Flooding by protesters adds to the pressure on Quito’s militarized streets. Indigenous people and the Ecuadorian government are fighting with no way out, ten days after the crisis began, with protests that have already left two dead and dozens injured.
This Wednesday (22) the Ecuadorian government rejected a request to suspend the state of emergency in effect in six of the 24 provinces and the Ecuadorian capital.
Faced with official refusal, the protest movement has returned to blame to demand cuts in fuel prices, among other actions that amortize the cost of the staple food basket.
About 10,000 indigenous people from various places have been in Quito since Monday. They burn tires in their gorges and build barricades with tree trunks. Barbed wire, fences and the military guard the presidential headquarters. The city was partially paralyzed.
The leader of the mobilization, native Leonidas Iza, said the government of President Guillermo Lasso was “smeared with blood” in the face of repression condemned by protesters.
Two people were killed during protests between Monday and Tuesday, according to the Alliance of Human Rights Organizations, which reported 90 injuries and 87 detentions since 13 June. According to the police, 101 officers and soldiers were injured.
However, Iza, head of the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (Conaie), said he was willing to “dialogue” without intermediaries and under “observation” that guaranteed “results”.
“We are in crisis”
As a starting point, Conaie wants to lift the state of emergency, when soldiers leave their barracks and a night curfew is declared in Quito.
But the Minister of Government (Casa Civil), Francisco Jiménez, took a categorical stance: “We cannot suspend the state of exception because it leaves the capital vulnerable and we already know what happened in October 2019 and we will not allow it.” warned. In an interview with Teleamazonas channel.
While the approaches are neutral, protests are progressing in the rest of the country. According to the Interior Ministry, an attack on police facilities in the Amazon town of Puyo on Tuesday left one person dead and six uniformed seriously injured.
At a news conference Wednesday, ministry head Patricio Carrillo said 18 police officers were “missing” and three were “held back” by locals.
“We are very uncomfortable with the government,” Olmedo Ayala, a 42-year-old native to Quito from Cotopaxi province, told AFP.
“We are experiencing an economic crisis in the countryside, there is no development there, we have no job resources, we are just farmers and our women are milking (surviving)”, but they earn less than that, he said.
Diesel increased by 90% in almost a year, and normal gasoline increased by 46%, increasing the freight cost. Locals assure that the losses are reaped. Since last October, prices have froze due to social pressure.
After days of protests where roads and mobilizations were interrupted, supplies were scarce, and the battle cry of the locals echoed through the streets: “Fora Lasso, fora!”.
international appeal
The president, who took over the presidency in May 2021, sees the protests as an attempt to oust him from power. Conaie spearheaded popular uprisings between 1997 and 2005 that forced the resignations of three presidents.
Native Maria Vega (47).
In 2019, Conaie organized two-week marches across the country that left 11 dead and more than a thousand injured, as well as more than US$800 million in damage.
Defense Chief Luis Lara said on Tuesday that Lasso, without further political support, currently has the backing of the military, which is closing ranks around the government amid the “serious risk” posed by “democracy in Ecuador”.
“The Armed Forces will not allow attempts to subvert the constitutional order or any action against democracy and the law,” said the reserve officer, surrounded by Army, Navy and Air Force commanders.
Brian Nichols, the US head of Latin American diplomacy, “calls on all parties to avoid violence” in a tweet.
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) asked the parties to “establish a dialogue” in which Conaie’s “demands” were addressed.
“The political system needs to respond urgently to improving subsidies, amnesty for loans, resolving the state of emergency in the health sector, and improving the intercultural education budget,” he said. .
source: Noticias
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