New Ecuador leader given Indigenous command staff

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso received the spiritual command staff from Indigenous leaders of Ecuador on Wednesday. The symbolic ceremony was held in Tamboloma, a community in the Andes Mountains.

After the ancestral ceremony presided over by yachaks (wise men) of the area, Lasso accepted the baton as "a reminder of the importance of the development of Indigenous peoples and nationalities, and the importance of the rural and peasant sector of Ecuador."

Lasso, a former banker, took office on May 24 for a four-year term, replacing Lenín Moreno.