Free Republic

Ecuador has erupted into a 'civil war' with cartel thugs after the president ordered the army onto the streets and declared a state of 'internal armed conflict'. Crazed criminals have rampaged through the South American country's cities today after President Daniel Noboa, 36, ordered a state of emergency. Hooded gangsters seized a state TV news studio today, while a university was attacked and jail guards reportedly executed by prisoners. Ecuador has been rocked by a series of attacks including explosions and the abduction of several police officers after the government imposed a state of emergency in the wake of the...

QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuadorean presidential elections will go to a second round on Nov. 26, after one of the country's wealthiest men, Alvaro Noboa, narrowly defeated the U.S. trained economist Rafael Correa in the first round on Sunday. With a quarter of the votes counted, results from the National Electoral Tribunal showed Noboa obtained 26 percent, while Correa got 24 percent. Exit polls by independent pollsters coincided with these results. Neither candidate reached the 40 percent minimum needed to avoid a runoff. Ecuador was voting on Sunday for their eighth president in 10 years in what many hoped would be...

Ecuador's former President, Gustavo Noboa, has asked the Dominican Republic for political asylum, claiming that he was suffering "persecution" in his home country. Mr Noboa, who left office in January, is under investigation over alleged financial irregularities during his term in office. He denies the charges and claims he is being victimised by political rivals. Another former president, and Mr Noboa's political rival, Leon Febres Cordero, alleges irregularities in Mr Noboa's foreign debt negotiations cost the country $9bn. Mr Noboa was prevented from flying to Miami on Sunday by immigration officials who said he had failed to notify Congress he...