Latest news with #Quito
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Ecuador legislature backs reform allowing foreign military bases
QUITO, June 3 (Reuters) - Ecuador's national assembly legislature on Tuesday backed a constitutional reform that would allow the installation of foreign military bases in the South American country, part of plans by President Daniel Noboa to increase cooperation to fight drug trafficking. The proposal was supported by 82 lawmakers while 60 voted against and six abstained. It must now be put to voters in a referendum on a date set by the electoral authorities. Noboa, who began a full term in late May, has said international cooperation is required to combat drug trafficking groups operating across jurisdictions. Lawmakers from his party have said that since a previous U.S. base was closed, Ecuador has become a top hub for narcotics trafficking. But the opposition says foreign military presence alone will not solve the country's security problems and that the government needs a clear plan to combat crime. The coastal city of Manta hosted the U.S. military base for a decade until 2009. Former leftist president Rafael Correa decided not to renew the base's permissions and pushed a constitutional reform to bar foreign military bases in Ecuador. Ecuadorean officials have told allies of U.S. President Donald Trump that they are interested in hosting a U.S. base, sources told Reuters in March. Noboa and Trump had an informal meeting soon after in Florida. Neither has provided many details of what they discussed. National assembly president Niels Olsen is a close Noboa ally.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Mystery as Miss Universe beauty queen dies suddenly aged 28
A beauty queen who competed in the Miss Universe pageant has died tragically at the age of 28. The death of María Lorena Argüello, a semifinalist in Ecuador's Miss Universe pageant last year, was confirmed by the nation's pageant committee on Sunday. No further details were provided. 'We stand with respect and solidarity with her family and loved ones in this time of grief,' the Concurso Nacional de Belleza said in a statement on Instagram. 'Her memory will always be with us.' Argüello represented Ecuador's capital city of Quito in the 2024 contest, her first-ever pageant. She obtained medical surgeon degree from the University of Las Americas on June 30, 2024, three weeks before she came up short in the pageant. Argüello's unexpected death stunned her friend María Topic, who went on to be crowned Miss Universe Ecuador. 'Today heaven gained a beautiful soul,' Topic wrote on social media. 'My heart mourns your passing, but I trust that God holds you in his arms. Nadia Mejía, who was crowned Miss California 2016 and competed in last month's Miss Universe Ecuador contest, described Argüello as 'one of the kindest people' she had ever come across. '[She was] always supporting others and lifting them up with her light. A true queen,' Mejía wrote on her Instagram. 'God gained a true angel today. Please pray for peace for her family and friends at this time. So much love for you, Lore.' María José Córdova recalled competing against Argüello for the chance to represent Ecuador at the Miss Universe pageant and how it led to a long-lasting friendship. 'At first, this seemed like just a pageant, but it ended up being a family. Although we started in 2024, we remain united because we all created bonds that go beyond the crown,' Córdova wrote. 'Today, it pains us to see her go, but it comforts us to know that she did what she loved: discovering herself and shining,' she added. 'Her passing reminds us that every step leaves a mark, and that with faith, love, and hope, we can continue fighting for our dreams. 'May her example always inspire us to give our best, in her honor, and for all those who share this path.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ecuador apologizes to plantation workers who were exposed to 'modern slavery' conditions
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's government issued a public apology on Saturday to a group of plantation workers who were subjected to slave-like conditions according to a ruling issued last year by the country's Constitutional Court. In an event held near the presidential palace in Quito, various members of Ecuador's Cabinet recognized that more than 300 workers of a Japanese-owned abaca plantation were forced to live in conditions of 'modern slavery' with Labor Minister Ivone Nuñez pledging that Ecuador will strive to 'build a state that guarantees the human rights of workers.' The apology issued by government officials is one of the reparation measures ordered by the court last year. In the ruling, the Constitutional Court determined that between 1963 and 2019 workers of the Japanese company Furukawa were forced to live in dormitories without basic services at a plantation in western Ecuador, where accidents were common due to the lack of safety training. Former employees of Furukawa attended Saturday's ceremony along with their lawyers, who have accused the company of not paying reparations to the workers who were affected by the harsh conditions at its plantation in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province. Furukawa representatives were not immediately available for comment. The company changed owners in 2014, and it has said that conditions have changed since then. Furukawa has also asked Ecuador's government to lift a ban on the sale of its properties in Ecuador so that it can pay reparations to workers. The abaca plant, which is also known as manila hemp, is used to make specialty papers, ropes and fishing nets. The plant resembles a banana plant, but its fruits are not edible. