International

Alausí, in Ecuador, is still at risk a year after the gigantic avalunc that left 75 dead

A year after 75 people died from an allh in Alausí, this population of the Andes of Ecuador gradually rises with the effort of its inhabitants, who continue to live under the danger of new landslides while waiting for official help for reconstruction.

On the night of March 26, 2023, thousands of tons of land buried more than fifty houses. It took the relief agencies about three months to rescue the bodies in the midst of the pain and anguish of relatives and neighbors, who joined the work.

Now, in the anglum area, some herbs have begun to cover the land that swallowed part of the population.

“With our machinery we have made some stabilization for the protection of the margin of the homes that were left (safe),” the mayor of Alausí, Remigio Roldán, told EFE.

Without a “concrete response from the State,” he said, “Alausí allied with universities and non-governmental organizations” to solve different problems left by the landslide,” such as the destruction of a water conduction system that fed 8,000 inhabitants.

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“Thanks to the European Union (EU) we are receiving funding of about two million dollars for the new system of collection, conduction and re-empowering of the drinking water treatment plant for the 8,000 inhabitants,” Roldán reported.

The mayor highlighted the efforts of the inhabitants to rehabilitate an important road, which connects the south with the center of the Andean region of Ecuador, where they opened a path in the middle of the ‘ground zero’ to peak and shovel.

In addition, about 18 million dollars are needed to stabilize the slope of the entire perimeter of the landslide.

“We can’t let it stay as it is. In the upper part of the collapse we have two communities that do not have a sewer system, we still have septic wells, the problem is still latent,” he said.

Therefore, last February, at the visit of a group of diplomats from European countries, headed by the EU ambassador, Charles-Michel Geurts, the situation was exposed, since the representatives visited the province of Chimborazo – of which Alausí is a part – to analyze potential aid in various sectors.

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Geurts highlighted the admiration they have for Alausí, for its people, resilience and vision of the future, while his counterpart from France, Frédéric Desagneaux, mentioned the willingness of the EU for accompaniment in the restoration of the dynamism of Alausí.

The mayor numbered 75 people who died in the all. and pointed out that they have not been able to rescue nine “who remained among the rubble” in the area where 163 families lived.

According to the latest official report of the tragedy, published in November by the Secretariat of Risk Management, there are 65 deceased and 10 who are officially listed with the status of “disappeared” after not being able to find their bodies.

The victims reached 800. “Some,” said Roldán, “have had to emigrate, some are renting apartments, rooms, others are where the relatives are.”

By following the area at risk, they have not allowed the return of the inhabitants to the houses that were left standing on the banks of the avalh: “We do not want to lose more lives. We warn that the problem is still latent, we have a part (in the) that continues to give way to the cracks.”

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“We demand the Government to give homes,” Roldán stressed, adding that the investment of 1.5 million dollars has been budgeted for the construction of 57 homes and, although they have the land to carry out the works, they have not made progress because the Government has changed, which has been led by President Daniel Noboa since November 23.

In addition, apart from the allanch polygon, there are two schools with 800 students, who cannot return to their classrooms if the slope is not stabilized.

“We are improvising in other infrastructures that were abandoned for the boys to receive classes,” he said.

Roldán comments that they do not have “the concrete support” of the Government in roads and housing. “We have to adjust to living in the middle of this reality, making all our effort, as a small government (mayor’s office), as communities, as organizations,” he noted.

He recalled that in a visit to Alausí hours after the tragedy occurred, then-President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), offered to invest 8 million dollars, but “not a single penny in immediate actions” has not yet been specified.

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He lamented that none of the 186 rural communities of Alausí has drinking water, sewerage or sanitation, and pointed out that the State must disburse the 50% advance of a contract for the construction of a hospital, whose cost is around 23 million dollars, but that does not advance either.

In January, the Secretariat of Risk Management presented the roadmap for the recovery of Alausí, with a budget of 10 million dollars financed mainly by international cooperation to rebuild the road that connects with Riobamba, the provincial capital, as well as housing solutions and the delivery of bonds for vulnerable people, among other actions.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra dies in campaign road accident

Presidential candidate Napoleón Becerra, representing the Partido de los Trabajadores y Emprendedores (PTE) in Peru, died in a traffic accident while traveling to a campaign event, local authorities confirmed Sunday.

Becerra, who also served as president of the centrist political party, ranked among the lowest in opinion polls in a crowded field of more than 30 candidates competing in the presidential election scheduled for April 12.

Recent surveys place Rafael López Aliaga at the top of voter preferences.

The accident occurred near the town of Ayacucho, in southern Peru, when the vehicle carrying the candidate overturned for reasons that remain under investigation.

“The candidate Becerra has died,” Balvin Huamani, mayor of the district of Pilpichaca, told RPP radio.

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According to Huamani, he personally transported the 61-year-old candidate to a local health center, where doctors confirmed his death.

The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) expressed condolences over Becerra’s passing and wished a speedy recovery to the three people who were traveling with him and were injured in the crash.

International

Noboa intensifies anti-cartel crackdown as violence persists in Ecuador

A close ally of Washington, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued a hardline security strategy against cocaine cartels for more than two years, yet homicide, disappearance and extortion rates remain high across the country.

Between Sunday night and the morning of March 31, Ecuador’s armed forces will launch a “very strong offensive” with “advisory support” from the United States, Interior Minister John Reimberg announced Tuesday.

The government has kept details of the operation confidential and has not confirmed whether U.S. troops will be deployed on Ecuadorian soil, as has occurred at times during Noboa’s administration.

As part of the security measures, residents in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas, and El Oro will be subject to a nightly curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. local time for the next two weeks.

“We are in a war,” Reimberg said, urging citizens to remain indoors. “Do not take risks. Stay home and allow the security forces and our allies to do the work that must be done.”

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Although Ecuador does not produce cocaine, it has become a major departure point for drugs heading to the United States. Meanwhile, the violence associated with trafficking has increasingly affected the local population.

Bordering the world’s largest cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has gone from being considered a relatively peaceful country to recording one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America—52 killings per 100,000 inhabitants—according to the **Observatory of Organized Crime.

International

Peruvian presidential candidate proposes death penalty amid crime surge

Peru is facing an unprecedented surge in crime ahead of its presidential election scheduled for April 12, with violence fueled by extortion networks and a wave of contract killings linked to organized crime.

Police data show that 2,200 homicides tied to organized crime were recorded in 2025, while extortion complaints increased by 19%, underscoring the growing security crisis in the South American nation.

Amid this backdrop, presidential candidate Álvarez has proposed reinstating the death penalty if elected, arguing that extreme measures are needed to curb the violence.

To implement the proposal, Álvarez said Peru would withdraw from the American Convention on Human Rights—also known as the Pact of San José—which the country signed in 1978. The agreement prevents member states that have abolished capital punishment from reinstating it.

Currently, Peruvian law only allows the death penalty in cases of treason during wartime.

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“We have to leave the Pact of San José and apply the death penalty in Peru because those miserable criminals don’t deserve to live,” Álvarez told AFP during a campaign stop at a market in Callao, the port city neighboring Lima.

“An iron fist against those criminals,” he added, proposing to declare hitmen as military targets.

During the campaign event, Álvarez walked through stalls selling vegetables, groceries, and fish, greeting vendors while musicians played cumbia music nearby.

The 62-year-old candidate, who spent more than four decades working in television as a comedian, is a newcomer to politics and is running for president under the País para Todos party.

Polls place him fifth in voter preference with nearly 4% support in a fragmented race featuring 36 candidates.