Cuenca News

Published on World Water Day, experts are warning that Cuenca could face a water supply deficit by 2050 if the city doesn't invest in reservoirs and better watershed management. The discussion is getting serious — here's what's at stake.

A national reform to the COOTAD law would require municipalities to spend 70% of their budgets on investment. Cuenca's Human Talent director says that could mean cutting around 400 positions, including workers in education and culture programs that serve over 40,000 people.

Cuenca's airport saw a 4.1% increase in passenger traffic, and officials are now evaluating potential international routes — including flights to Peru. Currently only LATAM and Avianca serve Cuenca with domestic flights, so any international connection would be a game-changer.

Great Wall Motors (GWM) just opened a full dealership and workshop in Cuenca through its local partner Grupo Ambacar. They're bringing pickups and SUVs that are significantly cheaper than Toyota and Chevrolet, and their sales in the Austro region grew 200% last year. Here's what they're offering.

Heavy rains slammed the Cuenca-Machala highway at km 58, triggering landslides that blocked the road for three consecutive days by March 13. Canada issued a travel advisory, coastal seafood and produce deliveries to Cuenca markets were disrupted, and rainy season is far from over.

If you drive the Cuenca-Azogues autopista at night, heads up: it's closed between 11PM and 4AM for 30 consecutive nights starting March 10. Workers are placing beams for the Monay interchange overpass, and the project is now 25% complete with the first elevated section expected by September.

If your water's been cutting out lately, you're not imagining things. A broken main at Remigio Crespo and Calle Latinoamérica on March 21 left 18 sectors without service, and that came just days after another outage linked to hospital construction in Baños. Here's what happened and how to prepare.

Three people have been killed across multiple attacks in Cuenca in early March, including a shooting at a funeral in Las Orquídeas and gunfire in Las Peñas. Police say the killings are linked to competition over drug sales corners — a pattern that's relatively new for this city.

Cuenca's bus system ($0.30) and the tranvía ($0.35) have operated on separate payment systems since the tram launched. That's finally changing — a unified fare card is expected by July 2026 after negotiations with the bus union concluded. Here's what we know.