BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia unveiled a tax reform bill on Tuesday aimed at creating jobs, closing loopholes and simplifying the tax system, but not increasing the tax take as the Andean country was on track for record collections this year.

Colombia’s battle against corruption and evasion helped boost tax revenue 25 percent last year, to about 86.3 trillion pesos ($48 billion), and Colombia’s tax office will likely collect a record 103 trillion pesos this year.

NEW YORK/QUITO, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Moody’s Investors
Service on Thursday raised Ecuador’s long-term government bond
rating to Caa1 from Caa2 with a stable outlook, keeping the
default-prone Andean country deep in junk bond territory but
noting its improved ability to find financing.

About half of sovereigns rated Caa1 end up defaulting, as
OPEC-member Ecuador did in the late 1990s and 2008.

QUITO, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Ecuador’s biggest refinery, the
110,000 barrel per day Esmeraldas, will stop its fluid catalytic
cracking (FCC) unit for an overhaul in September 2013, almost a
year later than planned, state-run company Petroecuador said on
Monday.

Esmeraldas was expected to cut its crude runs for a year
beginning in August 2012, when the facility’s FCC unit had been
scheduled to go offline.

QUITO, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Ecuador is likely to announce a
decision on whether to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange before the end of the week in a case with
diplomatic implications around the world, President Rafael
Correa said on Monday.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in
London since June 19 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is
wanted for questioning on sex crime allegations.

QUITO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Ecuador is preparing mining reforms
that should pave the way for the signing of contracts with
several investors, including Canada’s Kinross, the South
American country’s top mining official said on Thursday.

Ecuador does not have a large-scale mining industry, but it
has big copper, gold and silver deposits, and President Rafael
Correa wants to attract investment to reduce the economy’s
dependence on oil exports.

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador wants to prevent Julian Assange’s extradition to Sweden because it is disappointed that the Scandinavian country has turned down an offer to question the WikiLeaks founder in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, a minister said on Wednesday.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London for six weeks as he awaits a decision on his asylum request by the leftist government of Rafael Correa.

QUITO (Reuters) – Julian Assange’s mother said she handed evidence to Ecuador’s government on Monday indicating Washington is bent on extraditing her son to the United States, where she fears the WikiLeaks founder could face execution.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London for nearly six weeks as he awaits a decision on his asylum request by the leftist government of Rafael Correa.

QUITO (Reuters) – The mother of Julian Assange, visiting Ecuador on Monday to plea for her son’s asylum request, said the WikiLeaks founder is under extreme psychological stress and feels his only option is to seek safety in Ecuador.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 19. The former computer hacker, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations.

QUITO (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has hired Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzon as a legal adviser as he seeks political asylum in Ecuador, the Andean country’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said on Tuesday.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since June 19. The Australian anti-secrecy campaigner, who enraged Washington in 2010 when his WikiLeaks website published secret U.S. diplomatic cables, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex crime allegations.

QUITO/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s biggest oil producer, is in talks with Ecuador’s government over a potential investment in the OPEC-member’s $12.5 billion Pacifico refinery project, an Ecuadorean minister said on Thursday.

Chinese state oil firms have been on a spending spree to buy overseas oil and gas assets to secure supply to the world’s second-largest oil consumer and maximize returns on oil produced overseas.