End of preview - This article contains approximately 1596 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
Back
Andean Group - April 2016 (ISSN 1741-4466)
ECUADOR: Fatal earthquake strikes posing major challenges
At least 650 people have died, upwards of 7,000 have been injured, and many thousands more are missing after an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Ecuador’s northern coastal provinces on 16 April. The earthquake will have major economic and political aftershocks. President Rafael Correa estimated that reconstruction would amount to at least US$3bn and promptly announced a series of tax increases, hitting the rich hardest, to help fund the cost. The political opposition, while expressing maximum solidarity with the victims of the natural disaster, accused Correa of taking advantage of it to address an economic crisis of his own making. With presidential and congressional elections due in less than 10 months’ time, the government’s response to the earthquake could be decisive for the prospects of the ruling left-wing Alianza País (AP) in an election in which Correa cannot stand.
- Kuczynski seeks victory on anti-Fujimori platform, but what comes after?
- PERU: Peru bucks the regional trend
- BOLIVIA: Clashing again with the Church
- BOLIVIA: Boosting ties with India
- COLOMBIA: Fears of Bacrimpolítica
- COLOMBIA: La Macarena oil concession incites controversy
- ECUADOR: Fatal earthquake strikes posing major challenges
- ECUADOR: Preparing for straitened circumstances
- VENEZUELA: Darkness descends
- Gender equality in Andean politics