Andean Community

Foreign, interior and defense ministers of Andean countries will hold an urgent meeting this weekend to discuss the problem of cross-border drug crime that has plunged Ecuador into a security crisis, Peru's government said on Jan. 15.

Peruvian Prime Minister Alberto Otarola told reporters the meeting in Lima on Jan. 21 will focus on ways to confront transnational crime.

President Noboa stated that there are many organized criminal groups in the country, which he labeled as terrorist organizations, adding that he ordered the armed forces to carry out military operations to neutralize these groups.

CNN reported a dramatic interruption during a live broadcast at a Guayaquil-based TV network, where hooded and armed individuals forcibly entered the studio, compelling staff onto the floor amidst alarming sounds of gunshots and shouting. The incident occurred at the state-owned TC Television, causing a viral stir on social media as the live stream signal remains offline.

The running mate of slain Ecuadoran candidate Fernando Villavicencio will run for president in his place in August 20 elections, their party said Saturday.

"The movement will replace the presidential ticket by putting Andrea Gonzalez as president," the centrist Construye party said in a statement.

Juan Vera lost three relatives when a strong earthquake that shook parts of Ecuador and Peru on Saturday brought down his niece's home. The government has offered to pay for the woman's funeral and those of her baby and her partner, but Vera wonders why local authorities allowed his relatives to live in such an old home to begin with.

Describing the current situation in Peru as "precarious" due to violent demonstrations in the South American country, the Greek Foreign Ministry is advising Greek citizens to avoid traveling there.

It also recommends that Greeks who are already there avoid unnecessary travel and observe security measures.

Five people died and 16 were injured in an explosion Sunday in the Ecuadoran port city of Guayaquil in an attack the government blamed on organized crime, officials said.

President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency in the country's second largest city of Guayaquil, where eight houses and two cars were destroyed in the blast.

Bolivian President Luis Arce announced Saturday the discovery of major new reserves of natural gas that officials said could eventually bring in $260 million a year.

Ecuador is trying to restore order in one of its largest prisons after a riot that killed at least 116 prisoners in the latest attack of violence, which authorities linked to groups fighting to control drug trafficking routes, Reuters reports.

Colombia is home to the world's largest variety of butterflies, approximately 20 percent of all known species, according to a study published June 22 by the Natural History Museum in London.

An international team of scientists cataloged 3,642 species and 2,085 subspecies, registering them in a document titled "Checklist of Colombian Butterflies."