LatinNews Daily - 18 April 2024

*Ecuador’s government led by President Daniel Noboa has decreed that businesses and government offices shut down today (18 April) and tomorrow due to power shortages which stem from drought. It comes the day after President Noboa declared a state of emergency in the energy sector, fired his energy & mining minister, Andrea Arrobo, and claimed the country was the victim of “sabotage”. A government statement released yesterday acknowledged environmental circumstances but also highlighted “acts of corruption and negligence”. It said that a probe revealed “indications that high-level officials”, including Arrobo, had “intentionally hidden information crucial to the functioning of the national energy system.” The statement, which also said that the government would pay half of consumers’ power bills for April, said that the reservoir serving the country's Mazar hydroelectric dam, on the Paute River, Cañar province, was completely empty, while storage levels at the Paute dam in Azuay province were at 4%. It adds that water levels at the country’s largest hydroelectric plant, Coca Codo Sinclair (Napo province), were 40% lower than its historic average.