Quito
Ecuador's Damian Diaz reacts during a qualifying soccer match against Peru for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. Peru won 2-1. (AP Photo/Jose Jacome/Pool via AP)
Peru vs Ecuador 6/8/2021

Jun. 26, 2021 05:16 PM EDT

Guillermo Lasso, presidential candidate of Creating Opportunities party, CREO, celebrates after a presidential runoff election at his campaign headquarters in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Sunday, April 11, 2021. With most of the votes counted Lasso, a former banker, had a lead over economist Andres Arauz, a protege of former President Rafael Correa.(AP Photo/Angel Dejesus)
Ecuador goes with conservative banker in presidential vote

By Regina Garcia Cano And Gonzalo Solano Apr. 11, 2021 12:00 AM EDT

Accompanied by his mother, left, and wearing a mask to curb the spread of COVID-19, Yaku Perez, presidential candidate representing the Indigenous party Pachakutik, casts his ballot for president during general elections in Tarqui, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Marcelo Suquilanda)
Divided Ecuador heads to presidential runoff ballot in April

By Gonzalo Solano And Regina Garcia Cano Feb. 08, 2021 12:28 AM EST

Esperanza-UNES- alliance party presidential candidate Andres Arauz, left, and his running mate Carlos Rabascall celebrate as they wait for the official results to know if they have reached the necessary percentage to win in the first electoral round, in Quito, Ecuador, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Leftist leads in early returns for Ecuador presidential vote

By Gonzalo Solano And Regina Garcia Cano Feb. 07, 2021 12:08 AM EST

Supporters of presidential candidate Yaku Perez, representing the Indigenous party Pachakutik, gather for a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Voters in Ecuador are heading to the polls to pick a new president amid a deepening economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. More than a dozen candidates have entered the race election scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 7. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ecuador to pick new president amid deepening economic crisis

By Regina Garcia Cano And Gonzalo Solano Feb. 03, 2021 12:42 PM EST

Married couple Julio Mora Tapia, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, both retired teachers, pose for a photo at their home in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. The couple is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the oldest married couple in the world, because of their ages. They have been married for 79 years. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ecuador couple certified as oldest married pair, nearly 215

By Gonzalo Solano Aug. 28, 2020 03:33 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 11, 2020 file photo, vehicles transport coffins containing the remains of people who are believed to have died from complications related to the new coronavirus, to a cemetery in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In March and April, Guayaquil was a pandemic hellscape of makeshift morgues, hundreds dying at home, bodies left in the street. But Guayaquil has stabilized since then, sending medical teams and equipment elsewhere in Ecuador and taking in virus patients from outside the city. (AP Photo/Luis Perez, File)
Once in crisis, Ecuador city now helps others battle virus

By Christopher Torchia Aug. 06, 2020 04:05 PM EDT

Ambulance personnel wearing protection suits wait for a patient with COVID-19 symptoms to be admitted to the Instituto de Seguridad Social hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa).
After Ecuador eased its lockdown, the virus surged in Quito

By Gonzalo Solano Jul. 29, 2020 02:14 PM EDT

A doctor informs a woman about the condition of her relative who was admitted with COVID-19 to the Seguridad Social hospital in Quito, Ecuador, Monday, July 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Hundreds wait hours for coronavirus care in Ecuador capital

Jul. 28, 2020 08:24 PM EDT

FILE - In this Dec. 11, 2018 file photo, Ecuador's newly named Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner thanks the National Assembly, in Quito, Ecuador. Sonnenholzner resigned as vice president on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, saying he would return to the private sector. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)
Ecuador VP resigns, setting off talk of a presidential bid

Gonzalo Solano Jul. 07, 2020 04:45 PM EDT

A woman hurriedly places a protective face mask over her mouth and nose to avoid a $100.00 US dollar fine, as wearing a face mask in public is mandatory, in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. The city is returning to a new normality after relaxing a rigorous quarantine but amid a certain fear that new coronavirus infections may rise. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Lab in Ecuador's capital forced to halt coronavirus testing

By Gonzalo Solano Jun. 12, 2020 07:19 PM EDT

FILE - In this April 27, 2005 file photo, Ecuador's former President Abdala Bucaram leaves the Foreign Ministery in Panama City, where he sought political asylum after fleeing his country amid massive protests that forced the ouster of President Lucio Gutierrez. Bucaram was detained at his home in Guayaquil, Ecuador on June 3, 2020, during a search warrant ordered by the Prosecutor's Office investigating alleged embezzlement through a contract for hospital medical supplies. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)
Ex-Ecuador president detained in COVID-19 corruption raid

By Gonzalo Solano Jun. 03, 2020 04:23 PM EDT

Family members wait in hopes of receiving news of their hospitalized loved ones, in a tent outside a public hospital treating both COVID-19 and other patients, in the Iztapalapa district of Mexico City, Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Iztapalapa has the most confirmed cases of the new coronavirus within Mexico's densely populated capital, itself one of the hardest hit areas of the country with thousands of confirmed cases and around 500 deaths.(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
'This is war': Virus charges beyond Latin American hot spots

By Gonzalo Solano And Michael Weissenstein May. 19, 2020 09:57 AM EDT

In this May 2, 2020 photo, a marine iguana suns on the edge of a boardwalk in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Before the new coronavirus pandemic, sudden life-threatening ailments on the Galapagos Islands were considered so rare that hospitals didn't have a single intensive care unit bed. Now, officials are racing to equip medical teams on the remote islands. (AP Photo/Adrian Vasquez)
Pandemic upends life on isolated, idyllic Galapagos Islands

By Christine Armario And Adrian Vasquez May. 11, 2020 09:51 AM EDT

A man gestures to the camera as he rests in a public square in Quito, Ecuador, Friday, April 10, 2020. The government declared a "health emergency" amid the new coronavirus pandemic, restricting movement to only those who provide basic services, enacting a curfew and closing schools. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
Ecuador buckles under virus, broken oil lines and old debt

By Gonzalo Solano Apr. 10, 2020 09:58 PM EDT

In this Sunday, March 29, 2020 photo, Rev. Steven Paulikas decorates an altar with palm fronds for Palm Sunday, which will be commemorated virtually this year, at All Saints' Episcopal Church in the Brooklyn borough of New York. The global coronavirus pandemic is upending the season's major religious holidays, forcing leaders and practitioners across faiths to improvise. (AP Photo/Emily Leshner)
Virus alters Holy Week celebration worldwide, not the spirit

By David Crary And Luis Andres Henao Apr. 04, 2020 12:32 PM EDT