Stories written by Gonzalo Ortiz
Escritor ecuatoriano, se ha destacado también en los campos la docencia universitaria y
el servicio público.
Nació en Quito el 18 de octubre de 1944, hijo de Luis Alfonso Ortiz Bilbao (Quito,
1903-1988) y Lola Crespo Toral (Cuenca, 1927). Está casado, tiene una hija y dos
nietas.
Vicealcade de Quito (2009), fue Concejal de la ciudad por elección popular por siete
años (2003-2009), siendo el candidato más votado en las dos elecciones que participó.
Años antes, fue uno de los más estrechos colaboradores del Presidente Rodrigo Borja,
en cuyo gobierno fue Secretario General de la Administración (1990-92), Secretario
Nacional de Comunicación Social (1988-1989) y Secretario de la Presidencia (1989-
1990).
Como periodista es actualmente, y desde hace 16 años, Editor General de la revista
Gestión; y desde inicios de 2010 corresponsal en el Ecuador de la agencia Inter Press
Service (IPS).
Se inició en la carrera periodística como cronista del diario El Tiempo, a los 22 años de
edad, y ha ocupado todos los cargos de medios escritos y audiovisuales desde reportero
hasta director. Fue editor cultural de la revista Mensajero (1968-1975); fundador,
columnista, editor económico y subdirector del diario Hoy (1981-1988); director para
América Latina de la agencia de noticias Inter Pres Service (1992-1996); gerente
nacional de noticias de Ecuavisa (1997-1998); director de noticias de Telesistema
(1988-2000); panelista semanal de Gamavisión (2000-2001); columnista de El
Comercio (1996-2001).
Ha colaborado en las estrategias de comunicación de las campañas presidenciales de
Rodrigo Borja (1984, 1988, 2002) y Freddy Ehlers (1998) y en las campañas para
alcalde de Quito de Paco Moncayo (2000, 2004) y para alcalde de Cuenca de Fernando
Cordero (1998). Ha elaborado estrategias de comunicación para organizaciones no
gubernamentales y entidades privadas.
Ortiz suma más de un cuarto de siglo de docencia universitaria, como profesor de
pregrado de las universidades Católica del Ecuador y de las Américas y de posgrado en
la Andina Simón Bolívar.
Es autor de ocho libros, en temas de historia y crónica periodística, coautor de 20 libros,
editor de otros seis y traductor de dos. Entre sus obras se incluye una novela, Los hijos
de Daisy (Alfaguara, 2009) y un libro de ensayos Quito, historia y destino (Trama,
2006).
Es Miembro Correspondiente de la Academia Nacional de Historia del Ecuador y ha
recibido premios y distinciones nacionales e internacionales.
The diets of people in Ecuador and other countries in South America's Andean region suffer from chronic deficiency of zinc, a mineral essential to childhood nutrition, as demonstrated by studies led by paediatrician Dr. Fernando Sempértegui.
Ecuador sees the loans it has agreed with China as "good news," because they are long-term, and all that is required in return is "oil, and not the horrendous adjustments imposed by the IMF (International Monetary Fund)," leftwing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa told analysts critical of the size and high interest rates of the loans.
President Rafael Correa of Ecuador has won a libel suit against the newspaper El Universo over an op-ed column that referred to him as the "Dictator" and accused him of committing "crimes against humanity."
Fossil fuels are an energy source condemned by environmentalists, but do not appear to be on the way out in Latin America and the Caribbean, given the rise in the region's proven oil reserves in recent years.
"Ecuador will not wait ad infinitum" for a decision by the international community, and "at the end of the year" President Rafael Correa will decide whether to extract oil that was to have been left underground at the Yasuní nature reserve, non-renewable natural resources minister Wilson Pástor has announced.
Catholic bishop emeritus Gonzalo López Marañón has been fasting since May 24 in a park in the Ecuadorian capital to call for peace and reconciliation in Sucumbíos, an Amazon province immersed in a conflict over the Vatican's decision to put the diocese in the hands of an ultra-conservative Catholic order.
Recognition of the rights of nature in Ecuador's 2008 constitution was widely applauded by environmentalists around the world. However, putting them into practice is still problematic due to the lack of legislation and an institutional framework.
The Ecuadorian government sent in the army to shut down illegal gold mining operations in the jungles of the northwest province of Esmeraldas, where the highly polluting activity is associated with drug traffickers and protected by armed militias and hired killers.
Oil and mineral resources are abundant in several Latin American countries but will not last forever, and should be used to fuel the transition to a more diversified economy.
Pollsters predict that a majority of voters in Ecuador will approve a package of reforms backed by leftwing President Rafael Correa, in a May 7 referendum that has further polarised the population.
The four young Haitians told legal authorities that they were offered complete scholarships to the university, but that once they reached Ecuador they were locked up in a house and made to pay 150 dollars a month for rent and board, while given the run around about the promised education.
The Ecuadorean government declared U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges "persona non grata" and expelled her from the country in response to a cable released by the Wikileaks whistleblower web site.
When the trunks of the trees move with every step you take, you know you are in a swamp. This is what happens when you walk over the seemingly firm and vegetation-covered ground over what was once a pit used to dump oil sludge in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.
Texaco’s “clean-up” of the toxic oil waste pits in the Ecuadorian rainforest consisted of filling them with sticks, tires, tanks and scrub and then covering it all up with soil.
The appointment of an ultra-conservative priest as apostolic administrator of the diocese of Sucumbíos, in northeastern Ecuador, triggered open rebellion among a large proportion of the area's Catholics, with the support of civil society organisations and even of President Rafael Correa himself.
For one day, civil servants are trading their desks for the chilly highland plains in a rural community 3,500 metres above sea level on the outskirts of the Ecuadorian capital, where they are helping to plant native trees.
Now that the wave of water privatisation of the 1980s and 1990s has let up, the main challenge facing water utilities in Latin America is expanding coverage of high-quality water services.
Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, believes that to overturn the verdict ordering it to pay 9.5 billion dollars in reparations for environmental and public health damages in Ecuador's Amazon jungle, the best defence is a good offence.
The court ruling ordering Chevron to pay Ecuadorian communities damages arising from its operations is the "product of fraud," James Craig, a representative of the oil company, says.
On Feb. 14, a provincial Ecuadorean court issued the harshest environmental verdict in history against a major oil company, the U.S.-based Chevron. But is there any chance it will be carried out?