https://www.scmp.com/rss/524022/feed Daniel Noboa is the current President of Ecuador, making history as the youngest elected leader at 35. With a background in business, he founded DNA Entertainment Group and held roles at his family’s Noboa Corporation, a major banana exporter. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins. Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington’s interests in the western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was “in its last moments of life” and advocating tough action by allies against organised crime blighting the region. He... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3345839/trump-offers-latin-american-leaders-us-missile-strikes-hit-drug-cartels?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3345839/trump-offers-latin-american-leaders-us-missile-strikes-hit-drug-cartels?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2026 17:46:34 +0000 Reuters Reuters Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will not receive the Nobel Peace Prize in person at Wednesday’s award ceremony in Oslo, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said on Wednesday, with her current whereabouts unknown. Machado, 58, was due to receive the award at a ceremony at Oslo City Hall in the presence of King Harald, Queen Sonja and Latin American leaders including Argentine President Javier Milei and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. The ceremony starts at 1pm (8pm... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3335810/machados-nobel-press-conference-called-peace-prize-winners-whereabouts-unknown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3335810/machados-nobel-press-conference-called-peace-prize-winners-whereabouts-unknown?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Dec 2025 16:37:19 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Ecuadorian voters roundly rejected the return of US military bases to the country in a referendum on Sunday, a major political blow to Trump-friendly President Daniel Noboa. With three-quarters of the vote counted, about 60 per cent of Ecuadorians had voted ‘no’ to lifting a long-standing ban on foreign bases. The rejection effectively blocks the US military from returning to an airbase at Manta on the Pacific coast - once a hub for Washington’s anti-drug operations. US Homeland Security... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3333041/ecuador-voters-reject-return-us-bases-blow-trump-ally-noboa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3333041/ecuador-voters-reject-return-us-bases-blow-trump-ally-noboa?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Nov 2025 04:20:43 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Authorities said at least 27 inmates were found dead by asphyxiation on Sunday afternoon at an Ecuadorian prison where an armed riot left four others dead and dozens injured in the morning. In a statement, prison authorities said the 27 individuals found dead at the Machala prison in El Oro province had “among themselves committed asphyxiation, which caused immediate death by suspension”. Authorities said they were still working to “fully clarify the facts”, and forensic medical personnel were... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3332152/least-31-dead-riot-hit-ecuador-prison-many-asphyxiated?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3332152/least-31-dead-riot-hit-ecuador-prison-many-asphyxiated?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Nov 2025 04:46:54 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on Thursday that an unknown assailant had attempted to poison him with chocolate and a jam laced with chemicals, gifted to him at a public event. Noboa told CNN the presence of three “highly concentrated” toxic substances in the sweets “could not have been accidental”, saying his team had proof to back up his claims. The 37-year-old president said the toxic substances could not have come from the products themselves or their packaging. The military body... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3330180/ecuadors-president-says-he-was-target-attempted-poisoning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3330180/ecuadors-president-says-he-was-target-attempted-poisoning?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Oct 2025 06:14:25 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Inmates in Ecuador fought each other with guns and explosives in a riot that left 13 prisoners and a guard dead, police said. The mayhem was the latest in a series of bloodbaths to engulf gang-ridden, overcrowded prisons in a once peaceful country now at ground zero of the violent Latin American drug trade. An unknown number of inmates escaped in the clash between rival gangs, during which another 14 people were injured, a masked police officer identified as commander Colonel William Calle told... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3326442/ecuador-prison-riot-leaves-14-dead-amid-gang-violence-and-drug-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3326442/ecuador-prison-riot-leaves-14-dead-amid-gang-violence-and-drug-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Sep 2025 16:05:20 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday promised security aid to Ecuador and announced terrorist designations as he vowed to ramp up a regional fight against criminals following a US strike on a boat allegedly linked to Venezuela. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, an emerging ally of US President Donald Trump, has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America’s safest to one of its most dangerous. Rubio, meeting with Noboa in the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324392/us-secretary-state-marco-rubio-eyes-tough-security-ally-ecuador?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3324392/us-secretary-state-marco-rubio-eyes-tough-security-ally-ecuador?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Sep 2025 16:09:15 +0000