Esmeraldas (Ecuador)

Esmeraldas on the map of Ecuador

Esmeraldas is the capital of the eponymous province in the north of Ecuador with about 154,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Río Esmeraldas, which opens there in the Pacific.

The hot climate, the high proportion of Afro- Ecuadorian population and lush vegetation give the city a Caribbean flair, even if it is not urban development particularly attractive. Today you can find only a few of the traditional wooden houses. At the city beach " Las Palmas " there are numerous restaurants and bars, so evenings and especially weekends the nightlife here. For swimming, the beach is recommended, however, only partly because oil is often stranded by the proximity of the offshore installation. Esmeraldas is considered by many as one of the most dangerous and dirtiest cities in Ecuador, but this is only partly be supported by any official statistics. The problem of waste of bygone days could be fixed and soon Esmeraldas is one of the few cities in Ecuador that have a waste separation system.

On 26 February 1998 Esmeraldas was the scene of an environmental disaster, when crude oil spilled into the Río Esmeraldas and caught fire after an oil pipeline was broken. According to official figures, found twelve people were killed and hundreds were injured.

Mayor of the city since 2000 Ernesto Estupiñán of the leftist party Movimiento Popular Democrático (MPD ). At the last municipal election in October 2004, he was confirmed in his office.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Ítalo Estupiñán ( b. 1952 ), the first Ecuadorian soccer player in the Mexican Primera División
• Eduardo Hurtado (born 1969 ), Ecuadorian football player and former top scorer of the national team
• Iván Hurtado ( born 1974 ), captain and most-capped player of the Ecuadorian national football team
• Carlos Tenorio ( born 1979 ), Ecuadorian national football team
• Ítalo Perea ( * 1993), Ecuadorian boxer