Guayaquil
FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2019. file photo, Alex Quiñónez, of Ecuador, gestures after a men's 200 meter heat at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Olympic sprinter Alex Quiñónez was fatally shot in the port city of Guayaquil in Ecuador on Friday night, Oct. 22, 2021, police said. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Olympic sprinter Alex Quiñónez fatally shot in Ecuador

Oct. 23, 2021 09:11 AM 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)
Ecuador's ex-president detained in organized crime probe

By Gonzalo Solano Aug. 12, 2020 06:35 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

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

Relatives carry the remains of a loved one in a cardboard coffin for burial, as they leave a church in Guayaquil, Ecuador, Monday, April 6, 2020. Guayaquil, a normally bustling city that has become a hot spot in Latin America as the coronavirus pandemic spreads, also has untold numbers dying of unrelated diseases that can’t be treated because hospitals are overwhelmed. (AP Photo/Luis Perez)
Ecuador struggles to bury coronavirus dead; some bodies lost

By Christine Armario Apr. 08, 2020 01:06 PM EDT

A woman wearing a mask crosses the street in front of a mural about traffic accidents reading, "NOT ONE MORE DEATH" in the Brooklyn borough of New York, March 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
The week that was: Stories from the coronavirus saga

By The Associated Press Apr. 04, 2020 04:21 PM EDT

This 2019 photo provided by the Lamilla Family shows Bella Lamilla, a retired school teacher who was Ecuador's first confirmed coronavirus case. Even as Ecuador's coronavirus “patient zero” agonized in intensive care, strangers began tearing her reputation apart online. Lamilla is an example of how for patients and loved ones, coronavirus can come with stigma and re-victimization. (Courtesy of Lamilla Family via AP)
Hidden suffering of coronavirus: Stigma, blaming, shaming

By Christine Armario Apr. 04, 2020 10:14 AM EDT

A nun, wearing a protective face mask and disposable gloves as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, and a worker carting her groceries, walk to a waiting taxi in Quito, Ecuador, Saturday, March 28, 2020. The government has declared a health emergency, enacting a curfew and restricting movement to only those who provide basic services. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
In Ecuador, families wait with their dead as bodies pile up

By Christine Armario And Gonzalo Solano Apr. 02, 2020 03:59 PM EDT