GABRIELA MOLINA

Associated Press
Protesters shout as lawyers enter court for a hearing for the soldiers accused of being connected to the disappearance of four children in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
Ecuador orders the detention of 16 soldiers charged with the disappearance of 4 children
An Ecuadorean judge has ordered the arrest of 16 soldiers charged with the disappearance of four children who went missing three weeks ago in the coastal city of Guayaquil.
 
Luis Arroyo, left, carries photos of his two missing sons, Ismael and Josué, who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy with two other youths, as he protests with his family and activists outside the prosecutor's office in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
Surveillance videos appear to show 2 of 4 missing Ecuadorian kids taken by men in military uniform
Surveillance videos have emerged from the Ecuadorian coastal city of Guayaquil, showing men in military uniform grabbing two boys and driving them away.
 
Christmas tree vendor Maria Constante waits for customers, in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, amid power rationing that she says have slowed sales. The government of President Daniel Noboa decided to suspend daily power cuts during the end-of-year holidays (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
As Christmas nears, Ecuador’s homes get a break from power cuts but companies still face rationing
As Christmas approaches and people decorate their homes with lights, Ecuadoreans are getting some relief from the severe power cuts that have hounded the country this year with President Daniel Noboa saying there will be no power rationing for residential areas - for the time being.
 
FILE - Ecuador's Vice President Veronica Abad attends a changing of the guard ceremony at the Carondelet government palace in Quito, Ecuador, Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Ecuador’s VP suspended for 150 days deepening rift with president as February election looms
Ecuador’s Vice President Veronica Abad has been suspended for 150 days accused of “unjustified abandonment” of her duties.
 
Cancer patient Linda Vidal, who relies on an electricity-powered oxygen concentrator to breathe properly, waits as Gabriela rolls her concentrator out of an elevator, amid the electricity cuts of up to 14 hours a day to deal with a severe drought, in Quito, Ecuador, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In Ecuador, power-dependent patients wait in anguish as the government imposes hours-long blackouts
The first time electricity went off at night, Linda Vidal went into panic mode. The 52-year-old Ecuadorian woman has relied on an electricity-powered oxygen concentrator to breathe properly since she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma and a chronic respiratory disease.
 
Catholic leaders discuss family and fraternity during congress in Ecuador
The world is wounded, according to Catholic leaders meeting in Ecuador. They say that an emphasis on family could be a path towards healing.
 
Pope Francis kisses a new born as he arrives for his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis sides with Peruvian villagers who accused Catholic group of trying to steal their land
Pope Francis has sided with a group of Peruvian villagers who have complained that companies linked to a powerful South American church group have tried to evict them from their land using lawsuits and obscure land titling schemes.
 
President Daniel Noboa arrives for an event with youths in El Quinche, Ecuador, Monday, April 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ecuadorians wanted an action man. President Noboa has fulfilled that role — embassy raid included
While world leaders have expressed shock over Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s decision to raid Mexico’s embassy, the unusual move — and Noboa’s relative silence about it — is unlikely to hurt him with constituents.
 
Police stand guard at the entrance of the penitentiary where former Vice President Jorge Glas is being held, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Ecuadorian police broke through the external doors of the Mexican Embassy in Quito, Friday evening, to arrest Glas, who had been residing there since December. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
International leaders condemn Ecuador after police break into the Mexican Embassy in Quito
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.
 
A military vehicle transports former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas from the detention center where he was held after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest him in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Glas, who held the vice presidency of Ecuador between 2013 and 2018, was convicted of corruption and had been taking refuge in the embassy since December. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa).
Former Ecuadorian VP arrested after police broke into embassy has long faced corruption accusations
Ecuadorian authorities have taken the extraordinarily unusual step of breaking into a foreign embassy to arrest a former vice president facing corruption charges.
 
A military vehicle transports former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas from the detention center where he was held after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest him in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, April 6, 2024. Glas, who held the vice presidency of Ecuador between 2013 and 2018, was convicted of corruption and had been taking refuge in the embassy since December. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa).
Mexico severs diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police storm its embassy to arrest politician
Mexico’s government has severed diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police broke into the Mexican Embassy to arrest a former Ecuadorian vice president. It was an extraordinary use of force that shocked and mystified regional leaders and diplomats.
 
FILE - Ecuador President Daniel Noboa speaks during a ceremony to deliver equipment to police, at the Gral. Alberto Enriquez Gallo police school in Quito, Ecuador, Jan. 22, 2024. A diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Russia appears to have intensified over the weekend after the European nation decided to ban some of Ecuador’s banana exports. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Diplomatic tensions between Ecuador and Russia over military equipment threaten banana exports
A diplomatic rift between Ecuador and Russia appeared to intensify over the weekend after the European nation decided to ban some imports of bananas from Ecuador.
 
This wanted poster posted on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 on X formerly known as Twitter, by Ecuador's Ministry of Interior, shows José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of Los Choneros gang. Macías was discovered missing on Sunday from a Guayaquil prison cell where he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking. Also known by the alias “Fito,” Macías is on the country's most wanted list and a reward is being offered for information that helps find his whereabouts. (Ecuador's Ministry of Interior via AP)
What we know about ‘Fito,’ Ecuador’s notorious gang leader who went missing from prison
José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of one of Ecuador’s most dangerous gangs, was discovered missing from his cell in a prison where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking.
 
Police escort and carry the remains of slain presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio to a chapel before his burial Camposanto Monteolivo cemetery in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. The 59-year-old was fatally shot at a political rally on Aug. 9 in Quito. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ecuador holds 6 Colombians in slaying of presidential candidate as violence weighs on nation
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.
 
Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waves an Ecuador national flag during a campaign event at a school minutes before he was shot to death outside the same school in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 (API via AP)
Slain Ecuador candidate fearlessly took on drug cartels and corruption
The Ecuadorian presidential candidate who was fatally shot at a political rally was unafraid to take on criminal networks and a political elite he accused of corruption. Fernando Villavicencio was a journalist before entering politics.