In Ecuador health is a matter of public services (with five hospitals managed by the Health Ministry in the three biggest cities and dozens of health sub-centers in the rest of the country) and private enterprise (with over 40 hospitals and clinics, that, in most cases, work with private health […]

Memory is selective, but firm in many ways. The image comes from television: families weeping in the doorways of international lounges because a son, daughter, mother, father or husband and wife had to leave and find a real income in Europe, mainly in Spain and Italy. The relatives wouldn’t see […]

There is a phrase that President Rafael Correa often repeats. The last time he used it was on his official visit to Chile on October 25th 2012. On that occasion, visiting an open copper mine in Antofagasta to see how the mineral extraction process works, he said: “We cannot be […]

Barely a week into London’s post-Olympic stupor, before the stardust had settled, a lanky, middle-aged man emerged on the ground-floor balcony of a white stucco-fronted, red-brick building on Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge. The flowing snowy hair had been replaced by a crew cut, but there was no mistaking the body language—this […]

Salomé Reyes was an elite cyclist. She was also a dentist. She participated in mountain bike and urban competitions and was well known inside the Quito sports circuit. In late April she was training for a cycling tour around Ecuador with several friends on the bike path in Cumbayá, a […]