news

Despite recent government announcements declaring an end to nationwide power cuts, the Ecuadorian government has announced a new 15-day industrial power outage, scheduled from December 15th to 30th. The move is expected to significantly impact seven major industries and cause substantial economic losses.

Energy and Mines Minister Inés Manzano confirmed the outage, specifying that it will affect four companies in the high-voltage group AV4 – two mining companies and two steel mills directly connected to transmission lines – along with three cement companies in the AV1 group. Other industries will continue to experience the rotating power cuts they have already faced. Minister Manzano stated that these affected companies represent approximately 5% of the national energy demand.

Francisco Jarrín, president of the Guayaquil Chamber of Industries, emphasized the broader impact of the outage, stating that “the effect is felt throughout the entire production chain that receives or demands products from these companies; they are not isolated. It should not be seen as an impact only on a few companies.”

The impact on employment and the economy is significant. María Paz Jervis, president of the Ecuadorian Business Committee, estimates that 5,500 workers will be affected by the complete shutdown of AV1 and AV2 industrial groups. She projected potential economic losses of around $100 million.

This announcement comes after the industrial sector already experienced a 3% decline due to previous power cuts. The conflicting messaging from the government regarding power stability has raised serious concerns among industrial leaders and the wider business community. The timing of the outage, just before the end of the year, further exacerbates the negative economic consequences.

He replaces pro-European opposition leader Salome Zurabishvili, who refuses to vacate her position. On Saturday, the Central Election Commission announced that Mijail Kavelashvili, of the ruling Georgian Dream party, was elected president of the country during a parliamentary vote boycotted by the opposition.

Kavelashvili, who received the support of 224 out of 300 national and municipal deputies convened for the vote, replaces pro-European opposition leader Salome Zurabishvili. Zurabishvili refuses to vacate her position, claiming that the legislature resulting from the October parliamentary elections lacks legitimacy.

As the sole candidate in the election, Kavelashvili becomes the sixth president in the country’s history since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. A former ruling party deputy since 2016, he also had a distinguished soccer career, including playing for Manchester City. Born in 1971, Kavelashvili is the founder of The Strength of the People, a movement that promoted laws against foreign influence and sexual minorities, which were criticized by the opposition for their similarity to regulations enacted in Russia.

The opposition, which has been holding daily protests in Tbilisi since the government froze negotiations to join the European Union on Nov. 28, gathered early in the morning outside the Parliament building.

“Slaves” and “Russians” were some of the slogans chanted by activists, who consider it an “insult” that the new head of state lacks higher education. To prevent incidents, police have closed off nearby streets used by lawmakers to access the legislature and have deployed water cannon trucks in the area.

The authorities altered the presidential election mechanism for this vote. For the first time, the president was not chosen by universal suffrage but through a collegiate vote involving 150 parliamentary deputies and 150 municipal delegates. In addition to the parliamentary deputies—89 of whom belong to Georgian Dream—the electorate included 21 deputies from the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Adjara, 20 representatives from the Supreme Council of Abkhazia in exile, and 109 municipal delegates.

Last night, Zurabishvili, president since 2018, reiterated that she would not relinquish the presidency. She called the election a “constitutional farce” and urged continued protests. According to the opposition leader, who deems Georgian Dream’s victory in the October legislative elections fraudulent, the country currently lacks a legitimate Parliament, and “an illegitimate Parliament cannot elect a new president.”

At least 1,572 individuals have been charged in connection with the 2021 Capitol attack. On Sunday, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said that he will pardon his supporters involved in the 2021 Capitol attack starting on his first day in office.

In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Trump described those incarcerated as “living in hell,” arguing that they have been put through a “very nasty system.” “I’m going to be acting very quickly. First day,” Trump said, warning that some members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack “should go to jail.” After the 2020 U.S. presidential election, then-President Trump refused to concede to his opponent Joe Biden and claimed that there was widespread election fraud.

On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certifying process of the 2020 presidential election, prompting hundreds of lawmakers to evacuate in panic. The deadly attack, which led to five deaths and hundreds of police officers injured, is a “landmark stain” on American democracy, according to a CNN report published in June 2021.

At least 1,572 individuals have been charged in connection with the attack, and over 1,251 have either been convicted or pleaded guilty, making it one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history. Among them, at least 645 have been sentenced to prison terms, and about 250 people are in custody.