ECUADOR: New Broom

In its tight little valley high in the Andes, the 400-year-old capital city of Quito (pop. 174,000) was astir with a new kind of bustle. Its Conservative mayor, tall, thin Jacinto Jijén y Caamano, 57, was making things hum. He had talked President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra into borrowing $4,000,000 in Washington to build the city's first aqueduct since Inca times. Said Mayor Jijén (pronounced "he-hone"): "This summer, for the first time, Quito will have water."

That was not all. Last week, Quiteños bounced over their cobbled streets in comfortable buses of the newly inaugurated municipal bus system. Gone are...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!