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and is also among a handful of countries that produces large quantities of abaca,
Associated Press
6 days ago
- General
- Associated Press
Ecuador apologizes to plantation workers who were exposed to 'modern slavery' conditions
QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's government issued a public apology on Saturday to a group of plantation workers who were subjected to slave-like conditions according to a ruling issued last year by the country's Constitutional Court. In an event held near the presidential palace in Quito, various members of Ecuador's Cabinet recognized that more than 300 workers of a Japanese-owned abaca plantation were forced to live in conditions of 'modern slavery' with Labor Minister Ivone Nuñez pledging that Ecuador will strive to 'build a state that guarantees the human rights of workers.' The apology issued by government officials is one of the reparation measures ordered by the court last year. In the ruling, the Constitutional Court determined that between 1963 and 2019 workers of the Japanese company Furukawa were forced to live in dormitories without basic services at a plantation in western Ecuador, where accidents were common due to the lack of safety training. Former employees of Furukawa attended Saturday's ceremony along with their lawyers, who have accused the company of not paying reparations to the workers who were affected by the harsh conditions at its plantation in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas province. Furukawa representatives were not immediately available for comment. The company changed owners in 2014, and it has said that conditions have changed since then. Furukawa has also asked Ecuador's government to lift a ban on the sale of its properties in Ecuador so that it can pay reparations to workers. The abaca plant, which is also known as manila hemp, is used to make specialty papers, ropes and fishing nets. The plant resembles a banana plant, but its fruits are not edible. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and is also among a handful of countries that produces large quantities of abaca,
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Ecuador apologizes to farm workers deemed to live like slaves
Ecuador's government apologized Saturday to some 300 people who worked as farmers for a Japanese textile firm in conditions which a court likened to modern-day slavery. These people worked on plantations that produced abaca, a fiber used in textiles and the auto industry. As of 2021, Furukawa's plantations for abaca covered almost 23,000 hectares spread over three provinces on the Pacific coast, where the majority of the population is Black. Some workers gave birth to children in unsanitary and overcrowded camps, while others were denied proper medical attention after work-related injuries, according to testimony given at a news conference in Quito back in December. That month the Constitutional Court ordered Furukawa to pay $120,000 to each of 342 victims -- a total of around $41 million. The company was also ordered to make a public apology to them. It has not complied with either order. The court said that over the course of five years Furukawa had people living in conditions of modern-day slavery in its abaca fields. It also ordered the government to apologize to the workers, and that is what happened Saturday. The company violated "national and international regulations that affected, in essence, human dignity," Labor Minister Ivonne Nunez said. She said "the state, through the various ministries, as the sentence explains, turned a deaf ear" to the plight of the abused workers. Nunez spoke at a ceremony with other government ministers at Quito's Independence Plaza, as ex-Furukawa workers chanted slogans such as "reparations, reparations" and "modern slavery, never again." After the court ruling, Furukawa said it does not have the money to pay the damages ordered by the tribunal and called them disproportionate. Back in December, at a meeting at a human rights group's headquarters, plantation workers told horror stories of their lives raising abaca. "We have been confronting the monster that is Furukawa," Segundo Ordonez, a 59-year-old farmer, said at the meeting. pld/dg/dw/mlm Sign in to access your portfolio
