Stories from Quick Reads and Ecuador
Pope Francis in Latin America: ‘Ideologies End Badly, They Serve No Purpose’
Pope Francis Lashes out against Ideologies: http://t.co/EiiH1kqntX pic.twitter.com/NzaCiraLbS — El Universo (@eluniversocom) July 11, 2015 Pope Francis concluded his eight day tour of South America, where he held mass in the three countries he visited: Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The pontiff's message centered on peace and the most needy. He...
Mother Regains Custody of Child Following Social Media Pressure in Ecuador
The battle of a French mother to recover her son held in Ecuador by his Ecuadorian father, a case characterized by sexism and misogyny, had been followed closely on Ecuadorian social networks. Valeria Coronel and Antonio Jurado relate for the blog Plató Mundo: Arianais Alezra, la madre de Gaspard Bruzzone, denunció hace...
The Troubling State of Abortion Rights in Ecuador
This text is part of the 49th edition of #LunesDeBlogsGV (Monday of blogs on GV) on April 13, 2015. Underage pregnancy has been rising in Ecuador for the past several years, while abortion even in cases of rape or incest remains criminalized. According to the State Prosecutor, 98 percent of rapes in Ecuador last year occurred...
Mocking Ecuador’s President Can Cost You Online Anonymity
After sending a threatening gift of flowers and exposing the individuals behind Crudo Ecuador, however, the Internet satirists surrendered, using the hashtag #UstedGanó (#YouWon).
Ecuador's Creeping Criminalization of Abortion
Marita Seara, blogging for Voces Visibles, warns about the growing criminalization of abortion in Ecuador, one of the most difficult countries in Latin America for women to obtain an abortion, second only to Venezuela. Hay dos únicos casos en los cuales es permitido el aborto: cuando corre peligro la vida...
Boy’s T-Shirt Pokes Fun at Ecuadorian President
When Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa agreed to take a photo with a boy, he probably didn't imagine it would go viral — and he would end up being the butt of the joke. The boy was wearing a T-shirt printed with the phrase “I’m with stupid” and an arrow that...
Defending Internet Free Speech and Anonymity in Ecuador
Facing criticism from officials in the Ecuadorian government, several national and international organizations have signed the Manifesto for the Freedom of Expression, Anonymity, and Online Privacy in Ecuador.
Bolivia to Host First International Community Radio and Free Software Conference
The first international conference on community radio and free software will be held in Cochabama, Bolivia from June 11-13, 2015. So far, the community radio stations from Spanish-speaking countries that have confirmed their assistance are: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and of course, the host, Bolivia. The preliminary agenda...
Ecuadorians Take to the Streets to Protest Government
Despite the rain, on March 19 citizens participated in a protest in Loja, Ecuador, which spread over seven blocks, to express their discontent of the current government. Labor code reforms, extended reelections, free access to education, and the recent exchange rate safeguards on imports were some of the issues that...
#HackEC15 — An Open Data Challenge in Ecuador
As part of the Second International Conference on Democracy and Digital Government 2015 (ICEDEG 2015), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is hosting Hack Ecuador Challenge 2015 (HEC'15). The event welcomes Ecuadorians with open-data apps that promise to deliver needed services in local communities, improving the nation's online ecosystem, especially in the...
Two Latin Americans Nominated for Index Freedom of Expression Awards
The communication platform, Courage for Tamaulipas, and Ecuadorian sketch artist, Xavier “Bonil” Bonilla, were the only Latin Americans nominated at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards, which recognizes organizations and individuals in the fight against censorship. The awards were created by Index on Censorship, an international organization dedicated to defending...
National Conference on Internet Governance in Ecuador
The International Center of Research in Communication for Latin America (CIESPAL, by its name in Spanish), the Association for Progressive Communication (APC), Association of Free Software of Ecuador (ASLE), Infodesarrollo Network, the organization Free Libre Open Knowledge Society (FLOK) and the Latinoamerican Agency of Information (ALAI) are hosting the National...
Indigenous Libraries As Social Venues
“One thing is that books satisfy users’ curiosity, and a very different one that is that it might represent the identity of the community them belong to”. Argentinian librarian Daniel Canosa questions the role and function of local libraries. On Infotecarios network he writes: Las bibliotecas indígenas, [deberían] generar conocimiento...
Reasons to Take a Trip Once in a While
On her blog Historias de una mujer lobo (Stories of a female werewolf), Natalia Cartolini reflects on the reasons why a trip can be beneficial as, in her opinion, “the fact of visiting new places or meeting new people from another perspective is important at any moment. It doesn't matter...
The Inca Road Is a New World Heritage Site
For the first time in the 40 years of World Heritage convention, six countries united to submit a joint application to designate a cultural site as world heritage. Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru requested that the Incan Road be included as a cultural heritage site. The announcement was made in...
Community Resistance in Ecuador
The website BallenitaSi.org lists [es] nine resisting communities in Ecuador that, “is going through one of the worse community-level crisis about mining and oil extraction all along the country”. One of such communities is Sarayaku, in Pastaza Province: Sarayaku es la comunidad que con mayor éxito ha podido defender su...
Murdered Mayor Case Stir Controversy on Ecuadorian Twitter
Daniela Gallardo posts [es] on Veo y Escribo about the recent murder [es] of elected mayor of Muisne in the region of Esmeraldas, in Ecuador and the comment about it via Twitter by excandidate to the Guayaquil City Hall, Viviana Bonilla [es]: “Grief and indignation about [what happended to] Walker...
Sexy Monday: Between Sexual Expression and Censorship
(All links are in Spanish) David Troya writes for Gkillcity about the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Communication's sanction on the newspaper Extra for its cover picture of model Claudia Hurtado and headline: “Start the week off right with your hot and sexy Monday. Damn, what a hot babe!” Troya reflects: If...
Will there be a Popular Consultation for Yasuní?
(All links are in Spanish, otherwise noted as [en] for English) Following the president's decision last year to exploit the oil fields in Parque Nacional Yasuní [en] [Yasuní National Park] an oppositional movement began and became quickly organized. It started carrying out marches for collecting signatures in order to hold a popular consultation regarding...
Coming Soon! Rising Voices Microgrants for Amazon Communities
Rising Voices will be launching a microgrant competition next month for digital citizen media projects in the Amazon region which is home to many indigenous communities. Thanks to Avina Americas, Fundación Avina, and the Skoll Foundation, we'll be offering this support with ongoing mentorship from the Global Voices community. Read...
Ecuador Makes List of Countries Where Press Freedom Has Declined
Ecuador is the only Latin American country featured on the Committee to Project Journalists’ (CPJ) annual Risk List. CPJ explains: The list is based on the expertise of CPJ staff, but also takes into account press freedom indicators such as journalist fatalities and imprisonments, restrictive legislation, state censorship, impunity in anti-press...
