombia’s proposed project (Mongabay)
TRIBUGÁ, COLOMBIA — Aida Leides Palacios Moreno strolls through the narrow dirt streets in the Colombian town of Tribugá surrounded by palm and plantain trees rustling in the seaside breeze. She’s trying to round up her neighbors for a meeting to discuss yet another ecotourism project. It’s a quiet morning in February. Most of theContinueContinue reading “‘I’ll never be ready for this port,’ locals say of Colombia’s proposed project (Mongabay)”
Coronavirus pandemic exposes inequality in Ecuador’s Guayaquil (Al Jazeera)
QUITO, ECUADOR – When Victoria Sanchez and her mother, Eufemia Nicolaza Sanches Pin, showed up at their local public hospital in Ecuador’s Guayaquil for Sanches Pin’s weekly dialysis treatment last month, hospital staff refused to let the mother, a diabetic, in because she had a runny nose. Hospital staff worried it could be COVID-19 andContinueContinue reading “Coronavirus pandemic exposes inequality in Ecuador’s Guayaquil (Al Jazeera)”
U.S. allies, encouraged by Washington, said goodbye to their Cuban doctors. As coronavirus surges, some are arguing for their return. (Washington Post)
[Co-written with Anthony Faiola] The doctors and nurses began boarding planes late last year, Cuban professionals who had come to aid Ecuador’s health-care system, their time cut short by a government that no longer wanted them. Ecuador is one of a handful of U.S. allies that fell in step with the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy on Cuba,ContinueContinue reading “U.S. allies, encouraged by Washington, said goodbye to their Cuban doctors. As coronavirus surges, some are arguing for their return. (Washington Post)”
Indigenous race into Ecuador’s Amazon to escape coronavirus (Al Jazeera)
QUITO, ECUADOR – Nemonte Nenquimo, an Indigenous Waorani leader from Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest, watched as her Indigenous colleagues, family and friends rushed back to their territory this past week, attempting to escape the threat of the coronavirus engulfing the region. Some travelled by car or bus, others flew by charter plane or travelled by boatContinueContinue reading “Indigenous race into Ecuador’s Amazon to escape coronavirus (Al Jazeera)”
The people cleaning up the oil spills of the Amazon (BBC Future Planet)
LAGO AGRIO, ECUADOR – Galo Rodriguez uses his machete to dig a hole near the small stream on his farm in the north-east of Ecuador, on the cusp of the Amazon rainforest. As he digs there is nothing unusual to be seen – but when he hits 32cm below the surface, the soil releases aContinueContinue reading “The people cleaning up the oil spills of the Amazon (BBC Future Planet)”
Ecuador: Protesters cautiously optimistic after deal with gov’t (Al Jazeera)
QUITO, ECUADOR – Jose Pilataxi danced around a fire in the centre of the Ecuadorian capital Quito on Sunday night, celebrating with thousands of other protesters the cancelation of an austerity package that sparked violent protests across the country for 11 days and brought the economy to a standstill. “I’m very very happy for theContinueContinue reading “Ecuador: Protesters cautiously optimistic after deal with gov’t (Al Jazeera)”
Kimberley Michelle Brown 