Brian Nichols, head of diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the United States had urged “all parties to refrain from violence” after ten days of protests in Ecuador that left people dead, injured and missing.
“We support efforts to find a peaceful and negotiated solution to the protests in Ecuador and urge all parties to refrain from violence,” Nichols said in a tweet. Said.
Protests against the government began on 13 June at the instigation of the country’s main Indigenous organization, the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Peoples (Conaie), against the general rise in prices, especially on fuel.
About 10,000 locals came to Quito to demand that the conservative government of President Guillermo Lasso lower prices, lift the state of emergency in six of the country’s provinces, and “disarm” a now-controlled park in the capital where locals traditionally gather. from the security forces.
Lasso, who came to power in May 2021, sees it as pressing to remove them from power.
Nichols was conciliatory with both parties in his tweet. The right to peaceful demonstration must be respected, as well as citizens’ right to security, freedom of movement and basic services.
The situation in Ecuador is extremely tense.
One person was killed and six people in uniform were seriously injured in an attack on police facilities in Puyo in the Ecuadorian Amazon on Tuesday, he noted, while 18 police officers were “disappeared” by locals and three others were “arrested”. .
The Alliance of Human Rights Organizations reported two dead, at least 90 injured and 87 detained, while police reported that 101 officers and soldiers were injured, 27 were temporarily detained by protesters, and 80 civilians were arrested.
Conaie spearheaded several demonstrations between 1997 and 2005 that led to the succession of three presidents. In 2019, a new wave of demonstrations over rising fuel prices left 11 dead and thousands injured in clashes with police.
source: Noticias
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